Chapter 278 A Promised Fate

Those who confessed to conspiring against Immortal Skye felt vicious pangs of dread. Everyone isolated them, showcasing fear and hatred.

"I-It's your job to protect us from the Immortals!" Jessa stuttered loudly, trying to regain support, "I-If people felt safe, they wouldn't feel the need to create countermeasures."

"Hmmm…." Evalyn smiled sinisterly, narrowing her eyes and turning to a certain person, "Denzel, I hear you ran into Kiera while training.

Can you please inform these people what happened?"

Everyone turned to the charismatic dissident, who was well-loved and respected at the base, awaiting his words carefully.

Denzel felt an icy chill crawl down his spine after getting called out. Kaze told them not to talk about meeting Immortal Skye, so the team omitted all details regarding their activities.

Eric put his hand on the buff black man's shoulder, nodding. His calm reminded him why they got chosen for a special team and went to Immortal Skye.

"If you're talking about the pink-haired teenager…." Denzel swallowed nervously, "She ran into a few blocks of zombies that had chased us into a skyscraper on 48th and Spencer.

Instead of avoiding them, she used Combustion. It didn't just kill the zombies—it toppled our skyscraper. We barely escaped before it collapsed."

A chorus of gasps and skeptical whispers rippled through the troops followed his words. While the skeptics initially hesitated to believe him, their minds quickly changed.

"Wait, so that's what that smoke was!?"

"I heard the explosion!"

"I saw it; it was crazy!"

"No way! You're telling me that you survived that?"

"Bullshit! There's no way that was Combustion!"

His words instantly triggered an uproar. Some soldiers were excited, others fearful, and some called his words a lie, mostly from those practicing Combustion. Still, the image stuck in their minds.

CLAP!

Denzel was thankful when he heard the dreaded clap, regaining everyone's attention.

"You're missing the point." Evalyn said bluntly, "Due to Kiera's immense talent in cultivation and high-level breathing technique, she didn't understand her power.

As a result, she triggered a massive explosion that nearly killed herself and Denzel's team [by accident]. That's what you're failing to see.

The Immortals don't know their new strength. As a result, when they start fistfights with you, they'll forget that their hands can crumple a Maltian 827 anti-artillery tank.

Do you think that I can save you from unintentional death?"

Waves of anxiety cut through the crowd, spreading dread and doubt. After hearing about Evalyn's powerlessness, they felt even less safe.

"T-Then why are we going through hell to prove ourselves!?" Damien yelled, feeding people's anxieties, "If you can't help us, what's the point!?"

"Hmmmm… let's see…." Evalyn said cutely, finger to her lips while looking at the sky, "For starters, people like you cause fistfights. And fist fights with this much force will kill innocent people.

For example, you're currently proking someone who can kill everyone here. If I weren't aware of my strength, I'd freeze you and accidently kill the 50 innocent people surrounding you."

A web of negative synesthesia connected those standing around the man. He was proving the problem and demonstrating it.

Those around him moved further away. Not just them—those standing around Jessa, Mick, and other conspirators also moved away, leaving them isolated.

The situation went from bad to worse for the dissidents.

"Why aren't you training your people not to fight!?" One of the isolated dissidents yelled, "Why aren't you teaching them about their strength!? Manslaughter is still illegal!"

"Is that so?" Evalyn mused sinisterly, "Brandon, Carl, Sarah—care to share what happened when you ran into Rein, Steve, and Larkin the other day?"

The three's stomachs dropped, and they felt weak in the knees, watching people isolate them in real-time. It only took them a moment to realize they were in the exile group.

"W-We…." Brandon began hesitantly, shaking and pleading for mercy with his body language. Unfortunately, the Ice General had no intention of letting him go.

"Come on, tell us." Evalyn smiled cutely, "It's a good story; I'm sure it'll be a hit."

After the man had a mental breakdown, she asked Sarah and Carl. However, they also had the same reaction. All were horrified to learn they were getting exiled, and the psychological impact of large circles of empty spaces around them was profound.

Their reaction had a profound, misleading, and altogether convenient psychological effect on the innocent soldiers. After all, she asked about the experience with the Immortals, the soldiers had mental breakdowns—the image alone was haunting.

"Leo, tell everyone what happened." Evalyn smiled amusedly, "I hear you were rather reasonable about it, so I will not exile you. However, if you try to sugarcoat the facts to protect your teammates, you will join them."

"Our team of thirty ran into three people from Immortal Skye." Leo replied, averting his gaze, "They didn't attack us and were reasonable, so I tried to walk away.

However, these three insisted that we kill them because they were liabilities. When I said no, they triggered a panic and shot Guided Arrows at them."

"And what happened after that, soldier." Evalyn mused sardonically.

"One woman blocked two dozen Guided Arrows while preventing her people from killing us." Leo sighed, triggering a ripple of shocked whispers, "It was brutal.

Once she got serious, she used a technique that felt like gravity strangled us. It incapacitated all of us, making us helpless."

"Yet you're alive to tell about it." The Ice General smiled, "Tell me, Leo, why is that? Is it because the Immortals are forgiving?"

"One of them wanted to kill all of us for attacking them." The blonde-haired soldier shook his head, "The only reason we're alive is that the brunette leading them ordered him not to.

We're pretty lucky she was there. I'm surprised we're alive, given how angry she was and how justified killing us would have been."

"I am, too, considering I wasn't there to [protect you]." Evalyn smirked sarcastically, mocking the dissidents, "Let me ask you, Leo. How bad would it have sucked if these idiots got you killed despite you ordering them against fighting?"

"Pretty bad, mam." Leon swallowed nervously, taking a sharp breath and averting his gaze.

The Ice General question was the nail in the coffin for the Lainwright soldiers. They finally understood that Evalyn couldn't protect them and the brutal reality of starting fights with overpowered people.

With one story, everything she said clicked, and all support for the dissidents disappeared.

"Let me ask you again, soldiers." Evalyn said seriously, dropping her cutesy sarcasm act, "Who wants to be around these people once you assimilate with the Immortals?"

Dead silence. No one could speak, but the soldiers shook their heads and found other ways of expressing their desire to distance themselves from the dissident soldiers.

The dissidents' support base crumbled instantly, leaving them broken and alone.

"Dissident soldiers." The Ice General said authoritatively, sending shivers down their spines, "Tomorrow you will leave with Crux and me to the east with three days' supply of Soul Meat and water, survival supplies, and the techniques and training we have given you.

However, I will kill you tonight if you try to convince others to come with you, attack us, or sow discord. So I suggest you accept the clemency we've given you for your foolish crimes."

"Clemency?" Jessa laughed with madness swirling in her eyes, "You call a death sentence out there clemency? ARE YOU—"

CRAaaCK!

A massive ice ball hit the woman in the rib cage, shattering most of her ribs and sending bone shrapnel into her lungs. She wheezed on the ground, reaching for help, but the soldiers backed away in fear.

In the eerie silence, she could hear footsteps approaching her.

"H-Help… me…." Jessa gasped, reaching up her hand when she saw black boots.

"People like you cannot be saved." Evalyn said coldly, picking the shaking woman up by the collar, "They're just food for the strong and cunning."

The dissident felt her body airborne, free-flying through the air. She thought that perhaps she had died until she saw an expansive wall of blue water below her.

SPLASH!

An Orca-sized great white shark shot out of the water, smelling her blood and dying presence. Screams from shore flooded Jessa's ears as she fell into its mammoth jaws.

SNAP!

Terror and trauma spread through the crowds of soldiers, screaming and crying.

"Jessa Lancaster suffered the fate I promised she'd face a few seconds before she broke the rules!" Evalyn roared, "Immortal Skye isn't a democracy, you don't have rights, and we don't care about your opinions. Not just for you, but for the Immortals.

We're a society ruled by the strong. You will follow the orders of your superiors, abide by our laws, and keep your opinions to yourself, or you will suffer exile or death.

Your petty protests and foolish politics end here today."

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