Fallen Chronicles

A verrry long chapter :3

Enjoy the drama eheheh~

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Maria took a look inside Sea Sand Bar.

She saw the virtual world that Zero had made, where people looked like statues.

And the thing that caught her eye the most was the huge robot—Renji, who Zero was standing in front of. The nun was instantly focused on it.

At first, Maria just looked confused.

That changed when she saw the face of the "big robot"—the only part that Zero kept the same, the only thing that looked like the old Renji.

Maria froze for a sec.

A moment later, she looked down, and her hair covered her face so no one could see her expression.

However, on her opposite side,

The remaining six members of the "Emergency Medical Squad" quickly drew their weapons. In the blink of an eye, six targeting red dots locked onto the nun, each pinpointing her vital areas, ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

The "Emergency Medical Squad" was famous not only for their medical expertise but also for their combat capabilities. A legendary tale about the squad told of two large arms dealers in the "Mechanical Alliance" who, due to business competition, led one to kidnap the daughter of the other. This triggered the "Platinum Package" of the "Emergency Medical Squad" on the young lady. Within minutes, the fully armed squad stormed the kidnapper's headquarters, killing the entire armed force, and successfully rescued the kidnapped lady.

After that incident, no one in the "Mechanical Alliance" dared not to insure with the "Emergency Medical Squad." After all, no one wanted to be wiped out by an opposing squad while they were on a rescue mission.

[Warning! Aggressive behavior detected! Drop your weapon immediately, raise your hands, identify yourself and state your intentions. Otherwise, you will be considered a hostile target by our 'Emergency Medical Squad'!]

[Warning! Warning!]

The eyes of the six emergency maids flashed with a dangerous red light, and their cold, mechanical voices echoed throughout the Sea Sand Bar.

However, to their response…

"How dare you..."

Maria finally spoke.

She lifted her downturned head, revealing bloody red eyes and a terrifyingly distorted expression.

A dense red fog, symbolic of "Tainted Miasma" energy began to surround Maria. Her sharp nails pierced through her pure white gloves, and her nun's hat vanished, replaced by a crown of thorns that seemed woven from fresh blood and slaughter.

She got very angry, like an exploding volcano, and screamed it out.

"How dare you... turn my beloved Lord Ashen…"

"Into such a..."

"MONSTR!"

Upon arriving at Sea Sand Bar following the Knight Order's report, Maria knew she had found the right place. After all, in this world, there was only one person who could make "them" - the five of them - move out, regardless of the distance: Their Emperor-Ashen.

Even though the nun knew that the young man was not real, but just a "copy projection" created by Zero's abilities, she still found it unbearable and was infuriated.

Following the nun's heartbreaking roar, more tainted red fog burst out from her body.

The background of the entire Sea Sand Bar turned bloody red at this moment. On the screen of Zero's VR panel, the level of "tainted miasma" pollution was detected to be at grade A.

[Data anomaly]

[Reanalyzing enemy identity]

The moment Maria appeared, Zero had already identified her as a member of the "Light Bearers" through database comparison. Her identity was an "Eclipse" secretly trained by the Holy Kingdom Church, often operating in secret.

But as the situation unfolded, with Maria's speech and her attitude towards Emperor Ashen's projection, coupled with the tainted aura emanating from the nun, Zero overturned her previous conclusion.

After a brief second of calculation, Zero identified Maria's true identity.

[Suthia, the tainted energy on your body have exceeded the critical value. Please immediately remove your spirit from this body that doesn't belong to you. Continuing like this will cause irreversible severe pollution to you]

As soon as Zero's words fell, the nun's figure had disappeared. In the next second, a head was thrown into the air, forming an arc, and rolled to Zero's feet.

Correspondingly, one of the "Emergency Medical Squad" now had a bare neck, with only sparks flying from the severed part.

As the maid fell, Maria - no, Suthia - appeared behind her. In her hand, a blood scythe made entirely of " Miasma" materialized, the very weapon that had just beheaded the maid.

With her actions, she made her stance clear to Zero.

If before, Suthia had any hesitation or indecision deep inside her about the idea of "monopolizing" Renji,

Now, after witnessing Zero's "atrocities" planned for Renji, Suthia had absolutely no regrets or second thoughts.

In fact, she felt a strange joy.

Because

Just as she had thought,

Once Her Lord lost his power, those "hypocritical lovers" would reveal their true colors, ready to betray Her Lord in his time of need.

(((That's only her imagination because of the tainted miasma))

And that's when Suthia, who's totally head-over-heels for her Lord Ashen, steals the spotlight! She goes all out to prove she's been truly in love with him the whole time!

Suthia grinned like a madwoman, but her eyes were blazing with rage.

Seeing Zero again made her remember memories from 500 years ago— Memories she wanted to forget but couldn't.

"Hehhehheh~... Zero, even now, you still want to pretend to be this harmless good-natured person in front of me?"

"I was too naive back then. Because I trusted that mask of yours, you stole from me—the right to help Lord Ashen changing his clothes, the right to help him bathe, clean, cook, make his bed... all the rights to assist him in daily life!"

Zero: [Suthia, as a domestic android maid, these are naturally my tasks]

"But those tasks were originally mine, ALL MINE!"

Suthia's furious yell cut Zero off.

"And what about after that? When Lord Ashen gave you the 'Branding' that should have been mine too, he gave you the 'Tainted Crystals' that should have increased my power, and even took away my favorite ring? That ring was my equipment, a token of love between me and MY LORD. You had no right to wear my ring!"

"Is all of this also your job?"

Faced with the nun's questioning, Zero calmly responded: [Suthia, Master at that time was only reasonably allocating resources. Your healing abilities are indeed powerful, but during that period, Master needed stronger offensive capabilities. That's why he chose Me and Nova]

[Furthermore, Master did not forget about you. After each battle, he would still give you some 'Tainted Crystals' and even left you a share of the precious 'Eclipsing Essence' helping you unlock your potential so you could keep up with us in terms of ranking. Even though, in my view, this was completely a waste of resources]

Zero's last remark about "wasting resources" undoubtedly hurt Suthia deeply.

It reminded her of the times she had to watch as her Lord went off to battle with other Eclipses, while she could only silently stay behind. During those countless lonely nights, she would reminisce about their early days fighting side by side. The more she remembered, the more painful it was for Suthia.

She desperately wanted to continue being by her Lord's side, yearning to continue fighting alongside him. But as Zero said, her divine light could only bring healing, while Emperor Ashen at that time needed fire power.

"Hehehe, Zero, you're right. I was foolish 500 years ago. It was my foolishness that gave opportunistic newcomers like you the chance to snatch Lord Ashen away from me!"

"But I'm different now, Zero. Do you see? I've learned to kill as well. I can reap lives just like you. If that's what Lord Ashen wants, then who cares if I forsake the divine light?"

As she spoke, Suthia, as if to prove her point, vanished and reappeared behind another member of the 'Emergency Medical Squad.'

These maids are real mechanical androids, made entirely of artificial bodies. Their strength varies according to the package level of the client. Silver-tier packages come with D-level bodies, Gold-tier with C-level, and the highest Platinum-tier packages feature terrifying B-level bodies that cost millions in Ashen currency.

The strength granted by these artificial bodies is generally a rank lower than that of the Eclipses. So, a B-level android is comparable to a 'Danger Rank' Eclipse. In today's world, where the concentration of Tainted Miasma has significantly decreased, a 'Danger Rank' Eclipse is quite rare. Yet, this 'Emergency Squad' had the combat power of seven such Eclipses!

This amount of power could dominate many smaller factions in the world. However, it was completely insignificant in front of Suthia, even as she "borrowed" another's body.

Although the neural reflexes of the B-level androids were fast, they couldn't keep up with Suthia's scythe. Another maid's head was sent flying through the air.

The remaining four maids didn't panic, an advantage of being mechanical and not swayed by emotions. They took advantage of a momentary lapse in Suthia's attack to fire at her, who was shrouded in a red mist.

Their weapons were also high-grade, produced by 'Kael Technology' Each bullet had a 'Kinetic Accelerator,' and the guns were equipped with 'Ballistic Synchronization' chips, offering tracking and ricochet features with a 90% accuracy rate.

Unfortunately, even the most accurate bullets were useless if they can't penetrate the target's defenses. The red mist surrounding Suthia acted like a resilient net, stopping all the kinetic bullets, preventing them from advancing any further.

Next, Suthia swung her scythe again, striking these bullets and sending them back along their original paths at high speed.

Bang, bang, bang!*

Two of the maids were unfortunately turned into sieves by their own bullets. The last two members of the 'Emergency Squad,' seeing that their long-range attacks were ineffective, dropped their firearms to engage in close-quarters combat.

Even though the remaining maids were equipped with the latest military-grade S-11 Brain-Computer Combat Chips, claiming them to be killing machines capable of taking on hundreds wouldn't be an exaggeration. However, even killing machines have their limits. Their so-called combat skills seemed like jokes in the face of the overwhelming power gap, turning them into mere toys for Suthia.

After thoroughly "playing" with them, dismembering them from arm to thigh, Suthia tossed their sparking remnants aside.

The appetizer was over; Zero was saved for last as the main course.

Zero looked at the figure in front of her, who had drifted so far from the image of a 'nun' and now resembled a brutal demon. She spoke:

[Information updated: Suthia. I can confirm that your sanity has been completely tainted by the Tainted Miasma energy. You are now an S-rank threat to Master and are designated as a hostile target]

[If there's a shred of sanity left in you, I hope you stay as far away from Master as possible. Otherwise, you and your Holy Kingdom will face a declaration of war from the entire Mechanical Alliance. I will not hand over Master to you]

Suthia just chuckled dismissively at Zero's threat, continuing to close in on her.

Remaining composed, Zero said, [You should know that I am merely a projection of a virtual consciousness. Even if you kill me, it changes nothing. Give up. All records and footage related to you and Master have been uploaded to a database with the highest level of security protocols. You can no longer monopolize Master]

"Really? Zero, it seems even you can be careless. Why do you think I've been talking so much, deliberately telling you how I've changed, 'performing' a battle in front of you? Do you think I want to waste precious time on you?"

As Suthia spoke, she had already reached Zero, grabbing her virtual neck. The moment she touched Zero's projection, the outcome was decided.

She had won.

Because—

[You—]

Zero rarely showed such intense emotional fluctuations. She began to struggle, finally understanding the meaning behind Suthia's words.

'How did I forget? Suthia's ability was not the killing type, but divine light. And as Suthia advanced, that divine light became not just a healing ability but also a power of control'

The moment she realized that Suthia had taken over Maria's body, she should have known that Suthia's abilities had evolved again, in an even more dangerous direction—[possession].