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Chapter 83: Property of The Company
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SWOOSH!
It hasn't been that long since he defeated Kladis in a fair fight so the news of him being Siva would still need more time to develop in their minds.
Of course, not too long ago, they've already received the notification message stating what had been agreed between Kladis and Donar... or, at this point, to the victor of the duel.
The surprise of their commander's defeat is still the biggest shock they are thinking at the moment.
As he hovered there in front of the Blue Card Legion, he didn't hide the fact that he was Dilim as he called his three puppets to surround him.
Of course, the beheaded one had already been fixed with but a thought and Siva is now being surrounded by three puppets; one holding a large sword, one holding a blue-bladed sword, and the last one holding Kladis's Unique Gun.
Siva pressed a few more options on his panel window and then spoke with a booming voice:
"From this point on, you're all the lowest-ranking members... of The Company! This castle is now a property of The Company! I hereby declare that further desecration of this property will result to the full punishment of death upon the very first offense. All offenders shall be stripped of their membership of The Company and will also receive the mark of a criminal, will be prosecuted by The Company, and will be chased until death by The Company!"
Sivas voice boomed as he spoke. Every member on the wall of the castle base was either aghast or bewildered.
But before their minds could even pinpoint on anything, Siva's hand moved on his panel as he manipulated something before he continued with a powerful tone:
"Also, I hereby declare, that all core members of the Blue Card Legion... are all enemies of The Company unless they declare their membership on our organization at this very moment...!! Any individual who are still loyal to the name of the Blue Card Legion shall be branded criminals effective immediately and whether you are inside or outside the said properties of The Company, the defense system will ensure that you will forever be branded as enemies... as long as The Company stands!"
D-D-DING!
A notification window appeared on every former members of the Blue Card Legion on the castle base.
[Apus Epirus had entered siege defense mode. The castle's defenses are now active. Any person with unauthorized entry shall either be branded and exterminated on the spot, or, teleported directly to the gaol for interrogation and further maltreatment. The owner of the castle had given you a cautionary respite that will end in 04:59...58...57...56...]
Though they have been initialized as members of The Company, unless they [agree] on the pop up window indicating their membership and allegiance to The Company that hovered alongside the other notification windows on their visions, they are all still technically members of the Blue Card Legion.
Some looked at each other, some towards their comrades, some also looked towards Siva, and some even looked directly at the said [enemy], one of the core members of The Legion... the woman who was once wearing a cold and uncaring expression but now had a look of disbelief and fear in her eyes.
Kira...
"This isn't happening!" She was trembling as she held a teleportation device on her hand, being aware of the surroundings, wary of the people that's been looking at her direction.
It was at that moment that a call was made on her panel that she answered it without a second thought.
"Chief Leader!" she yelled.
On her video call, Gats was wearing a serious expression and from the background on his panel, Kira immediately knew where he was.
Gats calmly said, "I have the table. Let's go, we're leaving. Everything here is lost. I've already informed the rest and they too are going out now to meet at the other base."
The call ended and Kira looked up to the center most palace of the castle, on the veranda overlooking everything that is happening on the outside of the castle wall... to see a flash of light that indicated a teleportation light sequence.
She then spent one last look at Siva up in the air and pointed a finger to curse with a hiss and not a yelling roar, "This is not the end!"
Siva didn't bat a caring glance as he watched her use the teleportation device to get away.
His eyes have always been fixed on a warning window on his vision as his mind reeled at the sight of who that person depicted on the video panel was.
"I can't believe it! Gats is part of the Blue Card Legion!"
Not only him but as soon as the words escaped his mouth, Volt and Thorn froze and asked at the same time.
""Did you say Gats is a member of The Legion?""
"This is a shocking news to me as well. When I spoke just now, I was also manipulating the security system and just as I activated the perimeter surveillance protocol along with the Siege Defense Mode into maximum efficiency, the video panel sent me this video feed."
Siva lifted his finger and Gats, looking at him directly from below replayed itself for the two to see.
"Dayum! That is Gats!" Volt exclaimed.
"That's what I said."
"How is this possible? Gats... he's a member of the Human-relations parliament in the Western Continent... particularly on the Imperial Court of the Flowerion Imperial Family! The Legion is an organization from the south. Does this mean that he's a double agent?"
After hearing Thorn's statement, Siva felt himself shiver at the thought.
"I saw him talking to someone on a call just now. I've saved the video so I'll pin this matter for deeper examination later. Right now, saving Amanda from the castle is more important than anything else."
As Siva spoke and dismissed the matter, the two men on their conference call could only bite their lips and shut their mouths.
To Thorn, this matter had a bigger impact on the overall balance of power of Terroa.
To Volt... this means more enemies for Rex to face.
Even if there's only news without distinction for bad and good, the implications of the strongest player of Terroa being an enemy is not something they could just set aside.
Siva faced and addressed the former members of The Legion who were still confused at the top of the wall of Apus Epirus.
"Time is ticking. Four minutes left. If you don't want to join The Company, then teleport away."
Right after Siva spoke, almost 30% of the people in the wall of Apus Epirus were engulfed in a light that hugged their bodies.
NPCs, Users, there were no exact distinction as those who wanted to get out of The Legion's shackles chose freedom while those who are yet to get into a decision remained out of confusion.
Siva had to wrap this all up quickly and prepare for the coming of that bored ghost. So he braced his bearing and continued, "Those who will remain, when the time is up, all of you will automatically be part of The Company. Your ranks will be considered as the lowest and the ranks and statuses that you have acquired during your time in The Legion will not be credited when you join us in The Company."
SHUUU! SHUU! SHUUUUUUU–––!!!
After he spoke, another 15% of the people on the wall teleported away and left the rest of the ones on the wall confused and a bit afraid for some odd reason.
Looking at them now, in fact, someone who's familiar with the faces of The Legion would see that over 92% of the people that remained were those of the grunt workers of The Legion; new NPC recruits and newly signed up players who wanted to use the name of The Legion to brag about to their friends online.
Siva then looked at the floating palace islands that surrounded the castle base and then he spoke with the same strong and forceful tone:
"In addition to that, the quests and missions that The Company is currently undertaking are in the range of at least being in the S-Rank... with one in the future possibly reaching an even higher rank than that, if there is one. All I know is that we will be battling Dragons, at the least, so when you join The Company and wants to be a respected officer in our ranks... you have to not only be the strongest of the strong but must also have the resolution to face an enemy that is perhaps beyond your own capabilities to beat... only that way will you be given the authority and the privilege of carrying the title of an [officer] within our ranks!"
SHUUUUUUU–-!! SHUUU! SHUUUU!!!
"Battling dragons?!"
"Missions and Quests with dragons as boss?"
"No way am I riding this bus..."
"I'm outta here!"
Not even hearing the dot, another 30% of the original numbers of the Blue Card Legion on the wall activated their teleportation devices.
Then it was followed by another 15% more.
"Fudge! I just wanna live and play normally!"
"Your grandmother! I'm not suicidal. Goodbye!"
"Damn you and The Company!"
"I'm barely even living off with the trade goods I get on the miscellaneous missions from The Legion and now you want me to join for a suicide race? No way!"
At first they were nervous, then they were curious, and then they were anxious, but now...
They were startled and became really afraid!
Hearing about them battling a dragon 'at the least' is enough to switch that panic button and kick the bucket to run away from The Company.
Just who would fight a dragon this early in the game?
"I'm very poor."
"My weak self can't handle this."
"Goodbye, sexy chicks of The Legion!"
"I'm really going to miss those girls."
"What a waste, that female captain was a chick and I saw her too late!"
"Honey, let's get out of this place."
Not only do these players and NPCs have just one or two, maybe even three –if lucky– S-Ranked weapons, these weapons ain't even of the superb grade and were just pumped out of random materials just so it could be called an elite S-Ranked Equipment.
Additionally, they would also admit that fighting even the S-Ranked Lapis Lazuli are still a pain in the ass and needed at least ten S-Ranked hunters to join in the fight to suppress it, and five more S-Ranked Hunters to focus fire and defeat it completely.
––and all of these guys are S-Ranked Hunters with experience and skills, not the average joe who only reached S-Rank because of a lucky final blow.
Fighting a dragon whose fledgling had at least twice the aggressiveness and ferociousness of the S-Ranked Lapis Lazuli...?
"Crazy!"
"This is just madness!"
"Who could fight a dragon?! Not even the Supreme Commander had fought one before!"
It was a pipe within a dream.
And we are just talking about a fledgling here. A completely matured Dragon had seldom appeared in Terroa although only the Riddler's Guise had actually battled one and even defeated it, those guys aren't here with them as such doesn't have a say to how they will decide for their careers.
Thus, it was only right to say The Company is either an ambitious bunch or misfits or a truly brave and capable group that only recruits those who they deem to be worthy to join their ranks.
"Professional Adventurers does not fear a thing!"
"Me and my crew have reached this strength by relying on ourselves so battling dragons? Nah, there's no difference whatsoever."
"Right. Bring it on!"
"Dragons are just appetizers!"
"Real men does not back down on anything!"
"Kyaaa... Captain Jack Swallow is not leaving so I'm not leaving as well. I'm riding his... bus..."
"Gyuhk!"
"Where do you think you're going, ya coward?"
"Babe, we're battling dragons if we become members of The Company. How can you stay here and treat it as if it's an exciting thing?"
"It is exciting! Hmmm... Are you planning to just abandon your primary wife alone while she battles dragons and you sit back and drink wine with your concubines?"
"The hell?! Who said I was leaving? I was just... going to the comfort room!"
"Who're you kidding?! You don't even know your SS-Number so how can you have the audacity to lie in front of me?"
"..."
No matter the reasons, while there are those who chose to run away and leave, there are those who stayed and wanted to broaden their horizons with The Company.
In fact, this kind of screening: determining the bravely curious ones from the cowards, is already a type of selection to test who are truly worthy to join The Company's ranks.
As such, only those who think they have what it takes to join The Company chose to remain.
Siva was nodding appreciatively at them.
He thought, "It is true that I will be battling a dragon next time because my black smoke skin curse is inflicted upon me by Blood Dragon God as the guardian of the keys holding his locks! I have to free myself from this curse or I won't be able to do my job properly."
Talking about Siva's statement of battling 'at least a dragon' in the future, one could only say that unless you're crazy or you're confident on your skills and abilities are you qualified to stay behind and join The Company on their missions.
And thus... the fleeing crowd.
Those who have flight suits flew away from the castle, those who are poor and don't have flight gears jumped down directly from the castle and ran all their way towards Alexandria.
Those who had the very expensive T-Devices did not spare them as they teleported away towards whatever place they have visited before that would give them their freedom.
To get away from this place, away from the crazy situation The Company is placing on them was their very priority at this moment.
Precious seconds were ticking by. The further and the earlier they get away from Dilim, the better their survival in Terroa was.
After all, [avatars] are expensive!
In fact, they have already lost all notions to think about the underlying facts on their Supreme Commander's defeat. They even abandoned the question of how Donar and Dilim became the same person.
Siva then gazed at the Rewloola far away. He swiped the air and used D'Catch as a channel to contact the comms line of that battleship.
"Commander of the Rewloola. As per agreed before the battle between me and Kladis, your ship has been won over..."
~C