BXBX NOVEL Chapter 517 You Never Had A Chance (3)
After dealing with the President, there wasn\'t much Ashton had to do except one thing. Corpsification gas was running rampant in the atmosphere. As such, most of his forces couldn\'t enter the cities.
Moreover, the barrier encasing the gas could disappear at any moment. If that were to happen, tons of smoke would escape into the environment. Ashton didn\'t even want to imagine the catastrophic results of such a disaster.
While he could release the cure in the air, just like He had done in Contingency, it would lead to the annihilation of the undead altogether. Despite his rage, the logical side of his mind refused to commit genocide on such a scale.
"Bismark," Ashton called for the lich, "Gather everyone and consume as much smoke as possible in fifteen minutes."
Thankfully, Ashton had his undead to support him. Consuming the gas would permanently increase their stats by leaps and bounds.
Now that he had dealt with everything on earth, he could focus solely on strengthening his soldiers. With a bounty on his head, it was the only logical move to make.
As for the fifteen-minute time limit, Ashton couldn\'t allow his summons to gobble everything and had to get stronger himself. Besides, since he couldn\'t level up before evolving, this was an excellent opportunity to raise his stats. As such, wasting all the smoke on the summons was irrational.
"I\'ll get right to it," Bismark commented before gliding away.
Seeing Bismark comply so quickly when it came to gaining strength was funny. But it wasn\'t surprising, considering the fucker sold his soul in exchange for more power.
***
In roughly an hour, the undead skies were clear of any \'toxic substance\'. Just like that, the final wall of defence was down, sending the undead cabinet into a frenzy.
The citizens were panic-stricken. Uncertainty related to one\'s life always tends to have that sort of effect. It would seem the undead populous had not been informed about their impending doom. Thus, they panicked when they saw Ashton and his forces entering their cities.
They waited for the army to push them back, but unfortunately for them, as for the last hour, the military no longer existed. They were on their own. However, they were just ordinary citizens and couldn\'t do much against the invaders.
However, they couldn\'t contain their excitement when the humans learned about the \'invasion\'. Out of the three dominant civilisations, the humans living amongst the undead had it worst.
While the cities were being invaded, unbeknownst to everyone, Raven slipped into the cabinet building, assassinating the pro-President regime. It was the compromise Anna had to make for Ashton to spare the undead soldiers.
The choice between hundreds of innocent soldiers and a dozen corrupt leaders was an easy one to make. Either way, if Ashton wanted to make a stable government under his image, he had to replace the existing cabinet. Therefore, killing them off was like killing two birds with a stone.
"Inform her to make the announcement now while everything\'s under control," Ashton mumbled.
Viper immediately left to fetch the President\'s daughter, who was still under Ashton\'s influence. The President\'s evil deeds would now witness the light of the day before Ashton delivered his judgement to the \'former\' President.
"Citizens of Nirvana, today marks the day the old regime ends for the better," Hana\'s voice boomed through every square and county of Nirvana, "Today marks the rise of a new era! A time of prosperity for all, humans and undead alike."
Draped in a white robe, Hana looked enchanting. The next leader needed to look good while addressing the nation, and her simple yet elegant attire would resonate with the announcement she was about to deliver.
"I\'m aware of the emotional turmoil, the uncertainty you\'re feeling, but today I stand here to ensure everyone this is not the end, but a new beginning."
The citizens were confused but kept listening as Hana addressed them. After all, she was the only source of information they had in the time of bewilderment.
"My father, the former President," Hana ensured to emphasise \'former\' before continuing, "was not the leader his regime had portrayed him to be. He was a cruel ruler who only cared about his benefit and waged unwanted wars on other species.
"But he didn\'t stop there. Unknown to you, the people he and his close allies constructed over a dozen research facilities. But it was nothing more than a prison for both the undead and the humans."
Standing behind Hana, Ashton kept an eye on public reaction, only to see the gasps and shocked expressions he had expected. The citizens of Nirvana weren\'t a troublesome lot, as both he and Anna had realised while living there.
The problem was the President and his lackeys. Now that they were gone, the undead could be reformed... with a choice.
"They killed incessantly, without morals or reason. That was the point I decided to undo their doing. I tried my best to stop them, but I was imprisoned and tortured instead. My own father ripped off my fingers!"
Hana paraded her injured hand around for the cameras to capture. In reality, she did it herself under Ashton\'s orders to gain sympathy from the citizens and portray the President as a demented soul.
She continued pointing towards Ashton, "Had it not been for the goodwill of Mr Reaper and his benevolent crew, only lord Frankenstein knows what my father might have done to our beautiful nation and all of you."
At that moment, the crowd realised what had happened. They weren\'t being invaded, but instead, Hana instigated a coup to stop her father.
Just like that, all the animosity the people had for Ashton, and the \'invaders\' disappeared. They weren\'t their enemies but saviours! Who knows what that deranged President might have done to them if it hadn\'t been for Hana and Reaper?
The gullible people began chanting both Hana\'s and Reaper\'s names, engraving their \'sacrifices\' to their hearts. And so, an invasion had been framed as a struggle for freedom instead.
\'These morons never had a chance against us,\' Ashton smiled behind his mask, \'No wonder they never doubted the President... well, the more foolish they are, the better it is for me.\'