BXBX NOVEL Chapter 42: I just need to kill them all.
"Reapers in general are measured by only one thing John, their — {fates}. {Fates} determine who is powerful and who is trash. Granted that they are based on a person's biggest regret, what circumstances would be the best conditions to cultivate them?"
That would be negative experiences. I knew the answer, but it got stuck in my throat. Was she telling me that Reapers intentionally made the world a worse place to create stronger Reapers? That…that was just fucking wrong. Why did they sacrifice the present like that! That was fucking evil!
Not caring at my dismay, the blue-haired phantom continued. "Regret, long have we known that regret was just unfulfilled desire. A sick and weak person would dream of becoming strong. A stupid and neglected person would aspire to become wise and adored. By intentionally making the lives of people worse, IRIS fostered greater regret and in turn created stronger {fates}."
"The Revenants! What the fuck are they doing? Aren't they supposed to protect their respective domains?"
Unable to stomach such a sacrifice I fiercely opposed Lilly's explanation. How many people lost loved ones to wars, poverty and disease. The implications of her words broke down my understanding.
Was that why the American healthcare system was collapsing on itself? Was that why human and child trafficking continued to exist? War, famine, genocide, natural calamities IRIS allowed all that just for their agenda.
'All to create a stronger sense of regret. All to create stronger Reapers. This… its fucking too much,' I lamented in sorrow.
"And how would a person protect an entire continent? Let's say they succeed against the forces outside the country. What about if your own citizens started murdering each other?
"Where does the intervention start and where does it end? Let's say you give them better lives. If the person dies without regret, they will never become a Reaper. What then?" Lilly berated me.
"John, do you know how many people joined your enlistment? It was twenty thousand. That was all the entire world could produce for a month. Each day over 80,000 people die. That is over 2.4 million people in a month.
"Yet despite our best-efforts July only had 20,000 who accepted the terms to join the Reapers. And worse just like with your case, out of that 20,000 only 200 survived the first night."
200 out of 2.4 million? And there was no guarantee these 200 would even last longer than a week. David said the majority of the ones that survived hid under the corpses of their enemies. Would such an inclination allow them to live as a Reaper? Wouldn't we die out at this rate?
Lilly with melancholic eyes confessed her next points. "We are desperate John; IRIS is proof that no matter how hard the past civilizations struggled, they all failed. Due to IRIS's efforts this era is the best time. Not only has games and movies spread the concept of fighting the undead. Japan even was able to turn reincarnation as a selling point for its fiction."
Well, yeah, the number of Isekai, reincarnation, regression and time traveling stories ballooned over the years. These days people were so depressed they would welcome getting hit by a truck to go into another life. Wasn't I the same?
"Our backs are against the wall John, the Revenants work with IRIS on how to strengthen reapers, but despite their long years of wisdom, this was a fight no amount of strength could win.
"Every attempt of IRIS was thwarted by Trinity. What use is living a perfect life if your species marches to its demise? We, who die every night to prevent that, are burdened with such knowledge."
This was insane. Reapers bled and fought for each second to protect the world. Yet they also needed the people to feel miserable in order to replenish their numbers.
From a human's point of view, IRIS were anarchists who wanted to end the world. But from a Reaper's eyes, IRIS desperately fought to ensure the world continued to exist.
Unable to muster anything in response I stayed silent. The world of reapers spoke of an unwinnable war, both in Hellsgate and earth. From my point of view, they just were dealt bad hands.
The root problem was that hell would bring about the end of the world. If it could be closed, then there would be no need for such drastic measures.
"It is very easy to stand on the moral high ground and blame the reapers and IRIS for being cruel people. But if someone could only choose between killing a hundred versus a thousand, only those who could make a decision get an opinion. I watched my father wrestle with his conscience many times over such matters."
Lily's words made me think about my girls. Jo and Jas were children born and trained to become reapers from their childhoods. Robyn looked around sixteen and died as a combat joey. While her experience helped her survive the first night, a child was never meant for war.
Suddenly, the concept of throwing away the freedoms of children looked like the lesser of two evils. But when I remembered the tears Josephine and Jasmine shed, I was reminded why I wanted to become a Revenant in the first place.
If killing zombies was the main reason why you needed Reapers, then I would fight. No matter how many I would fight till I ceased to exist.
My words were far too foolish. No wonder the girls all found them funny or disrespectful. We were here because of the sacrifices of the previous generations of Reapers. Because they continued to fight the world could develop.
"Yet it felt like the world turned its back on the Reapers."
"What?" Lilly asked in befuddlement.
Naturally the woman could not understand my trail of thought. The reason the world turned to shit was because IRIS needed stronger Reapers. They needed stronger Reapers to kill more undead. Then that made things extremely simple.
"I just need to kill them all," I declared in a firm voice.
"John what are you saying?"
"I will kill enough undead that fewer Reapers are needed. I will kill enough so that IRIS doesn't even need to make the world a shittier place. And when I get strong enough. I will close Hellsgate."
The moment the words left my mouth I felt my soulgem pulse with energy. It felt hot but didn't grant me any new {fates} nor {kismet}.
'What? Are you trying to say you will support me too?'
I began laughing at the thought that {Rewind} was be like a dog who wanted to cheer me up. It felt weird, the situation Lilly described to me could be said as a reality most would find hopeless.
But to me it didn't matter. I never really planned out my life, at first, I just wanted to live without regrets. But after seeing the Formless I wanted to prove that we could be powerful. That I was not trash.
But this conversation with Lilly showed me one thing. The situation sounded complicated, but it was really simple.
'Just kill as much as you can in Hellsgate.'
By doing so you would get more souls and grow stronger. The stronger you became, the more you could kill.
Fight until you hit the last floor and kill whatever was there. I originally had some doubts whether becoming the strongest Revenant was a selfish goal.
I believed my desire didn't serve any no purpose outside of my own needs for validation, a sense of worth and power. But as it turns out the childish hero in me could be satisfied with this.
If I become the strongest, I would naturally continue to defend and kill as much as I could. If we do not have enough Reapers, then I would pick up the slack. If a standard Reaper needed to kill a hundred, then I would kill a thousand.
Maybe it was because I was stupid. To me this seemed the most logical choice. By focusing on my goal hopefully IRIS and Trinity would leave the rest of the world alone. It all stemmed on how many I could kill. For now, I needed to focus on that.
"John, are you alright? I know it's a lot to take in, but don't despair, we can still…"
This woman was kind, wasn't she? Knowing this at my current stage would make everything seem pointless. Luckily, I was too dumb to understand. Cutting off her explanations I wanted the phantom to know that she had the wrong idea.
"I am fine Lilly; the matters of others do not concern me. As far as I can see it, my role as a Reaper was simple. Kill as much undead as humanly possible. Because I am stupid, I will ignore everything else and focus on that. Watch me, I will take down enough heads that IRIS would need to ease up on the rest of the world. I swear it."
After hearing my words Lilly didn't reply immediately. To her, a powerful phantom called Untamed, I probably sounded like an idiot. A wraith making such grandiose claims would be incredibly conceited.
It spat on the honor of every Reaper and Revenant that died to this day. No matter what her reply would be I knew she was right. I was being an asshole after all.
Yet against all my expectations, the woman made a loving smile as she locked her arms with mine. "I look forward to it my dear. And as promised I will be right beside you the entire time."
Ugh, my fighting spirit melted in the front of her affection, I was a guy you know! I would misunderstand!