Skipping a few days, not much happened in the country. For some reason, the military had ceased their patrolling around cities.
While Nathan was a bit confused about why they would let up their efforts, he took advantage by stealing stuff from buildings that its citizens mostly evacuated.
Jack and Charles were also rather sad that there weren't as many people to kill, nor were there any soldiers to entertain themselves.
* * *
"In today's news, civilians are upset about the lack of communication the state has done since the meeting with the president regarding the deployment of super soldiers." The usual reporter, Ashley, spoke on the television in the warehouse.
"Sigh, I wonder what the hell the state is doing. They've withdrawn their forces and haven't said anything about the meeting." Nathan said as he checked posts in the news section on his smartphone.
"Maybe the meeting went poorly, and the president rejected the proposal?" Zack speculated.
"And maybe those buggers think that because everyone has moved away from us, we won't go out of our way to hunt them down," Jack said as he was tossing a knife up in the air. "I definitely would."
"Either way, weirdly, they're just letting crimes take place," Nathan added.
Ada, who was writing in her usual book, shut it and hopped from her bed. "Let's go on the road, Olivia." She suddenly decided.
Olivia, who was knitting some garments, was surprised at her sudden decision. Her surprise quickly turned to nervousness.
"Where are you guys going?" Zack asked.
"Oh, I just feel like going on a walk." Ada vaguely answered. "You can come too if you want, Zack."
"M-Me?" Zack pointed at himself in a confused expression. "You want me to come with you?"
"Yeah. Come on, guys!" Ada called them with a smile.
Hesitantly, Olivia followed her. Zack, on the other hand, happily followed her, likely due to his attraction towards her.
With suspicion, Nathan watched them go.
Where the hell is she bringing them...Whatever, it's the first time I ever saw her bringing Zack. I don't trust her, but as ironic as it is, it doesn't seem like Zack is smart enough to do anything stupid.
"I'm gonna go back to training, I guess," Nathan said before going outside to request a spar from the NPC.
Since there was not much to do, Jack and Charles decided to find an action movie to watch.
* * *
Taking a look at the 'Blessed Slaughterer', he was walking through a passageway of a military base. With silent footsteps, he made his way to the end. Upon exiting the passageway, he arrived at a large plane of land.
He was greeted by numerous super soldiers, gathered in formation. They were all lined up in many rows and columns, and standing at attention. It was as if they were waiting for the 'Blessed Slaughterer' to arrive, as they immediately saluted him.
He made his way to the front, in which he stood on a pedestal.
There was an air of pure silence as he looked around. There were numerous super soldiers of varying features. Most had the characteristics of normal people, but there were some with strange, to say the least, characteristics.
Some with disfigurations on their bodies and some with modified equipment, like the metallic right arm of the blessed slaughterer's. He had looked at Rebecca, who was also there.
"Well." The Blessed Slaughterer began, breaking the silence. "I'm sure you guys already know what will happen later, and you guys have probably encouraged yourselves."
He paused and looked around again before continuing. "But encouragement is not enough. As you know, our comrades Malcolm and Rachel have fought and failed to eliminate the S-Class criminals. That has resulted in many deaths and destruction. They were failures."
He glanced at Rebecca again, who seemed frustrated that he was bad mouthing her comrades.
"But still, they are our comrades, which means we have also failed. Especially me, who have failed to kill Charles all those years ago."
Seeing the blessed slaughterer admit responsibility for his failure made Rebecca surprised.
"We are super soldiers for the sole purpose of getting rid of threats like these, and we failed multiple times. So simple encouraging or 'pumping yourself up' isn't enough. We won't forget our past failures...to ensure it never happens again!"
In response to this, a roar of agreement came from the mouths of the super soldier army. Even Rebecca had vocalized her agreement.
Yeah! I'll never lose again! I'll kill those guys...for both the world and Malcolm and Rachel...our fallen comrades!
"Let's go on a hunt!" The blessed slaughterer declared, and the cheers of everyone became louder. They were all successfully motivated.
* * *
Later in the day, Nathan and the NPC had finished sparring and they were resting in the warehouse. Nathan was staring intently at the palm of his right hand.
"What are you doing, mate?" Jack asked.
"Oh, nothing really," Nathan responded. "Just thinking about how much stronger I've got with the help of this ability, I guess."
"Oh."
"Yeah, you've gotten much better than how you were before." The NPC added. "The thing that's motivating you is effective, I can tell."
A strange thing to say...
* * *
Nearby, numerous armored vehicles and aerial vehicles were approaching the warehouse. The rumbling of the vehicles as they charged through the plane area could be heard.
* * *
"I'll do anything to kill all these corrupted fools."
And I'll do anything, even if I have to destroy myself, I will live through this to see Lilith again.
"By the way, Ada and the others haven't returned" Nathan said.
"Yeah, they are taking quite a while--" Before Jack could finish, the developer suddenly started speaking from the television.
"Hello, my game characters! We've got companyyyy!" He said in a joyful tune.
"Huh? Company--" Nathan's words were cut off by the sounds of vehicles and helicopters close by. Everyone's attention was now directed toward the noise.
Nathan took a peak outside through small slits in the walls. He saw the armored vehicles and helicopters, very close to the yard of the warehouse.
After stopping, numerous individuals hopped out of the helicopters. Nathan didn't need a second to know they were super soldiers based on their uniforms.
What...the...hell.