O'Brien's worldview was once again challenged somehow. He couldn't help but think of the first time he saw lava and hail both fall from the sky.

How ludicrous. How incredibly ludicrous.

His kills and the sin associated with them were all erased. No need for atonement or anything. Just gone.

Only now did it truly sink in how much of a clean slate he was given.

His brain now mirrored the women following him and many humans currently trying to comprehend the dawn of the new world.

Faced with the thoughts wriggling uncomfortably in his head like worms, he used the tried and true method he had used months prior to cement and detail his plans for the future.

That future was now becoming the present as did his future prior to returning in time has become his past.

In structuring his schemes and goals for the Devil's Crusade New World, O'Brien had decided on five pivotal points in his decision-making process. They brought him both clarity and direction while preventing him from overthinking, which was a common symptom when he was overwhelmed.

O'briens recipe went as such:

Pros.

Cons.

Wants.

Effectiveness.

Third-person's point of view.

Five staples of thought to form his diet of action.

"Pros of having my sins erased… A brand new start, the chance to do things differently. Cons... Belief system overturned, and mental pressure to do what's right to maintain that purity, I guess.”

He still found it difficult to believe that was even crossing his mind.

“Never had the chance or privilege of making my own choices for events as big and meaningful as this. Always have been pushed by the currents. What do I want?” he brooded shortly.

“Same as always; peace, comfort, luxury, power, and no headaches. Most effective method to achieve this? Hm, pending for discovery, I guess.

“What would a person seeing me from afar or above say? Probably something like…kill as little as possible, human life is valuable; something of that nature."

O'Brien felt that even if he was clear and understanding of the stakes at hand, it didn't make it any easier to decide what to do.

Why was he given such responsibility over himself all of a sudden?

Responsibility was such a heavy burden.

Finally letting in the noise he was drowning out, he surveyed the surroundings for a car to use, only to hear a loud voice screaming at him.

Four faces wearing different expressions surrounded him.

Jules was currently fuming and vocal, having raised her voice to get his attention. Rose was conflicted as she looked at herself like her own body was now a stranger to her. She snuck glances at him, while both Lea and Roya were quiet as they stared at him.

"What?" He impatiently clicked his tongue, being interrupted from his thoughts.

"What exactly is going on? The apocalypse, cards, those horrifying bugs — You haven't explained a single thing!" Jules clamored. She has had it with this douchebag. She had felt it when they first met, but this guy was purely insufferable!

Sure, he wasn't crazy as they had once thought, but didn't he know how to act human?!

She clenched her fists and wondered how she would fare if she punched him right now.

The urge grew stronger by the minute.

Oblivious or pretending as much, O'Brien paused at the boiling young lady.

"Lesson one in surviving the apocalypse, Love: You're not entitled to an explanation,” he replied cooly. “Information is very valuable. It can mean the difference between life and death quite literally. Wait, that's… lesson nine or whatever. Anyways, what I want to say is, the part crosses with lesson one; nothing is ever for free. True before and truer now." He didn’t even bothering to face her for longer than a second.

He turned, looking up at a building with two and a half cars embedded in the windows and walls.

The tornado-like winds from the hurricane calamity in the past week did a number on the infrastructure. Cars especially suffered a lot.

They were tossed like ragdolls and shattered like metallic pinatas. Needless to say, insurance was not an option for anyone. That business had a colossal downfall from the sheer quantity of claims and was completely bankrupt.

Abandoned cars were everywhere, but some could still be used.

Lea spoke up. "You're doing something right, now aren't you? You need a car right? Information is valuable, so can you at least shed some light for us if we you help out?" She stepped forward, nudging the shaking Jules backward and away from O'Brien.

The head of strawberry blonde hair was having a semi-seizure of pure rage from O'Brien's dismissive attitude. In all her years on God's green Earth, she had never met such a massive dickwad. She wanted to beat some manners into him, but she knew she couldn't win upon further thought. Which made it ever more frustrating for her.

Lea, ever the expert in human behaviour, quickly intervened, distancing the two while trying to get more information out of O'Brien as well.

As it stood, they were all in the dark.

The fear of darkness was not just a fear of the lack of light. It was the unknown dwelling within the shadows that truly inspired primal fear.

O'Brien briefly stopped spinning his head about and responded half-heartedly. "Here's a smart one… You'll survive long enough with that attitude, if your luck doesn't run out.” He tilited his head as if in thought. “But you've overlooked one thing. My information and the value of your help is incomparable. Also, I'm looking for a car to help you guys out, not me." With that, he continued looking.

Jules finally snapped. "What made you such a gigantic douche! Did your mother not love you when you were a kid?!" She had it with his pissant attitude thick with social aversion.

Did he not have human decency?

Unfortunately, she failed to solicit the response. Instead, she was the one still shaking in anger.

‘My mother loved me very much actually…’ O'Brien thought to himself.

"The Cards,” Roya asserted, breaking the stalemate. “They're valuable, right? If we give them to you, could you give us more information then?"

"Good job. Now you're thinking, but try again,” he gruffly remarked. “I will obviously take your most valuable cards for payment for giving you the power to use those cards. It's only fair." O'Brien once again erected another roadblock to their hearty attempts at gaining knowledge.

Unlike Jules who was still young and fresh, the other two had been in society long enough to meet different types of people and had learned how to handle all the quirky ones. Of course, even for them, O'Brien was a tough nut to crack. It was like he lived in a cave before and the fact that he had to endure human contact was a digusting burden to him. Roya couldn't help but ponder how such a man came to be.

In her line of work, she met many unreasonable and dangerous men. O'Brien struck her as similar to the hotheads, but by his lack of response to Jules's outburst, it was clear he was far above just being easily angered.

While Roya stared intently at him, O'Brien paid little mind to their gazes, but he was satisfied with their behaviors displayed.

‘These women have good heads on their shoulders—Well, except the loud-mouthed one. But the majority is agreeable. It'll save me the annoyance in dealing with them.’

The silence was deafening.

Even Lea's straight expression couldn't help but twitch in response, leaving out Jules whose inner and outer blaze was raging vengefully.

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How could he be so bitter?

What series of events birthed such a massive prick of unprecedented levels?

Was he born to be unpleasant, or was it an acquired taste?

"You’re entitled to the most valuable ones, you say? Meaning, we will have to give you the less valuable ones for info?" Lea surmised. Persistent in her pursuit of knowledge. They were not in a position to just give up because it was hard. She was determined to get an answer.

Roya's eyes widened seeing her thought pattern. Yes! If they did that it would work! But that meant a huge dent in their collections.

Jules stopped her grudging glances and string of muttered curses, but she looked to Lea with a confused expression. Didn’t that mean almost all their cards would he his?

O’Brien clicked his fingers. "Correct at last. Now, find a good vehicle for faster movement. We'll continue in the car. Same for you, Rose. Snap out of it."

O'Brien gave the final command as they split up. Rose, who had been silent all along with her head down, uttered acceptance and slowly drifted off to search under his watchful gaze.

Her mind still rang with the agonized screams from not so long ago.

She had failed to save so many lives, and their cries still screamed in her ears. It was one thing to be spared from witnessing the horrors, but blood and remains had spattered onto her body. Those were living, breathing people just seconds ago, going about their day. And right before her eyes, they were ruthlessly cut down and devoured.

At first, Mary Rose had acted on instinct, springing into action to save those in distress. But now, the gravity of the traumas and failures had started sinking into her mind.

What was the use of this great power she had been gifted, if not to protect the less fortunate?

Why else had she in particular been chosen?

Rose had too many questions to ask O'Brien, but struggled over where to even begin. Why had he changed? Why was she changing? Why was any of this happening?

So many questions begged for answers, but which should take priority? Did she even want to know the truth?

She looked at the others, sighing deeply within herself.

Soon, under their combined efforts, the group of five found a usable car and they all boarded.

O'Brien collected the cards energetically, unable to hide his smile and expectation, slightly surprising the four women. He still had human emotions?

Wasn't he maintaining a prince of douche persona?

Or were the Cards just that enticing?

For the regressed mercenary, it was like a parched man seeing an oasis within the desert.

"Let's see—a Green Copper-grade Sumeru Pouch, another Black Iron-grade Storage Ring, and a Black Iron-grade Sealing Card. Not bad.” He flipped the cards over, nodding in approval. “Seems like I got lucky with the Spacial cards. Those can do for the information, but the price for the Altar... Hm..."

O'Brien examined the cards they gave him closely. He got ten cards from Jules. Rose had three. Lea got seven and Roya submitted nine. Not a bad harvest with twenty-nine Magic Cards in all. Of these, there was a single White Silver, five Red Steel, four Green Copper, six Black Iron, six Blue Stone, and seven Grey Ash cards.

After starting with one card and only holding six trashy cards four years late in the future past, O’Brien could hardly restrain his emotions as much as he would have liked to.

His eyes sparkled brightly like a young child and slightly tremored while sorting the cards according to their qualities.

After taking out Rose's two Grey Ashand Black Iron Card, there were twenty-six cards of good qualities. Naturally, O'Brien focused on the higher qualities first.

He had dreamed of them for countless nights and here they were. A dream come true.

The treasury of some well-known bases in his cognizance was just this, at the very pinnacle of riches within the mid to early days of the New World.

O'Brien was drawn to the highest rank White Silver card, but ignored it after careful thought.

He glossed over the White Silver card depicting a bow, giving it back to Roya who was clutching a long black bag. "You're very lucky," he told her.

She hummed and accepted the card. Roya didn't know how great this card was, but even the blind could tell it was amazing. The bright silver light surrounding the card was just icing on the cake for the intimidating presence this inanimate object was giving off. It seemed to be a divine weapon of the gods, oozing divinity in its bow. As a sniper, she favored a long-range weapon very much.

Jules swallowed unconsciously, seeing O'Brien hold her card with the boots next. Somehow she really liked that card and had grown attached to it. O'Brien looked at her wriggling in her seat and gave her back the card, taking the other one.

"Hm. Quite the selection here." He could hardly contain his pleasure as he looked over all the different cards. Who would have thought he could have been so close to cards this precious? He could even choose which ones he wanted! This was unimaginable for his previous self. Even looking at them or touching them would have been absolutely out of the question back then.

He had managed to obtain a great natal card, never before seen or heard of, and his Yellow Gold card surpassed all cards within the current collection. Moreover, he had collected twenty-seven cards in total by himself, so apart from soaking in the sights and sighing a few times, he quickly got to work.

Making a choice.

But he wanted them all!

He would have taken them with zero remorse, if Rose wasn't in the equation.

Holding himself back counted towards the debt reduction right? Anyone, from the strong to the weak, would be moved by this assortment of cards once their value was known.

O'Brien was no exception, but he managed to hold himself back in the end. The clock was ticking and he had to think fast.

‘In the past I would definitely go for strength. Even now, I still like that thought the most, but I can have them owe me a favor for being generous,’ his thoughts rushed rapidly. ‘The next is utility. I also can leave those to them to pay off a bit. I would eliminate the trashy Grey Ash quality…but I can't exactly ignore the rumors just because I dislike them. Most importantly, they are the easiest to use for now.’

He glanced at the array of cards. ‘Still, I can't correct my perfectionist nature. I'll take the unknown two Red Steel cards from Jules and Lea, and the third one from Roya.’ Having tasted meat, he could no longer go back to eating vegetables. Even if he could only look and not touch, he still wanted them.

Rare and powerful cards. Who could get enough?

A few rare cards had some of the craziest effects. Even if they were temporary cards or had strict activation requirements, they were worth it once you did activate them.

"Good. Very Good." O'Brien nodded in approval.

Seeing this, the ladies thought he knew what they could do.

They were curious about the uses of the various cards, but didn't bother asking, learning from the previous tango of trying to get him to explain something. He might just ask them to pay for more information if they did.

Little did they know, he didn't know as much as they thought. He was playing the guessing game as well.

Of all twenty-nine cards, he only knew a lot about ten of them, a little about six, and no clue for the rest.

It couldn't be helped. He had a late start in the last days, and even in the end he was a mere merc. If he didn't have contact with the cards personally, then he had no way of knowing their use.

It was also a common dilemma in the early days of the new world to have cards with unknown uses. Cards were the greatest assets, so anyone with a brain hid or withheld their personal details. Of the free-flowing information, many things were to be taken with a grain of salt.

Even amongst his own collected cards, including the highest-ranked Yellow Gold card, he was in the dark about the attributes, nature, and uses of more than half within his possession.

He wouldn't even have known it was a Yellow Gold quality if he had not heard of the quality in rumors, though cards had a colored glow that indicated their quality they first land from the card fall.

This glow grew weaker over time. The materials of the card itself were also capable of glowing, so at times it was easy to mistake the quality of a card without sharp eyes.

Naturally, O'Brien would no longer make such a rookie mistake at this point.

He was no saint, neither did his generosity nor thoughtfulness for Rose come from his heart as he would like to think.

The real reasons he did not take the cards from the women were simple: he didn't know how to use them. What their restrictions were, any penalties they might have for use, the activation materials to use them, even the card essence to use so many high-quality cards was absent for him.

As a tiny beginner Tier 0 Transcendent, his energy reserves were limited. He also wanted to rid himself of the women as soon as possible.

Risk was the most important factor. O'brien knew tales of the ignorant who managed to activate high-level cards. But like a blind cat encountering a poisoned dead mouse, they suffered nonetheless.

There were horror stories of skin falling off their face, growing extra body parts from forceful card factor manifestation, losing body parts for the same reason, being cursed, becoming fearful of certain elements...

The wide repertoire of ill omens was never-ending. He would rather not give himself a weakness without even knowing why.

The women felt perturbed, seeing his sunny attitude worlds away from the mechanical robot expression he stared at them with beforehand. O'Brien chortled, seeing their heavy gazes. "Ask away."

The douche or the sunny young man, which was the real O'brien?

Only Rose was taken aback, seeing a glimpse of her past student.

"First —" Jules was about to say something before Lea grabbed her mouth.

"Hold on. Let's discuss the specific questions and split them between each other first," the doctor said.

Hearing this, Jules was enlightened.

Of course, this human-shaped turd would give them a hard time with the questions so, for maximum efficiency, they should ask different questions!

"Ok. Do whatever you want," O'Brien accepted without much of a fuss. How they asked their questions didn't matter to him. He just continued driving to their next destination at full speed.

The vehicle's exhaust sounded like a dying donkey along the road, but fortunately for the group it was still traveling at an efficient speed.

The tall buildings on each side of the road were covered in damages from the assault nature and heaven had bestowed these past seven days.

Cars were embedded in buildings, some trucks managed to do the same for some lower elevation buildings, trees. Stumps were on roofs and in trees, and puddles from flooded drains had yet to fade away.

The most disturbing sights were those surrounded by yellow tapes, with splattered blood appearing on pavements ever so often. Broken steel bars, glass shards, rocks, and so on were coated in the dark red liquid.

The women's chatter in the back of the car grew silent in view of the window sights. Up close, it was a much more gruesome and thought-provoking sight. But a white-hot question burned deeper in their minds.

Would they survive this new reality?