“Huh, the hell happened to Dave?” The eyes of super soldiers had centered to one place, and their gossips were fueled by the object of their attention. “Was the mission that difficult?”
“...Damn it…” Limping through the military yard with extensive bleeding and bruising, Dave muttered in pain. “I actually…got beaten…by him.”
He felt a hard but gentle sensation on his right shoulder, stopping him in his tracks as he walked.
“Huh?”
“Dave, what happened to you? Are you alright?” A concerned super soldier questioned. “The president is here, and she seems upset–”
SMACK!
“Get…urgh, your damn hand…off of me,” Aggressively smacking his hand away, Dave responded. He never looked back as he left his comrade, a look of disrespect plastered over his face.
“...Oi, screw you, Dave! You musta screwed up big time, huh!?” The super soldier yelled as Dave limped away. “Arrogant bastard…”
After being beaten and battered to the point of a bloody, broken mess, you’d normally want to seek out treatment. Well, Dave never had that luxury, as he was the one being seeked out instead.
He never got a chance to step foot in the doors of the infirmary, as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his body. He never had a chance to say anything more than muffled sounds as one arm covered his mouth, and all he could do was struggle in vain as he was taken off his feet.
What the!? While he uttered muffled yelling and squirmed around like a toddler, Dave turned his head to take a peak at his captor. The one who held him was the blessed hunter, Mohawk.
“The president is here, and she wants to meet you urgently…she’s pretty pissed,” Mohawk remarked. “Sorry, looks like you’re gonna have to wait to get treatment.”
Realizing the futility in his struggle, Dave’s body went limb in Mohawk’s arms.
“Good, at least you understand.”
- * * *
“Ugh…” Upon entering a standard office, the injured Dave was dropped by Mohawk. It was as though he was a present, as before Dave was the Chief of Defense, Twintails and the president of the United States - her dear and closest subordinates were with her of course. “S-Shit…”
“How dare you speak with such vulgarity in front of the president!” Leon yelled with aggression. “After the pathetic excuse for a performance–”
“It’s fine, Leon…don’t worry about that,” Ada calmly spoke, her demeanor contradicting her tone. “That is far from important…right now.”
“...M-Ms. President! I-I’m–”
“Shh…you don’t need to talk on your own, right now,” Ada interjected, to the unsettlement of the super soldiers. “You only need to talk when you’re answering my questions.”
Despite her orders, Ada had let a few moments of silence pass throughout the room. The tension was so palpable that Dave could taste it, swallowing and gulping in the process.
“Sigh…what in the world happened to put you in this state,” Ada finally spoke. “You had an entire squad, and you were only fighting Zack, right?”
“...H-He had help! We thought he was alone but–”
“You aren’t lying to me, right?” With a stone cold expression, Ada questioned. “That is not something you would do to me, right?”
“...I-I’m sorry. He was all alone, but the criminal was much stronger than we thought,” Dave admitted as he began sweating. “He took down…my comrades and beat me…by himself.”
“Hehe,” With an ear to ear grin that showed his teeth, Mohawk giggled at the prospect of Zack’s strength. You got stronger, huh?
“Shh…” Elbowing her subordinate slightly, the Queen Deathbringer muttered.
“You mean to tell me…a cocaine addicted man who couldn’t hold his own against much weaker super soldiers…defeated your entire squad solo?” Ada questioned. “And what’s worse, civilians were caught up in the collateral, right?”
“...Yes.”
“Are you aware of how important my reputation is to me?” Ada continued. “Do you know how much it’s worth?”
“I-I’m sorry—’
“It’s worth more than your clearly useless life,” Ada remarked, not letting him finish. “How dare you think to return after such a blunder, after how many times I reassured my country?”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Her reputation is worth more than him…? The Queen Deathbringer thought. That’s a bit…mean.
“N-No please! Forgive me!” Dave pleaded.
“Word about Zack’s escape hasn’t spread yet, right?”
“No, madam. They aren’t aware that the super soldiers have failed, and are likely under the impression that it’s ongoing,” Charlotte replied.
“Good…that’s good,” Ada remarked. “For now, we’ll cover it up and say that Zack has been dealt with.”
“Ms. President, are you sure?” The Queen Deathbringer questioned. “If Zack Isaac commits another crime, any attempts to cover it up would be useless.”
“Hey! Don’t question anything the president says!” Charlotte berated. “Just be obedient like the dog you are!”
“...Extremely rude.”
“I am aware of the risks, but all we need to do is act fast. As long as we eliminate Zack before he does anything, it’ll all work out,” Ada explained. “This could also be the perfect time to eliminate Lilith and Olivia. That’ll act as a safety buffer for my reputation in case the country finds out about Zack’s survival.”
With that said, Ada returned her sights on the failure that was Dave.
“...As of right now, you’re the only surviving soldier who took part in that mission. You failed at your job, but that’s not the worst part,” Ada said. “Not only are you useless, but you dare lie to me. Charlotte, kill him.”
“As you wish,” Charlotte obeyed, much to the shock of not only Dave, but even Mohawk, Twintails and the Queen Deathbringer had their mouths open in surprise.
“P-Pardon my rudeness, but isn’t that a bit much?” The Chief asked, garnering the annoyance of Ada’s people. “I understand the gravity behind his failure, but I’m sure he can be useful if you keep him alive.”
“Backtalking bitch…what did we just say about talking back to the madam!?” Frank aggressively retorted in Ada’s stead.
“...I will be sure to reprimand him,” The Queen Deathbringer continued, ignoring the vulgarity of Frank. “I’m sure he can come to prove himself in the future–”
“Do you not value my feelings, Chief?” Ada questioned. “I am a woman passionate about protecting her people. Do you value his life above my selfless desires?”
“...No, Ms. President.”
“...Good,” Ada replied. “Do what you must, Charlotte.”
“N-No please! Please–” Dave was unable to utter more than a few words of pleas, as the blood from his neck went their separate ways – all over the room – all it took was one clean slice from a rock sword made by Charlotte.
The super soldiers could only watch in silence as their comrade was killed.
I had a feeling, but her words just now confirmed it. The manipulation from my charm blessing isn’t affecting her like it does most others. Ada speculated. She likely has a strong mental state, even among soldiers. There’s also the fact I haven’t interacted much with her compared to others. I wonder if her physical toughness would aid in that too.
As the lifeless body of Dave slowly fell forward, Ada coldly gazed as blood pooled from his neck.
Either way, it doesn’t matter. How dare a bitch like her talk back to me. Ada thought. No one speaks to me like this. I’ll make her pay with her life…I promise this.
“Clean up this mess. It’s very unsightly,” Ada advised as she approached the door. “I’ll be leaving now…there’s nothing more for me to do here.”
“Yes, president,” The Queen Deathbringer said.
“...Also, I was not joking about using Lilith as a safety buffer. I want her gone as quickly as possible,” Ada remarked. “I do not want any more screw ups…I’ll leave it up to you soldiers.”
“...Yes, president.”
Having nothing more to say, Ada had taken her leave. Her subordinates followed suit, not before giving the Chief of Defense a bad eye.
“...Uhm, I can get rid of Dave…if you don’t feel up to it,” Mohawk suggested.
“No, it’s fine. It’s not like I can sulk around,” The Queen Deathbringer remarked as she picked up the corpse of Dave. “I’ll take care of him. You guys just take care of the blood stains.”
“...Alright,” Mohawk agreed.
“Also, we were given the green light to eliminate the other criminals. We have no time to waste on sulking,” The Queen added. “You know what you have to do…right, Twintails?"
“Yes, I will not let you down, Chief,” Twintails remarked. “I won’t stop until those criminals are eliminated.”
“Heh, good luck, Twintails,” Mohawk teased. “You better not end up like me.”
- * * *
Lilith had once again exerted herself with the gruesome training provided by the NPC. After having to spar the entire day, running around and swinging that hefty longsword, and having to exert herself by utilizing the breathing technique for several hours on end, Lilith ended the day as a tired mess again.
“Huff, I feel a lot better…thanks again, doctor,” With the shining lime green light from the doctor soothing her wounds, Lilith thanked. “It would have been so much harder to get stronger if it weren’t for you.”
“No problem. I’m just glad to see you’ve been doing better emotionally,” The doctor replied. “You seem to look much more motivated while training!”
“She’s doing better because she’s providing great results. Not only does she have extraordinary physical skills, but her technique with the sword has also improved,” The NPC remarked. “Though being repaired by the doctor each day has shortened your recovery time, you’ve still improved drastically over the past few days.”
“I’ll keep on improving too!” Lilith declared.
“That’s the spirit. Let’s continue again tomorrow,” The NPC replied as he waved at her. “See you later. Let’s go, doctor.”
“Bye, Lilith!” The doctor added. Lilith had returned their gesture and watched as they disappeared in the forest.
“Guess I’ll take a little walk in the forest before hitting the hay,” Lilith decided.
She had not gone too far before she ran into a familiar face - Olivia, rummaging in the bushes.
“Huh? Olivia, what are you doing?” Lilith questioned.
“L-Lilith…I-I think I found something…terrible,” Olivia replied as she popped out. In her hand was a strange device, intermittently flashing lights of red. “I-I saw something…flashing in the bushes. I-Isn’t this…a…”
With one look, Lilith’s stomach sunk. She didn’t need to be told what it was, as her instincts already fired off and thought of the worst.
“...D-Don’t tell me…Is that a…tracking device?”