"Welp, that was tiring."
"Went a lot faster when you became able to touch multiple at the same time."
"Yeah, then when I was able to simply utilize the Empire skill to get the rest… hate that it took 2 weeks to figure that out."
I had maxed out Denial, System Override, and System Administrator.
I was currently bedridden from the absolute massive use of mana to make everyone independent.
"Huh, that's interesting."
"What is it?"
"I can combine your skills."
"Which one?"
"The three you just maxed."
"What would that do?"
"I assume make an ultimate."
"I think you should do it."
"You already have one ultimate; it may be unbalanced to give you a second."
"Have I fulfilled all necessary requirements?"
"… yes."
"Then why is it bad?"
"You're right."
She then evolved my skill.
[The Skills: Denial, System Override, and System Administrator have been combined and evolved. You have gained the Ultimate skill System Owner. You now have as much control as the system Luma, once maxed out. This skill can be merged with FEAR when maxed out.]
"Wait, what?"
"That was the automatic thing. I didn't add anything to it."
"So, I'm now as strong as you."
"No, upon looking at the details closer, you can't manipulate levels, nor can you make changes that drastically make you more powerful. You can really only do the arbitrary things. You can't even waive things."
"Well, it is level one."
"Level one FEAR put a 600 on his guard."
"Good point."
"You can still mess with my settings though… in fact, you now have owner permissions."
"What does that mean?"
"I think that you don't need to have a pass code anymore to access the classified stuff."
"Nice, I'll have to check on that later."
"But merge it with FEAR?"
"Yeah, that's odd. I mean, even denial shared similarities with Admin and Override."
"Yeah, so what's with that?"
"I don't know."
"Ugh, you'd think that I'd be able to figure it out with this OP skill."
"As you said, it's only level one. It may get much, much stronger."
"I hope so."
"Your interspace movement's 9 now."
"Why?"
"Simple, when you used Empire, it went between world lines. You're actually not far from 10."
"Nice."
"…"
"…"
"So, what do we do?"
"Go to Tortura and talk to Vitilio. One thing that didn't happen, that he hopefully noticed. The alliance wasn't broken between me, him, and Gabriel."
"You're right!!!"
"That may make him realize that something's wrong."
"What if that man already did something to him?"
"He has to have some kind of limit. He messed with the minds of 6 archangels after killing one, then he messed with the minds of over 20 billion people. He's likely resting."
"You're right."
I walked out of my inn room and went down.
"Silas, could I have some food?"
"Sure."
Most of everyone was moping. The Supreme Faction was leagues above what we'd faced before, and we were at war. The only thing that defended us was a shield that may not even hold. The worst part was that someone even stronger was tricking them.
"Are you going somewhere?"
"I'm going to Tortura to attempt to gather allies."
"No one's going to join us."
"Then they won't join us, but we can't just mope around here and wait for them to find a way past the ban."
Dallel was deflated.
"Rose, Gabriel is one of the weaker admins, and when testing, he nearly killed you before you even noticed his movement."
Raphael was also battered.
"What's worse. I can't bring myself to fight my siblings. How could I fight them when I know they are being manipulated?"
"If you want to give up then go to Heaven and tell them to kill you."
"What?!"
Everyone, including Luma, just looked at me in shock.
"We have faced terrible odds, not quite as bad as this, but still. We have been through a lot. We have faced a lot. And we may be at a disadvantage, we may even lose, but if you want to just sit here and mope, then don't bother wasting the supplies of those who still fight to keep yourself around."
I looked around.
"I understand you're sick of it. All of this bloodshed. All of this pain. I am too. And I tell you the truth, there is nothing I'd like to do more right now then crawl back into my bed and pity myself until their army rushes through and kills me, but you know why I don't do that?"
My eyes started glowing.
"Because I know that if I just give up, I will be taking those who fought before and died. Those we honored and respected, and even those we despised and killed. I'll be taking their lives, their fights, and spitting in their faces. So, if you feel hopeless and aren't going to contribute anything to keeping those still with us safe."
I turned and opened the inns door.
"Then save the Supreme faction the trouble."
I slammed the door and left.
I understood what they were saying. What they were feeling, but crying wouldn't get us anywhere.
I reached the hub and opened a portal.
"Please be understanding, Vitilio."
_
We were silent for a long time. Rose had never snapped to that degree. She insulted us. Was blunt and rude.
Even Luma was at a loss for words.
Yet…
She was right. We had just sat around, moaning and groaning, for two weeks. Now that she had said it, I was ashamed.
Luma sighed.
"She's right. She could have given up the moment Raphael's neck was snapped. I don't think anyone would've blamed her."
"I certainly wouldn't have."
Raphael's words were sobering. Then Mammon gave a cold laugh.
"Alright, I'm inspired. Let's help Rose and make 'er proud."
Then Raphael said something shocking.
"I think I know where we can get allies."
"What?"
"I'm the only one that can get there, but… Rose is right, we can't just sit around crying about our woes."
He got up and started leaving.
"Wait, who are you going to ask?"
"The only faction that has resisted the Supreme faction since before I was even born."
He smiled.
"Lucifer's Light."