BXBX NOVEL Chapter 337 Scythe (1)
Back in the outside world, more than a day had already passed since Ashton was headed to clear the second trial. Since then, there had been no news about him. As a result, the management thought it was another loss and was about to mark him as MIA (missing in action).
Technically, he was assumed as KIA (Killed in action), but since no one would be able to recover his corpse from the trial zone, they could only mark him as MIA. This was a common occurrence on Euphoria. People who got tough trials assumed they would be able to complete them and boldly head in. Only to find despair on the other side as they either died or went missing.
Simply because someone gets a trial, it doesn\'t mean they\'ll be able to clear it. Getting a tough trial only signifies that they had the potential of completing it. Whether it would take one attempt or hundreds depended on the examinee of the trial.
The management always made sure the examinees or the participants were aware of the risk. But they often ignored the guidelines and did what they wanted to, resulting in the loss of their lives. Ashton\'s case was about to be marked as one such unfortunate incident.
Once a person was marked MIA, the wristbands provided to them would cease working. Which would mean... even if they were able to beat the trial, they would not be able to use the return portal to get back. It was because the portal could only recognise the wristband, and not the person wearing it. In other words, all help they could receive from the wristband would cease.
Something like this was about to happen to Ashton, simply based on an assumption.
The management had to do it because they were too lazy to invest in making new wristbands along with new basic AI(s). Instead, they simply patched the old AI into a wristband, before allotting it to a new person.
Simply making the wristbands was easy and cheap. But manufacturing new AI was both Expensive as well as time taking and time was something the management did not have as thousands of new examinees entered the trial every day. They simply would not be able to keep up with the demand if they began manufacturing new AIs.
All of this was explained to Anna and the Twins, but they were not having it. Anna could feel Ashton was alive as he was her mate. She explained it to the receptionist who was \'supposedly\' handling the matter with utmost care. But he refused to listen to them.
"Why don\'t you understand!? Our lives are linked, if anything were to happen to him, I would know immediately!" Anna yelled at the receptionist who kept sighing as loudly as he could.
"Look, ma\'am, we have a policy. No contact for 24 hours means the person has gone missing. We can\'t keep on wasting our resources on every weak-ass moron-"
He barely said that when Anna grabbed him by his neck and effortlessly lifted him off of his seat. The person looked terrified to the limit he did not even try to fight back. Well, even if he had tried, there were two more ladies with their swords out who would have chopped him to pieces.
Unfortunately for the ladies, the place was filled with guards, who immediately rushed in to stop the girls from causing a mess. The soldiers had already heard the tale of what happened to Lady Otiga\'s special force a couple of nights ago.
Thus, they did not want to mess with them initially and were a bit hesitant before taking action against the Succubus.
But it wasn\'t like they could skip out from doing their duty. Especially when so many people were watching them. They had already been turned into a joke after what the one named Ashton did to the third monarch.
If they wanted to preserve whatever semblance of authority they had, they had to make an example out of the ladies to make sure no one else even thought about causing a ruckus. Not even the strongest of them all.
"Put the man down and surrender yourselves." The force\'s captain yelled, "Failing to comply would result in a painful learning experience for you and an entertainment session for us."
"Pain can be entertaining too, don\'t you think so, Leon?"
"Who the hell- Lady Otiga, how can I help you?" The captain\'s tone changed instantly when he saw Otiga and her guards along with Leon.
"Hm... It is none of your concern, captain. Take your men out for a patrol while I do my business here." Otiga replied without even sparring the man a look, "My men would be taking over your duties till I accomplish what I came here for."
"But, my lady, I\'m sure you know the guards can\'t leave their assigned-" The captain tried to argue but was immediately received a verbal slap across the face by Leon.
"I am your commander, I can make or break as many rules as I please. Either you follow Lady Otiga\'s command, or I\'ll station you someplace where you and your soldiers would beg me to kill you. Is that what you want?"
Honestly, Leon did not give a shit about what happened to that bastard called Ashton. However, since Otiga was still suspicious of him, he was forced to play the good guy.
"N-No, sir! You heard the orders! Let\'s go!"
The captain saluted Leon and ran out of the place as if their asses were on fire. Once everything had called down, Otiga placed her hand on Anna\'s shoulders.
"Hurting him wouldn\'t make your man come any faster." She whispered in Anna\'s ear, "Why don\'t you let me handle this mess, hm?"
\'Her man?\'
The twins looked at each other with confused eyes. But they realised what Otiga meant a moment later. Irina was visibly confused and upset, but Verina smiled before nudging her. Being the mature one among the two, Verina knew it wasn\'t the time to discuss such a thing and hushed Irina while Anna let go of the receptionist.
As soon as the receptionist\'s feet hit the ground, he was ready to get his revenge. How dare someone from a lowly civilisation to touch him without his permission? But before he could do anything, Lady Otiga interrupted him.
p
"My lady, what pleasure do I owe to have you here?" Riksha faked the most sincere smile that he could.
"It\'s related to the man you are so intended on screwing over," Otiga replied with a straight face.
"I-I don\'t understand what you are saying, my lady." Riksha was clearly flustered... as expected, he was hiding something, "Why would I do something like that to a participant I have never even seen before?"
"Do I need to spell it out for you? I gave Ashton Fenrir a special task to accomplish inside the trial zone. That\'s the reason his wristband is acting weirdly." Otiga replied, "Until he finishes the trial, no one is allowed to pull the trigger on him. Is that clear?"
"I\'m not sure if I can-"
"Correct me if I\'m wrong, but the Abandonment rule has not been forced so strictly ever before. Then why now? People have been given a chance to prove themselves before, some even have cleared a trial well after a week had passed from the allotted time period."
She continued, "I know it very well because I was one of them. Then would you mind telling me why are you being so persistent about pulling the plug as soon as 24 hours have passed?"
"My lady, it\'s not like that. We need those AIs to allot them to new-"
Otiga sighed heavily and the man felt like his life was coming to an end, "Seriously? Pull the record of a single person other than Ashton Fenrir who wants to attempt Ursa\'s trial. Just one and I\'ll let you mark Mr Fenrir as MIA."
The man gulped down his saliva, but the lump in his throat took a while to disappear. He did not have an answer for her.
After all, it wasn\'t every day a lowly worker like him got to witness an upper six monarch so closely, let alone argue with her. As for her request, even if it was reasonable, he could not do as she told him to.
Riksha had already made a deal with Jacklin to get rid of the man in question as soon as he could for any possible reason. The money he was supposed to get had also been transferred to his account. If he backed out now, Jacklin would stop at nothing and his lackeys would most definitely end him.
The choice would have been simple if it was someone other than Lady Otiga stopping him. Since Jacklin was the third seat and Otiga was the fifth, usually, anyone would have supported the one with the higher seat.
But with Otiga in the picture, things were not as simple. She might have been weaker than Jacklin in terms of seats, and strength. However, she possessed the strongest and most reliable intelligence network in the Orion belt. This meant, she had strong backers, and the monarch of the first seat was one of them.
\'Tsk... no matter what I do, I\'ll end up putting my life in danger.\' The man thought, \'But in hindsight... doing as Lady Otiga wants, would be more beneficial. She might even protect me from that dumbass gorilla.\'
Seeing the man hesitate was all Otiga needed to confirm her suspicions. Someone was behind all this drama and she could already guess who was the culprit behind it.
\'I\'ll take care of him later... for now, I have to save Ashton. I\'m sure he would become a strong being in the future, and then I\'ll be able to cash in the help I give him today.\'
Otiga cleared her throat before speaking, "What\'s it going to be?"
"Ahem, since Mr Fenrir is completing a special task for you, I think I can give him a week or two. No one would give a shit about a missing wristband anyway... hehe."
A wave of happiness washed over the girls. But none of them was as elated as Anna. She was happy, but she immediately masked her emotions. She was certain someone like Otiga would not go out of her way to help them without seeking some sort of benefit.
"Thank you." Otiga gave the man her signature smile before turning towards the girls, "See, you don\'t always need swords and strength to get your point across. Now, while Ashton completes the trial, why don\'t you ladies join me for lunch?"
"Hm... I don\'t see why not."
Anna took her up on the offer, not because she wanted to get close to Otiga or something, but because she wanted to know why was Otiga being so helpful.