Because I Am Surtr

"So, are you planning to leave?" The girl's voice held a strange sense of hesitation.

"Mhm, I plan to take my people and leave this city. Find a place where I can think properly... though I haven't decided where to go yet. I think..."

She suddenly looked up, her gaze on Surtr holding a hint of expectation.

"Perhaps you could give me an interesting suggestion?"

Chapter Thirty-Six: For Now, Just Keep It Together

Miss Surtr felt her heart was a bit unsettled.

Some things had stimulated her, some words had affected her.

But beyond that, her professionalism as a handyman hadn't changed—her emotional intelligence was able to come into play at times like this, allowing her to easily hear what W meant beyond her words.

"How about coming to Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals? As the continuation of Sarkaz Babel Tower, there probably isn't a more suitable place for you to settle. And, if you want to see the successor... then a close enough distance should be necessary."

"Sounds good, but I don't really want to work under Persephone. And I don't really want to be around that old woman Kal'tsit all the time."

"Then it seems I'll only be able to manage a department after returning to Rhodes Island... Hmm, Persephone will definitely be in the main control center. Then Kal'tsit will likely hand over the Human Resources department or the training grounds to me. I think you might be interested in a position in one of those two departments?"

"I think bullying immature juniors and teasing those who can't loosen up are both quite interesting. Will you punish me then?" — She was practically telling Surtr 'wherever you are, I'll be there'.

"I'll pin you down on the desk and spank your bottom hard."

W burst into laughter, so exaggeratedly that she could barely stand up straight.

Surtr didn't know what was so funny, but to avoid awkwardness, she also slightly pursed her lips in response.

"You know, Surtr, you have no sense of humor at all." W clutched her stomach, looked up at Miss Surtr, then doubled over laughing again. "I'm looking forward to that day, I'm really looking forward to the day you actually do it instead of just talking about it."

Miss Surtr felt the need to say a few harsh words.

However, before she could speak, W turned around dashingly and leaped off the edge of the building.

"I'll go to Rhodes Island's HR department myself to complete the onboarding procedures. See you later, Commander." — Her voice drifted on the wind, followed seconds later by the light sound of her feet landing. This height was nothing to her, and she probably had some personal matters to attend to in the city.

Ines and Heredrey — it was probably related to those two. Miss Surtr had a general guess and inference in her mind. Although she also knew those two Sarkaz mercenaries who had some interactions during the Babel Tower era, she didn't think she should go and disturb their farewell.

"So, W's matter is also resolved." She sat down on the edge of the rooftop, her legs dangling, feeling the cold autumn wind swirling around her, the Cataclysm clouds in the sky becoming more active. A breath of warm air escaped her lips after passing through her lungs, forming a faint white mist.

The Reunion Movement's plotline had been completed. What could have dragged out eight chapters in the game was crushed in the prologue stage by her years of planning and absolute power—Chernobog, which would have been destroyed by war and Cataclysm, was spared. The civilians and Infected who would have died in the disaster were mostly saved.

The cadres of the Reunion Movement had basically survived—Talulah, Yelena, Bodegard, Ludmila, W, Alex. These individuals had mostly survived and were arranged for Rhodes Island's recuperation plan. Oh, and Ino and Sasha, who went by the aliases Mephisto and Faust. However, the fates of those two young boys were not within her consideration.

After all, she remembered stirring up the flames of sin when she was 'persuading' Patriot. Those who had deep sins and resentments on this land would inevitably suffer the backlash of karmic fire—if Mephisto was as violent and insane as in the game, he would inevitably die in the karmic fire. If not, then it would mean his life was not fated to end.

Considering Alina didn't die, and even worked as a teacher in the Reunion Movement for a while before being kicked out by Talulah, Miss Surtr felt the probability of Mephisto surviving was quite high—but that didn't matter. She wasn't attracted to those two boys, so if they were alive, let them live.

She shook her head. Besides these people, Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals' battle damage had also been completely erased. The operation teams that would have suffered heavy losses in Chernobog were now all alive. And the casualty list, which originally had forty-one names, now wouldn't even have a single character.

Everything went smoothly.

Rhodes Island was safe, Chernobog was safe, the Reunion Movement... the faction was gone, but its main personnel were mostly safe. There wasn't much left for her to do. After all, Persephone had awakened and grasped the overall situation, and how much Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals would gain from this incident would depend on the means of that scumbag woman and Kal'tsit.

Her work was done.

The last thing she had to do was to unleash a sword strike at the sky once the evacuation and sheltering work was mostly complete, or when the Cataclysm clouds reached their critical point.

"So... the next place I should go is the end of the Age of Fire in Dark Souls III. I wonder if this journey will have any unexpected events." She clenched her fist gently, feeling a sense of confusion and bewilderment in her heart for a moment. She didn't know which direction to go, or even if she should still go at all.

Some of W's words were still affecting her—yes, even if she died now, or lost her power and became an ordinary mortal. Her actions, her traces would still remain on the current world and many dream realms. And that would be her continuation, her proof of existence. She had something that set her apart from ordinary people... or rather, something that surpassed ordinary people.

—Perhaps I am truly strong, stronger than many.

—Perhaps, I am truly unique and irreplaceable.

Thoughts surged in her mind, but she quickly suppressed them—don't be arrogant, don't be conceited, don't overestimate yourself. This was the only useful lesson she had learned in her previous life. And as of now, no person or thing had been able to disprove this idea.

So she released her hand, stood up, and walked through the air towards the direction of the sarcophagus.

She would do one last thing first, then consider other matters.

Surtr stopped.

A scent of blood wafted on the wind, accompanied by the smell of burnt charcoal—the aroma was strong, indicating a quantity of meat far exceeding one or two tons. She turned her head and descended from the sky. What met her eyes was an alleyway, located in a blind spot for normal vision, but very close to the sarcophagus.

She saw a group of Sarkaz mercenaries dead in the alley.

Their faces were blurred, their bodies charred—it was obvious that these mercenaries had suffered intense firepower before their deaths. At least a hundred drones equipped with magic units had fired at them fiercely. And in this city, at this time, there was only one person capable of doing this.

"Persephone..." The girl frowned slightly. "What... are you doing?"

"I'm dealing with assassins." Persephone's voice immediately sounded from the side—it came from the corpse of an exceptionally tall Sarkaz mercenary. The walkie-talkie on him was crackling: "A hidden hand from a certain King, this mercenary leader who goes by the alias Garson had a secret order to assassinate me. It seems my hiding in the sarcophagus in Chernobog is not a secret to some people."

Alright, it seemed no cadre in the Reunion Movement was left out. Look, even the most likely loophole had been caught in the net in the right place. In that case, unless it was a deus ex machina, there truly couldn't be any special hidden dangers left in this city.

"Interesting, isn't someone afraid I'll take another trip to Victoria?" Surtr raised an eyebrow slightly, and at the drone's signal, picked up the torn, bloodstained secret letter at the corpse's feet—it was full of aliases and code words, but Surtr knew Garson was one of Theresis's people, so the mere existence of this letter revealed a lot of information.

A dimensional reduction attack, perhaps Theresis thought he was well hidden. Perhaps he was just an innocent caught in the crossfire—but it didn't matter. Surtr could do anything she wanted, because she could.

"It seems you know quite a lot. Is it related to my memories before I lost them? Related to that Theresia?" In the communicator, the Queen of the Underworld's voice was as usual.

"It is indeed related. You should be able to find out after you return to Rhodes Island... Do you have a link to PRTS? You should be able to query some information through it."

"Yes." The voice behind the drone paused, and electronic sounds seemed to come through. "And I saw Amiya. She's a good child indeed. She's helping me out now, along with another Caster, handling trivial matters for me—from your tone, it seems you don't plan to let her get involved in this kind of thing too early?"

"If you think she's capable, I won't stop you," Surtr replied, then shifted her gaze away from the corpse.

She didn't ask how Persephone knew about the secret letter on the man—it was hardly surprising given Persephone's abilities. Besides, she herself had told Persephone that this Sarkaz mercenary leader posed a threat.

How interesting, a meme from a forum thread has become reality.

But this was merely a trivial detail, of no consequence.

So, she changed the subject.

"How much time does this city have left? And how much longer until it's ready?"

Still on Twitter. I'll start posting twice a day intermittently... and please give me votes! (:з」∠)