Chapter 201 Kill Yourself

The gym froze when they heard General Peyton's order to kill the civilians. Everyone fixed their eyes on Riley, staring at her walkie-talkie in a trance.

Neither she nor anyone else could believe what they had just heard.

However, getting lost in one's thoughts was impossible because of the screams of the wounded. For that reason, the world accelerated, and many civilians felt panic grip their hearts.

However, before they could say anything or act—

"Are you fucking joking me!?" Riley screamed into the walkie-talkie, making the room freeze again, "You attacked Immortal Skye erratically, lost, and now you want us to massacre the winner's people for your incompetence!? With zero respect, go kill yourself!"

—the redhead told Malta's top general to kill himself.

Her mind was already aggressive, and hearing his genocidal order tipped her over the edge.

"What did you just say to me!?" General Peyton roared.

"To. Kill. Your. Self." Riley sounded out explicitly, "I'm being dead serious.

You attacked a powerful non-hostile group in panic, and now you're asking us to massacre thousands of their non-hostile people because you lost?

That's irrational and genocidal and proves your overwhelming incompetence. Do the world a favor, and kill... your... self!"

The man on the other side of the line flipped out and smacked an alcohol bottle off his desk, making it crash into objects in the room.

"Are you prepared to die, soldier!?" General Peyton roared, "If you don't follow your orders when soldiers strip you of your command, you'll face a firing—"

"I look forward to meeting these mythical soldiers." Riley laughed aggressively, "Unlike you, your soldiers are busy killing themselves. So you're out of hands.

Let's add delusional to the kill-yourself reasons list. I should've started with that!"

"There's twenty of you!" The general scoffed, "Even if things are out of control, I'll have more than enough soldiers to kill you and everyone else there.

If this lawlessness continues, everyone will die, so—"

Thud! CRUNCH!

The redhead threw the walkie-talkie to the floor and stomped it, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and then looked at everyone in the gym.

"Listen up, civilians!" Riley yelled aggressively, "I just threw you a lifeline and accelerated your death warrant—whether you live or die is in your hands!"

A pulse of anxiety and primal fear blew through everyone, leaving them feeling weak and disoriented.

"I just made us a friend of your allies and an enemy of your enemy." She explained, "So if you help us, we have every incentive to help you survive.

However, if you panic and don't help us, you will die when hundreds of cultivator soldiers show up with machine guns to mow you and your children down!"

"Are you insane!?" A civilian man yelled, running forward.

Bang! THUD!

The man dropped when a bullet flew threw his skull.

"If anyone else wants to attempt killing 3,500 people, step forward!" Riley yelled, aiming at another aggressive person, "We need you; you need us!

Anyone who would try starting shit right now is trying to kill everyone!"

"As opposed to who!?" A civilian woman yelled, "You!? You just triggered people to come to kill us!"

"No, I just saved this place from becoming a massacre site in two ways simultanously!" The redhead scoffed, "And I did that despite going insane. What's your excuse!?"

Everyone fell silent in shock except those screaming in pain or the crying acquaintances of the man who had just died.

"That's right; you have none!" Riley spat, "Here's reality: if you want to live, protect a thousand women and children cultivating.

If your cultivation technique feeds on this level of stress, we'll all calm down.

You have one minute to make that happen, or we'll walk out that door. We're not waiting for people to wire this building with explosives, so choose now!"

While many soldiers and civilians were discontented with her, hundreds agreed and started to act without consensus.

***

The room radiated a vibrant shade of green, washing over everyone present. Calming Respire, like Forced Tranquility, fed off Spirit Qi released by stress.

With the constant screams of the wounded, the massacre order, and the impending force of soldiers showing up, the stress in the atmosphere was nearly palpable.

So when hundreds of cultivators used the technique, it created a cataclysmic chain reaction that instantly calmed every person in the room.

"Thank you." Riley opened her eyes after a deep breath and gazed at the civilians, each far calmer. "I'm putting down my weapons and walking to cultivate near you.

If I don't trust you, I'll die. If you take revenge on me, we'll all die. So think about this rationally."

Thankfully, the citizens were far more rational. As a result, when she walked with another three soldiers to them without weapons, they let her in and sit down.

***

Riley opened her eyes, clear-minded. The breathing technique that the citizens had was incredible.

While it had less power than the technique Kaze had given the military, the calming effects allowed the person to make the most of it and learn cultivation.

As a result, it was far more effective and gave a person far more Qi!

"Soldiers." She said, join us without your weapons, "We'll be undefended. Now that I'm calm, I realize there was very little chance we'd be able to cultivate without this. So we must trust them."

The soldiers gulped hesitantly, stressed and mentally twisted. However, the calming effects allowed them to get over their aversions and walk to areas containing sympathetic civilians.

***

After ten minutes of cultivating, Riley's ears twitched.

-

"Wire it, quickly!"

"Be quiet! I can't do anything with you yelling at me!"

"What's worse? My orders, or having gunshots in your ears when the sick rush us!?"

-

"Soldiers are here, trying to wire the place with C4." The redhead announced quietly, "We need soldiers or civilians with shooting experience to kill them. We're going to do that now."

"You're just making an excuse to leave." A civilian scoffed.

"You're just—"

"Shut up and listen!" Major Wheatfield, a blonde soldier, snapped, "You have better hearing, right?"

-

"How long will it take? I think they heard us!"

"I-I don't know. I'm trying, but it's impossible to concentrate!"

"Gah, this Qi is killing us! I can't take it!"

-

Panic washed over the civilians when they searched for the voices and found them.

"Major Meyers, take two soldiers and care of it!" Riley snapped, "Major Wheatfield, scout to figure out the sniper situation.

Everyone else, sit put and be quiet unless you want paranoia to kill you."

She led an elite team with battle and apocalypse experience, so they immediately shot into action without question.

After posting up and giving a signal, Lieutenant Rhodes, the brunette who panicked and gave threats, laid down on the floor, pointing her weapon at the north side door.

"One… two… three…."

Randy's soldier pulled the flag poles out of the bars, and he opened one of the doors.

Time slowed when sunlight shot into the room, exposing a dozen soldiers with machine guns drawn. Everyone panicked, but their worlds moved faster than the others.

All the soldiers and citizens were strong cultivators, and they were all calm and rational. So by the time the enemy soldiers noticed the door was open and aimed—

Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat!

—enemy soldiers dropped onto the training ground dirt as Lieutenant Rhodes unloaded an entire clip on them.

Those who circled the outer wall looked in and saw thousands of people in the bleachers but missed the brunette lying on the ground.

Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Click. Click. Chick. Thud. Chick. Che Chech. Ratatat!

Once her clip ran out, she used superhuman speed to release the empty clip, grab a spare on her waist, load it, chamber a round, and continue fluidly.

The civilians shivered at the sight. Only one woman shot, but she had killed three dozen soldiers effortlessly while the other soldiers calmly waited to move out.

That could have been them.

"Have we killed enough soldiers to prove ourselves?" Riley asked rhetorically, standing up and motioning for the soldiers to get their weapons, "We'll secure a route; get leadership figured out and get ready to leave."

-

"Is it ready!?"

"Y-Yeah, it's good to go. Send the order for Alpha to trigger theirs!"

"Okay, I'll radio it—"

-

"Not enough time." The redhead said, hearing the panicked soldiers rushing their explosives operation.

She waved her hand, and a bolt of raw Qi developed before her. It was tiny compared to those made by Immortals, but the technique was familiar. "Guided Arrow!"

A rush of wind shot across the room as the bolt flew forward, crashing into the wall where the demolition specialists were wiring the explosives.

BOOM!

Chunks of debris and concrete shot from the impact, blowing a barrel-sized hole in the wall.

Guided Arrow was the technique that Kaze traded to the military, alongside the breathing techniques. And, while it was underpowered compared to the Immortals using it, it was comically overpowered by mortal standards.

So when the soldiers saw the bolt continue after shooting through the specialists, leaving only their legs, they froze.

"Now." Randy whispered.

Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat! Ratatat!

Without warning, the allied soldiers ran out and unloaded on the people outside the walls.

There were sixty enemy soldiers on the north side, and their ranks were decimated in a moment.

More soldiers posted on the south side of the gym, Riley's end, began barking orders to get into position.

"Why aren't you doing something about it!?" A brunette civilian yelled.

"Shut up!" The redhead warned, "There are snipers on that side of the wall! So we need to listen and find the demolition specialists, so keep it down!"

The woman and others began panicking, but civilian leaders covered their mouths and held them down.

BOOOOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOM

Chunks of concrete fell from the ceiling onto the corners of the gym as explosives went off.

"To the northwest corner!" Riley barked, motioning to the side of the room where Randy's team was and the corner they cleared out.

While they had stopped three bombs from triggering, another three went off, making the foundation in the room shaky.

Many ran instantly, but those that stayed suffered from flying falling ceiling debris.

"Che." Riley clicked her tongue when she saw two dozen civilians die from falling debris. "I wish there wasn't any dead weight!"

Thud!

The redhead shot across the room to the civilian side at lightning speed after dropping her assault rifle. Before anyone knew what was happening, she scooped up the wounded gentleman from the beginning and grabbed his wife.

They flew back to the other side as part of the wall collapsed.

While there were less than forty casualties from the debris, the collapsed roof exposed a sniper nest.

Boom!

"Gah!"

THUD-thud.

A civilian's chest exploded when a 50-caliber round shot through it.

Boom!

THUD-thud.

Another civilian dropped to the ground, a female.

Boom!

THUD-thud.

Riley turned and created a bolt of Qi. "Guided Arrow!"

A massive line of Qi ripped through the sky, following her eyesight.

BOOM!

The sniper exploded, making the other gunners duck for cover.

"Guided Arrow!"

Another Qi bolt shot out, this one from Major Wheatfield. BOOM!

Enemy soldiers froze when they realized everyone on the team was elite with the Guided Arrow technique, which was heavily restricted from use.

However, the soldiers didn't hesitate.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The allied soldiers switched to single-round fire to conserve ammo and began unloading on the dozens waiting behind the collapsed walls.

Unfortunately, the enemies weren't just sitting around.

Ratatatatatatat! Ratatatatatatatatatat! Ratatat!

Civilians and soldiers dropped to the ground, leaving pools of blood.

"Civilians, grab and distribute guns!" Riley barked, "There's not enough soldiers to kill everyone!"

A few adrenaline-stricken civilians, stuck in a fight-or-flight response loop, shot forward and grabbed enemy guns, including the brave teen who offered to cultivate.

He grabbed weapons and flew back to throw them at civilians.

"Hurry! There's more running over here!"

"You can run fast and see in slow motion!" Riley yelled, "That's enough to give you an advantage, even without experience!"

***

The soldiers and civilians ran through the military base with the civilians.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" A female soldier yelled, running at them. She was sick with bloodshot eyes.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Click.

"Give me another weapon!" Randy yelled, reaching out his hand aimlessly after her.

Bang! Bang! Click!

"I need one, too!"

Docile civilians with weapons handed them guns dropped by combatants.

Ratatatatatatat!

A dust storm exploded as a sentry shot into the mass of civilians, killing dozens.

"Sentry!" Lieutenant Rhodes yelled, "They're up—"

Ratatatatat!

The brunette exploded as a hail of 50-caliber bullets riddled her body, traumatizing people.

"Guided Arrow!" Riley roared, sweating heavily

BOOM!

After the Qi hit the sentry post, the entire place exploded into concrete rubble.

The redhead took deep breaths, everyone concerned by her Qi deprivation.

"We move forward!" She yelled, "We're not far from the storehouse!"

***

BOOM!

An explosive charge exploded around a door.

Ratatatatatatat! Ratatatatatatatatatat! Ratatat!

Without warning, Riley's soldiers and civilians blew through a door and unloaded machine gun fire on dozens of people posted inside a warehouse.

Lacking concentration and cultivation skills, the enemy soldiers stood no chance.

While their guns were posted at the door, awaiting enemies, they still only killed a couple of dozen before they got overrun by numbers.

When the smoke settled, Randy walked forward with Riley on his back and sat her on the floor. "Cultivate."

***

An hour later, Major Wheatfield passed the redhead a walkie-talkie, and she turned the frequency to a standard one that every leader knew.

CHheeRrreeRrr!

"General Peyton, this is Riley Lycan." Riley said coldly, "My forces and I currently control the food supply warehouse.

Unless you're prepared to bomb your food storage and make all the living soldiers die of starvation, you will follow our demands."

The area fell silent for a few minutes before the walkie-talkie lit up.

CHheeRrreeRrr!

"This is General Peyton." A drunk voice called out, "State your demands."

"First, you will publicly surrender over the intercoms and emergency walkie-talkie frequencies." Riley said chillingly, "Second, you will come to face us—and kill yourself."

-

—Present Time, Immortal Skye—

The conference room fell silent when they heard how the civilians died. As things turned out, she had only killed and injured a few, which impressed the emperor.

However, when they heard her final statement, many were perplexed and horrified.

Kaze was interested, as he wanted to know whether she was trying to get on his good graces or if it was something else. "Why demand he take his own life?"

"People negotiate best when they're under the chopping block." Riley argued, "So long as we are in that warehouse, he is safe. So by demanding he kill himself, we threatened his life."

"Clever." The emperor smiled, "So that's the current situation?"

"Correct." The redhead nodded somberly. "We've steadily amassed allies by giving them supplies and kept the pressure on General Peyton.

The only thing preventing a drastic confrontation is your threat of killing everyone and your request to speak to us.

We have supplies for now, but hundreds are wounded and dying. We must do something soon, or the situation will turn dire for everyone."