"So, are you planning to leave?" There was a strange hitch in the girl's voice.
"Mm. I'm planning to take my people and leave this city. I want to find somewhere I can think things through properly... Though I haven't decided where to go yet. I feel that..."
She suddenly raised her head and looked at Surtr with faint anticipation.
"Perhaps you could give me an interesting suggestion?"
In Any Case, Let's Get Out of Here First
Miss Surtr felt that her heart was in turmoil.
Something had stirred her, and certain words had affected her.
But beyond that, her qualities as a tool person remained unchanged—her emotional intelligence was able to come in handy at times like this. It allowed her to easily hear the meaning behind W's words.
"How about coming to Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals? As the continuation of Sarkaz Babel Tower, there shouldn't be a place more suitable for you to settle down. Besides, if you want to meet the successor... then being close enough should be necessary."
"That sounds pretty good, but I don't really want to work under Persephone. Nor do I want to spend every day with that old woman Kal'tsit."
"Then it seems I'll have to take charge of a department after returning to Rhodes Island... Hmm, Persephone will definitely be staying in the main control hub. In that case, Kal'tsit will most likely assign me either Human Resources or the training grounds. I think you might be interested in a position in one of those departments?"
"I think bullying immature juniors and teasing uptight newcomers both sound pretty fun. Will you punish me then?" She had practically told Surtr outright, Wherever you are, I'll be there too.
"I'll pin you down on the desk and beat your ass."
W burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she could barely stand upright.
Surtr didn't know what was so funny, but to avoid awkwardness, she curved her lips into a faint, agreeable smile.
"You know, Surtr? You have absolutely no sense of humor." W clutched her stomach, raised her head, and glanced at Miss Surtr before doubling over with laughter again. "I'm looking forward to that day. I'm really looking forward to the day you actually act instead of just talking."
Miss Surtr felt that she ought to throw out a couple of harsh words.
However, before she could speak, W turned around with a flourish, walked to the edge of the building, and leaped off.
"I'll handle my onboarding at Rhodes Island's Human Resources department myself. See you around, Commander." Her voice drifted up on the wind, followed several seconds later by the light sound of her feet touching down. That height was nothing to her, and she probably still had some personal business to handle in the city.
Ines and Heredrey—things probably related to those two. Miss Surtr had a rough idea and several deductions in mind. Although she knew those two Sarkaz mercenaries, having crossed paths with them during the Sarkaz Babel Tower era, she didn't think she should interrupt someone else's farewell.
"And that takes care of W's affairs too." She sat down on the edge of the rooftop with her legs dangling in the air, feeling the slightly chilly autumn wind stirring around her and the Cataclysm clouds growing increasingly turbulent high above. A breath of warmth passed through her lungs and flowed between her lips, staining the air with a faint white mist.
The Reunion Movement's part was complete. The storyline that could have dragged on for eight chapters in the game had been crushed at the prologue stage by her plans from years ago and overwhelming power—Chernobog, which should have been destroyed by war and catastrophe, had escaped its fate. The civilians and Infected who should have died in the disaster had, for the most part, survived as well.
The Reunion Movement's cadres had mostly survived—Talulah, Yelena, Bodegard, Ludmila, W, and Alex. They had all basically made it through, and arrangements had been made for them to recuperate at Rhodes Island. Oh, and there were also Ino and Sasha, who had gone by the aliases Mephisto and Faust. However, the fates of those two boys were not included in her considerations.
After all, she remembered that she had stirred up the Profaned Flame when she was "persuading" Patriot. Anyone on this land burdened by deep bloodshed, resentment, and hatred would inevitably suffer the backlash of karmic fire—if Mephisto was as violent and deranged as he had been in the game, then he would inevitably die in the Profaned Flame. If not, then it meant he wasn't destined to die.
Considering that Alina hadn't died, and had even spent some time as a teacher in the Reunion Movement before Talulah drove her away, Miss Surtr felt that Mephisto's odds of survival were fairly high. But it didn't matter. She wasn't attracted to those two boys anyway. Since they were alive, she might as well let them stay that way.
She shook her head. Aside from those people, Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals had also suffered no casualties at all. The squad that should have been devastated in Chernobog had survived intact. The list of forty-one dead that should have existed would now remain completely blank.
Everything had gone smoothly.
Rhodes Island was safe, Chernobog was safe, and the Reunion Movement... the faction was gone, but its main members were basically safe as well. After that, there was actually not much left for her to do. Persephone had awakened and taken control of the overall situation, while how much Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals could gain from this incident would depend on the methods of that despicable woman and Kal'tsit.
The work was done.
All she had left to do was deliver a single sword strike into the sky once the evacuation and shelter operations were mostly complete, or when the Cataclysm cloud reached its critical point.
"Then... the next place I have to go is the end of the Age of Fire in Dark Souls III. I wonder if anything unexpected will happen during this journey." She lightly clenched her fist. For a moment, her heart was filled with confusion and uncertainty. She didn't know which direction she should head in, or even whether she should continue at all.
Some of what W had just said still affected her—yes, even if she died right now, or lost her powers and became an ordinary mortal, her deeds and traces would remain in the real world and across countless dream realms. That was her continuation, proof of her existence. It was evidence that she was different from ordinary people... or, rather, that she surpassed them.
Perhaps I really am very strong, stronger than many people.
Perhaps I really am one of a kind, irreplaceable.
Thoughts surged through her heart, but she quickly suppressed them—she couldn't become conceited, arrogant, or overestimate herself. That was the only useful lesson she had learned in her previous life. And so far, nothing and no one had been able to disprove it.
She released her hand, stood up, and walked through the air toward the direction of the Sarcophagus.
She would take care of the final task first, then think about everything else.
Surtr stopped walking.
The smell of blood drifted through the wind, accompanied by the charred stench of roasting meat. The odor was heavy, clearly indicating far more than one or two tons of flesh. She turned her head and descended from the sky. What entered her eyes was an alley in a blind spot of ordinary people's vision, yet very close to the Sarcophagus.
She saw a group of Sarkaz mercenaries lying dead in the alley.
Their features were blurred and their bodies charred. It was obvious that the mercenaries had suffered concentrated fire before their deaths. At least a hundred drones equipped with Arts units had fired violently at them. In this city, at this point in time, only one person had the ability to do this.
"Persephone..." The girl slightly furrowed her brows. "What... are you doing?"
"I'm dealing with assassins." Persephone's voice immediately came from the side. It came from the corpse of an unusually tall Sarkaz mercenary. The radio on his body crackled as it operated. "They were the hidden hand of a king. This mercenary leader, who went by the alias Garson, had an assassination order against me. It seems that the fact that I was hiding inside Chernobog's Sarcophagus wasn't a secret to certain people."
Well, it seemed that there really wasn't a single Reunion Movement cadre who hadn't been accounted for. Even the most likely stray fish had been put into the pot in precisely the right place. In that case, unless some deus ex machina appeared, there truly couldn't be any other hidden threats left in this city.
"How interesting. Aren't you afraid I'll make another trip to Victoria?" Surtr raised a brow slightly. At the drone's indication, she picked up the torn, bloodstained secret letter beside the corpse's feet. It was filled with aliases and coded phrases, but Surtr knew that Garson was one of Theresis's men. The letter's very existence had already revealed a great deal of information.
It was an attack from a higher dimension. Theresis might have thought he had hidden himself well. Perhaps he had merely been an innocent scapegoat framed by someone else—but that was irrelevant. Surtr could do anything she wanted, because she had the power to do it.
"You seem to know quite a lot. Is it related to what happened before I lost my memory? Is it about Theresia?" The Queen of the Underworld's voice came through the communicator as steadily as ever.
"It is. You should be able to find out once you return to Rhodes Island... Are you connected to PRTS right now? You should be able to look up some information through it."
"I am." The voice behind the drone paused, and what sounded like electronic noise came through. "I also saw Amiya. She really is a good child. She's helping me with odd jobs right now, together with another Caster. From your tone, it sounds like you don't intend to let her come into contact with this sort of thing too early?"
"If you think she's ready, I won't stop you," Surtr replied. Then she shifted her gaze away from the corpses.
She didn't ask how Persephone had known that the man was carrying a secret letter. Given Persephone's abilities, nothing was strange about her knowing any kind of intelligence. Besides, Surtr herself had been the one to tell Persephone that this Sarkaz mercenary leader posed a threat.
How interesting. The joke about the mud-pit Encore sticker had actually become reality.
But fundamentally, it was only a trivial detail and not worth concern.
So she changed the subject.
"How much time does this city have left? And how long will it need before it's ready?"
Before you continue