096. Establishment - 40

096. Establishment - 40

After the meeting with Zolast, I went back to my room, wanting to catch some sleep. Technically, I could have pushed myself more without sleep, but it was not a good idea to push myself needlessly.

I needed to be fresh to meet a potential emergency.

Going to sleep was easy. Living the life I had, going to sleep as needed was a life skill I had gained long ago, one that helped me greatly many times.

What surprised me was what followed.

I had found myself floating in space watching a great battle going on, monsters, creatures, and armored figures fighting against each other, the battlefield too chaotic to make sense of it immediately. Soon, however, I was able to separate the lines.

There were two sides to the battle. One side clearly belonged to the gods. The number of cries, asking for the blessings of the gods, only to end up dead, made that aspect clear. The second side of the battle was shrouded in darkness, but the parts I could see showed that they were abominable enough to be classified as cosmic horror.

Yet, despite the great show, I didn't focus on the battles for long, shifting it to the lucid nature of it.

I could feel the familiar sense of separation as Resilience stood between my mind and the dream, preventing the emotions it generated from impacting me. And, considering Resilience didn't work on my own emotions but worked excellently to block Charisma effects, it was conclusive evidence of its external nature.

Someone was sending me that dream. I already have a guess about the source, but I avoided thinking about it, or reacting anyway just watching the show without moving.

No need to show my hand early.

As I watched, the war got more and more intense, the armies of the gods pushing through the abominations covering the space, but doing so only with great sacrifices meanwhile, the floating figures of the gods stayed behind, dismissive of the deaths of their worshippers Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

Then, the battle shifted, and the next scene was between the cosmic abominations and the gods, their battle destroying the planet until suddenly, a different god, one that was covered in a red energy appeared.

"Enough, you have destroyed enough in your greed, false divines," the red figure declared, and as he raised his hand, he captured the abominations and the army of the gods at the same time.

"Set, do you think we won't punish you for your insolence. How dare you betray our covenant!"

"The covenant was to protect the mortals against the predictions of the Titans, not to consume them for our power!" Set said.

"Do you want us to copy you? Accept the power of the chaos, to be tortured by it every second, just to protect the lives of the mortals. Nonsense!"

I climbed to the roof quickly, which I had designed with a seat, though not before pouring myself a glass of hard alcohol. With my Vitality, the best I could get was a temporary buzz, but it was better than nothing.

Then, I concealed myself on the roof and started watching the show, with no intention of showing myself. It was a test, after all.

I had seen two gangs had already pushed into our territory with all of their members, while the third one had only several, and every single one of them was wounded. The wounded ones were looking at Mahruss angrily, which gave me an idea about the source of the conflict.

He probably pulled the trick I had outlined, dealing with the first gang.

Interestingly, rather than pulling back, the two gangs chose to confront us more directly. Right in front of our casinos, which was surprisingly daring, as it meant we were free to retaliate as much as we wanted, and the guards had to support us though, currently, there was a suspicious lack of guards.

My mind went to the trouble I had while going through the inner gates. It seemed that the relief we earned was already over.

"It's time to pay for your arrogance," one of the leaders shouted, and moved forward. "Come and fight like a proper warrior rather than ambushing others like cowards."

"Oh, how can I ambush someone right in front of my own building. Why don't you ask them what they were trying to do right in the middle of our territory," Mahruss answered, which started a lengthy discussion.

That triggered a lengthy argument that included insults toward family, honor, and many different factors a fifteen-minute commotion that people watched from the side, culminating in a declaration of the duel by them, which Mahruss accepted.

Expecting them to send a hired thug with a higher level, I prepared to intervene but the man that walked forward was weak. If it wasn't for my Perception, I might have thought that their champion was good at hiding his potential, but that was clearly not the case.

I ignored the temptation to assume that it was the incompetence of my enemies, giving us a free win. The gangs were certainly incompetent enough to deliver such a move but not the people behind them to surround our territory to suffocate us.

They must have some kind of trick. I looked around, trying to find where such a trick could come from.

Soon, I noticed the source. A man, dressed in grey robes, the hood keeping his face hidden, jumped from roof to roof, until he arrived at the same roof I was watching, carrying a bow. It was not an ordinary bow, I ascertained at a glance. It was a magical weapon, one with a higher quality than my dagger. He had two quivers, the larger one filled with ordinary arrows, while the large one filled with ordinary ones.

For a moment, I expected him to use the opportunity to attack Mahruss, turning it into a raid that would see the casino destroyed. A clumsy move, but it would still ruin our income for weeks first to repair the building, the second to build a new clientele and convince them such an attack wouldn't repeat.

but then, I noticed he was aiming at the other gang leader. A magical arrow, came from our roof to kill an opposing leader. And, suddenly, I had a feeling that he had just joined Night Blades officially as well.

My enemies were getting restless since we were still playing passively.

It seemed that I needed to teach them a lesson.