"LIV! NAIL THE CUNT TO THE GROUND AGAIN!"
"{WITHSTAND}!"
A combination of factors kept the 15 ft zombie on the ground. First, it received {Withstand} again. Its body was "locked" and could not turn. Next, its right arm got dislocated from its socket. Third, I blasted its right knee to the point I almost died.
"The strikes of our blows get weaker due to the loss of kinetic energy, but it is too dangerous to let it move freely. Shit!"
Bella's voice served as the group's direction. I don't know when, but the group acknowledged the Brazilian cop as our second in command. I wondered if the reason they followed her was due to her own skills or her status as my lover.
"Aki! Have you found any weaknesses yet? Darling said you and Bella could do it, right?!"
The panic from their voices was already approaching breaking point. My girls were all Formless. This underground world had brainwashed them to believe they were trash.
"{Gather} doesn't work like that, Benelli-san! I can only record what I see; I cannot find something without knowing it, like Smith-san can!"
They could not escape such deep-rooted ideas easily. They had insecurities and a fear of being cast aside. Truly, leaving one's comfort zone was hard.
"Jasmine! The Southerner said {Perceive} also played a factor; did you find anything?"
"I am sorry; all it does is make my vision better; it's impossible for me!"
My girls were on the Brute's shoulders. They desperately tried to take out its left arm. If they succeeded and we could pin this bastard to the ground, we had a shot at winning.
The zombie tried to struggle on pure instinct. There would normally be no way to kill this thing, but by using desperate tactics, we took out two of its limbs.
"Taurus-san, it is no use! None of the steel weapons can penetrate the skin!" Aki reported.
Even Robyn started to fear for her life. "Oy, glasses! Once Liv runs out of souls, this guy will break free! We need to bail now!"
"This is suicide! We don't have enough power to kill it! Rendering it helpless is already good enough for Formless! Let's leave it to the manifested!" Jasmine added.
They were not wrong. By every standard for Formless, our achievement was already more than good enough. But why stop there?
"JAS! Let's go breaker! If we can at least take out an arm!"
"Denied! Didn't John say we were forbidden to use it again!"
Josephine began to shriek in hysteria, "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE IF WE STAY HERE! Not even a dog wags its tail for nothing! I can hear them! The undead horde is coming! The other Reapers are all dead!"
Bella kept cursing in panic, "FUCK! Already? What do we do? Shit! What can we do? Think! Think, Bella! Liv! Can we use your new {fate}?"
"DON'T! Liv will die if she does! Let us retreat! There should be a powerful person under the deck! This is not our battle!" Aki instructed; the fear in her voice was evident.
"AKI, let me at least die with my honor!"
"Fuck your honor, Liv! If this cunt does not die, your old man will laugh at you for being a dickhead! Strewth! The wanker is healing! Its shoulder popped back on. We need to run! NOW!"
"It heals? FUCK! Go to the place where Judas lost his boots, you cheating bastard!"
As my girls all began to despair, I knew I needed to act soon. I tended to forget because of how well they fought, but my girls all had deep insecurities. Liv and Jo were even suicidal to a degree.
They all were perfectly okay just surviving. But I was not. I was the reason they challenged a D-rank boss. They were in danger simply because they followed me.
Thus, I couldn't abandon them. They were my responsibility.
"Right, I said as much, didn't I?"
Everyone should have reached level 3. Jasmine had {Snipe}. Robyn had {Hike}. The others should have four new skills. Bella believed that with Liv's new {Fate}, we had a chance.
'Then let's go with that first,' I mused.
The girls were so preoccupied trying to keep the boss down that they didn't notice me. The fucking bastard was healing at breakneck speed. Both its shoulder and leg were already healed enough to move.
We did not have any time to waste. I dashed toward Liv and grabbed her by the left horn of her helmet and pulled her down to face me.
"Liv, give me your new {Fate} and I will kill this bastard for you. Believe in me."
Despite being such a powerful warrior, the Northerner had terror in her eyes. But my gaze didn't waver in the slightest. My declaration was hard to believe, but I refused to lay down and die. Perhaps she found hope in my words.
The woman embraced me, raised her mask and kissed me.
'She seems inexperienced, but feisty nonetheless,' I inwardly thought.
At our passionate exchange, a new {Fate} downloaded in my mind, and I saw a chance for victory. When our lips parted, I lovingly caressed her face with my free hand. Her eyes now burned with determination.
"Thank you. Now follow me to victory," I ordered.
"Yes."
No other words need be said. I then yelled to the others, "Everyone, I will be asking for you all to place your lives in my hands. But in exchange, I will kill this fucker. Follow me and I will give you victory! Anyone who does not wish to do so must leave now!"
Right, the plan had too many variables, but I believed in our {Fates}. I would not let others tell me what was not possible. I have done far too much to just give up. As the Undead Brute struggled beneath our feet, I waited.
Yet no one left, and Robyn even cracked a joke. "Well? What are you waiting for, Wombat?"
I couldn't help but smile. "First, leave only a hundred souls on you and give me everything else. Then follow me to the horde and kill as much as we can. I need to get to level 3 before we can fight this bastard."
Josephine asked a logical question: "But Darling, how do you even know what your level 3 {Fate} is?"
"I feel it in my gut. It will be our key to victory."
"Your gut? You understand that makes no sense, right, Honey?"
"Smith-san, you are asking us to gamble our lives on a feeling?" Aki questioned in disbelief.
"What, Wombat, you think you will grow wings or something?"
Before I could even respond to Robyn's sarcasm, Jasmine dashed toward me. Standing in front of me, the black-skinned beauty made a soft smile as she answered.
"Then let us do that. Tell me where your soulgem is."
I pointed to the lump on my neck, and Jasmine placed her index finger on it. Within the same second, I felt a warm sensation. This flow of warmth had to be the soul transfer. She then nicked her finger with an arrowhead and forcefully inserted her finger into my mouth.
"I gave you every soul I had. My 3rd ability is {Snipe}. Do not make me regret this. I beg of you, save my sister."
Before the others could question her, Bella jumped and landed beside me. She similarly touched my neck, then gave me a kiss.
"My 3rd ability is {Shutdown}. My life is completely in your hands, Honey."
One after another, the girls all gave me their excess souls as well as their new {fates}. They then all got into formation with me as the center. Our formation was pointed toward the incoming zombie horde.
'No matter what happens, after today, I will protect you all as my own,' I swore to myself.
With our lives intertwined as one, I raised my fist and declared.
"We will be killing as much as we can to prepare for our attack against the Brute. I now have over 3,000 souls on me. The zombies should ignore you all and target me alone. I need a thousand more. At my signal, you are all to run as far away from me as you can, understood? Liv, please cancel {Withstand} on the Brute."
The moment {Withstand} was turned off, the Brute used both hands to stand up and looked my way. But before it could act, a giant black gorilla tackled the zombie to the ground.
"Amari?" I blurted out in surprise.
The primate then replied with a deep, masculine voice.
"You have balls of steel, Reaper. I originally already resigned to my fate. But if even the Formless had yet to give up, it would be pathetic of me to do so first. I will pin this bastard down as long as I can. Show me this victory you speak of."
"Watch me then! Keep him grounded as long as you can. Everyone, let's move!" I shouted.
"YES!" x6
Like a train, our group murdered zombies as we moved. I needed only 3,000 souls to level up, but to use the plan I had in mind, I needed more. There was no certainty that it would work. My plan was in reality a huge gamble.As Josephine said, it was impossible to know your new ability before you evolved. But the very nature of {Fates} made me wonder. I once thought rewinding for bullets was a waste. So, I wished to regain only my ammo. That led to the creation of {Reload}.
What if {Fate} listened to your wishes whenever you gained a new skill? Didn't {Kismet} get created the same way?
Right now, what I need is the ability to not die and endure as much damage as possible. This diverged greatly from what {Rewind} was supposed to be. The question was if {Rewind} would answer my call.
Caught between a zombie army and a D-rank boss, my group of Formless Reapers charged! All for a single hope of victory. The insanity of it all made my feelings come out abruptly.
"I refuse to die here. COME AT ME!" I roared.