As I drank the vials I had received, Bella, Jo, and Jas explained to the newcomers how {Rewind} worked. The downloads for all three, Liv, Aki, and Robyn's {Fates}, were not so bad.
The cost for theirs was also 100 for the main {fate} and 50 souls for each derivative. I lost about 450 souls. When I thought of my information, I saw some stuff that made my jaw drop when it came up.
___
{Rewind} 00:00:00
{Save} 00:00:00
{Auto} 17:41:07
- {Reload} 00:00:00
Souls Available: 608
{Fate} Level 2
Souls needed for evolution: 3,000
{Fates} Active
{Code} 728:58:23
- {Connect} 358:18:10
{Perceive} 358:18:30
- {Aim} 358:20:30
{Listen} 358:20:22
- {Interpret} 358:20:22
{Withstand} 359:57:22
- {Endure} 359:57:22
{Carry} 359:58:40
- {Pack} 359:58:40
{Eat} 359:59:14
- {Gather} 359:59:14
{Kindred}
N/A
{Kismet}
- {Identify} = {Code} + {Perceive} + {Listen}
___
"Holy shit," I cursed.
"How is it, Honey? Did your {Fates} change?" Bella asked in a quiet manner.
"They did; I got all of them."
"What do you mean you got all of them?" she asked.
"I have mine plus everyone's {Fates} activated."
"Holy shit!"
Her surprised expression showed that this news dumbfounded her. Alerted by her reaction, Jo and Jas walked over, following the commotion.
"Please don't tell me you have seven {Fates} now," Jasmine pleaded.
"I do."
"HOLY SHIT!" Josephine, unable to hide her surprise, gasped while cursing.
"This is good; we can use the Assault group as practice," Isabella added.
"But Bella, John is an anomaly. Even the Revenants cannot exceed two. And this man effortlessly gains seven!"
"Well, at least he has that going for him. Liv and her group explained their {Fates}. Aside from Liv's {Withstand}, the other two are not useful in battle. Robyn's {Carry} is basically for porters while Aki's {Eat} is a support type," Bella whined.
"Maybe he can gain {Kismet} from them? Darling is amazing after all!"
Jasmine suddenly shifted the tone of the conversation. "John, you also need to learn what the gorilla plans to do."
At that point, Liv and her group joined our conversation.
"Southerner, {Rewind} is amazing. Thank you for granting it to us. The {Fate} I gave is pathetic in comparison." Like Isabella, it seemed that Liv had a severe inferiority complex about her {Fate}.
"You are mistaken, Liv; {Eat}, {Carry}, and {Withstand} are not trash {fates}. And I will prove it in our battle," I said as I faced her.
Maybe it was because I was an amateur. I saw many applications with them. They were not bad {Fates}. You just needed imagination and comprehension. And due to my hobby of computer games, I have plenty of that.
Robyn smiled at my words. I couldn't see their faces as Aki and Liv had theirs covered. But from their eyes, I believed they were pleased. When I got back to Jas, I noticed she was pouting unhappily.
'Probably because I ignored her.'
Moving to correct my mistake, I approached her. I took her hand, gazed deep into her eyes, and spoke in a soft tone.
"Jasmine, can you please continue what you were trying to say?"
"Oh, um… hmmm…" Flabbergasted, Jas blushed and tried to pull her hand away.
Unlike Jo, who loved skin contact, Jas would freeze up at the slightest touch. Her reactions were pretty adorable, so I grabbed her hands as often as I could to throw her off.
"Amazing, Smith-san, you have your harem so well managed," Aki commented.
"Indeed, my mothers often fought for my father's attention. You look adept at such matters, Southerner."
"Get stuffed, wanker!"
Aki and Liv expressed approval while Robyn cursed.
'They are not my harem, though. Just soldiers under my command. Well, whatever.'
Jasmine gently pulled her hand away and regained her composure. Afterwards, she began to explain.
"Well, according to Liv, Aki, and Robyn's observations, they intend to monopolize the boss. The gorilla boosted his group to Phantoms by any means necessary. He even had them loot souls from dead Reapers. It was like he knew that the boss would be above E-rank beforehand."
"The gorilla's name is Amari. He is from the African battlefront. His {Fate} is {Primate}. His second in command is Mia. A Reaper from Europe with a {Fate} called {Lycan}. Both were already close to evolving before the Brute appeared," added Liv.
"Their goons are led by Oliver from the Australian battlefront. They bully everyone into fighting for them. They even enslave the attractive female Reapers for sexual relief. They are scum, Smith-san. And I wish to decapitate Oliver personally for what he did to Robyn."
'Is that even legal? Why didn't Lilly's group beat their asses? Wasn't she supposed to be in charge? Well, I guess that's better for me, at least. If the organizers interfered, I wouldn't be able to kill them all.'
Bella says the rule against Reaper homicides only applies to official Reapers. That translates to say it doesn't apply to anyone who isn't official yet. So, I was clear to do as I wanted. I looked toward Red's group as I declared to everyone.
"Okay, then we will do the same plan as they do. We will kill the assault group and loot them of souls. Is there a way to get the souls from a corpse?"
"There is Smith-san. You need to find the soulgem in the body of the corpse and drain the souls from it."
"But the problem is, everyone hides them; it would take hours to search for them. Oliver's groups take the souls by mugging their victims. Amari convinced us to join them in order to survive. But the whoreson threw us away when it suited him," Liv grunted, annoyed.
Not really able to placate her, I asked a question instead. "What does a soulgem look like? Maybe I can find it?"
"It looks like half a marble embedded in the skin, Darling. If you touch that, you can withdraw the souls from a dead Reaper."
I looked at the various dead bodies and made a wish.
'Show me the soulgems,' I thought.
If the {Kismet} were made from a wish, all I had to do was ask for one. In less than a second, a searing heat came from the soulgem on my neck. With it, a new ability entered my mind.
"{Loot}," I whispered.
I saw small circles on the bodies suddenly light up. Unable to contain my excitement, I celebrated aloud.
"Perfect."
"You made a new {Kismet}?" asked Bella.
"Yes, it's called {Loot}. It combines {Identify} and Aki's {Gather}."
My partner couldn't suppress her annoyance.
"This fucking cheater," she blurted out in envy.
"Give it here." Isabella then nicked my finger and let the blood drop into a small vial. The rest of the women gathered around me as she explained.
"Okay, so this vial grants you a {kismet} called {Loot}; it will allow you to steal the souls of a Reaper. We will use this to quickly level up to level 3. Is that fine for everyone? The one who uses it will have to let go of {Rewind}. It is best to level up everyone before confronting the brute, Amari and Mia."
"We need to hurry, though. Once the Reapers die, the undead will target the next group with the highest souls," Jasmine warned.
Oh? So, they were not drawn to sound and light; they targeted those with the highest souls. Then it made sense that they charged the army first, as there were hundreds of them.
"I will do it. I can't use {Carry} for combat anyway. I'll just drain the bodies we pass by. Then I will distribute them to everyone. How many does everyone need to get to evolve to level 3?"
Everyone shared how much, and I was alarmed to find they all only needed less than a thousand. I on the other hand, needed three times that.
"Three thousand," I declared.
"Fuck me dead, are you for real, wanker?!"
"Yeah."
"Right, let's level up everyone first, then. Let's go!" Bella commanded.
Wait, no one wanted to help me?
We began moving toward Red. Liv took the front, Jo and Aki guarded her sides. Jasmine and I were in the middle while Isabella and Robyn took the rear. All three of the newcomers had fewer than 300 souls. They ate and rested before invoking {Auto}, {Save}, and {Rewind}.
Moving like a typical RPG party, we steamrolled through the undead. Liv conserved energy and just smashed them away with her weapons. Meanwhile, Jo and Aki quickly killed every zombie with deft movements.
Jas and I supported our formation by shooting everything dead. Bella and Robyn covered our blindsides as they brought up the rear. When we encountered a Reaper corpse, Robyn would loot it while we guarded her. The looting itself was fast.
Oliver and his group left us a trail of burning corpses, so visibility was no issue. While we didn't run because we didn't stop, we moved at a good pace.
Using {Perceive}, I studied how Amari the black ape and Mia the violet wolf attacked the brute. Basically, Amari kept the Brute still by pinning it with his body. Mia would then whittle it with her werewolves. Oliver's group stopped anyone else from interfering.
After some time, we reached a distance of a quarter mile from Oliver's group. The sound of my heart beating with a savage intensity echoed in my mind.
'Finally, I waited so long, you fucker.'
Unable to endure any longer, my bloodlust peaked, and I broke rank.
Even though I was overweight, my legs carried me faster than Jo, Jas, and Aki. As I left everyone in the dust, I heard voices calling me back. But ignored them all. I was doing this for them...
Who was I kidding? All I wanted was to get even; I would break every bone in Red's body, then throw him to the undead.
"I will leave him for last, though. For now, let me show you all my determination to become the strongest Revenant."