Hope

Everyone else had run off. They said no one could survive the injuries Champion Michael had, but he was still breathing. I couldn’t just leave him behind. So, I had stayed. I couldn’t move him on my own. The weight of his armor was too much. I had been a uber driver and college student before all of this.

I had heard stories about him. How he allowed the city to increase in level. How he ate level 4 monsters for breakfast, despite monsters turning to dust and crystals. How he was on the path of godhood. I had kept my head down for the most part. People causing trouble didn’t last long and I never liked gossip.

He had woken up and somehow fixed himself up with that liquid. But it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t believe it as he dragged himself across the ground with one working arm. I didn’t know what to say or think. Then he made that raft, and the swamp was really scary. But he instantly killed any monster that came our way. I pushed the raft and picked up the crystals.

Getting to the other city, Neo Brasilia was slow going. Mile after mile, Champion Michael dragged himself. I could how much pain he was in, and I could barely hold back tears. When I heard about the demonic children, I didn’t really believe. How could anyone be so horrible as to do something like that.

Then I saw Champion Michael fly across the plaza and reach the store. My heart leapt up into my throat when he was knocked away, but he managed to recover and restore himself. He then melted those poor children. Their screams still echoed in my head.

I had gone out into the plaza, carefully stepping around all the bodies. I cashed in the crystals I had earned. He had told me to keep them all and use them for myself. I got a restoration and felt a bit better. But I was exhausted.

That was when Champion Michael just stripped down in the middle of the plaza and began to wash himself. I looked away, but I couldn’t help but peek. He then talked to me, and I was blushing so much. I just shook my head and purchased my own clothes and water flask. I then went into a building and got cleaned and changed.

I was stupid, dum dum. After getting cleaned up I went back outside where he had a cart and it was loaded up with supplies. Champion Michael looked at me. “Get in,” he finally said.

“What?” I asked stupidly. He let out a sigh and shook his head.

“We need to get moving. You are dead on your feet. Get in the cart. You saved my life. So I owe you one,” he said.

I quickly waved my hands in front of me. “It was nothing! I was happy to help,” I said.

“Hope. My life is worth infinite crystals, and it is not nothing. We need to get moving. In the cart,” he said. Dammit, I was screwing everything up. I was always terrible at speaking. I got in the cart between all the packs of food and other supplies. He then quickly started running and pulling the cart.

We reached the West gate and then went somewhere else in the city. He went into an empty building and came out with a frown. I didn’t dare ask what that was about. We set off again and left the city towards the West. I dozed off in the cart.

I woke up when we got to the edge of the level 1 zone. It was completely dark. I got out of the cart and noticed Champion Michael was sitting against it on the ground. He gave me a look before speaking. “If you need to relieve yourself, you need to do it nearby, other side of the cart,” he said. I blushed at that.

I made my way to the other side of the cart and carefully relieved myself. While I had gotten used to going to the bathroom in the wilderness, I didn’t like it. I walked back around and he gestured to the side cart next to him. “Sit, we will keep traveling once it is light,” he said.

“Okay,” I said and sat down next to him. The silence stretched on, and I built up the courage to speak. “So, what is going to happen now?” I asked.

“The Divine Empress’s army has moved in force. We will check the cell in Esperanza and then go from there.” He turned his head to look at me. “Any stats?” he asked.

“Only five in Body,” I said not wanting to imagine how low that sounded and how many he had. I fiddled with my hands.

“Basically nothing then. After Esperanza, I will get you two million points as a thank you for what you did. Helping me out and saving my life deserves a reward. I wish I could offer you more, but that is all I can spare with things the way they are,” he said.

My mind stalled at that number. Two million. People talked about how each point was worth a dollar. He was just going to give me two million, just like that. “Um, well, you don’t have to. I was happy to help,” I said nervously.

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“Thank you Hope. But that is just a day’s work for me, and it will give you a chance to survive. That should be about 850 stat points or so with some remaining for health insurance.”

“What about after that, what should I do?” I had no idea what to do or where to go.

“That Hope, is a very good question,” Champion Michael said. Uh oh, that didn’t sound good.

Ren

I looked at the map in our underground bunker. The Rising Sun Alliance was managing somehow. Every day was another miracle beneath the boot of the Divine Empress as her minions constantly looked for us. We would never yield and fight to the last.

Unfortunately, we had learned over the years that determination was not enough. My assistant, Fuyuka looked at the map as well. The Divine Empress was moving a large portion of her forces to the East. Ever since the UCS had disappeared overnight, we had been struggling to hang on.

We were down to five astrolabes. Once they were gone, the diviners would easily find us and then we would be finished. “Her Envoy is still in the area, he hasn’t gone East,” Vice Leader Danian said. He was our best combatant and had managed to kill two of the Empress’s Lords over the years. “We should act.”

He always preferred to attack and take action. But there was a reason he accepted my leadership. To truly defeat the Divine Empress, one needed the cunning and wisdom of Omoikane and the cleverness of Susanoo-no-Mikoto. I tried my best, but her endless armies and slave soldiers made it a never-ending battle.

My days in the Japanese Self Defense Force, JSDF, held me in good stead for the challenges we now faced. “It could be a trap. They have done large movements before to lure us out,” Fuyuka said in accented English. While I preferred Japanese, it was the language we all had in common. Sacrifices for the cause had to be made to bring as many people under the banner of the Rising Sun Alliance as possible. Infighting would see our defeat instantly.

“Then we just have to avoid it and strike at their weak points. We also need the supplies,” Danian added. He was right. We had accumulated a lot of crystals, but it was always a headache turning them in. Since after taking over a city we would need to move our base to another location as the Empress’s minions swept the land in search of us.

“She is moving to secure the remnants of the UCS. But she is keeping her grip tight on the South with her Envoy here. We bypass New Hakarta and strike at Nanjing to the East,” I said tracing my finger on the map.

“That would put us in the shadow of the Forbidden City,” Fuyuka said and I nodded at this.

“A risk we need to take. The South is no longer viable for us. We will use the current chaos to push East to Nanjing, and then North to New Beijing. It would give us the greatest options for movement and prevent us from being pinned down here,” I said.

“You are giving up on Freedom,” Danian said quietly. I nodded at that. We had no chance of liberating the city or freeing people. It was clear the Envoy wanted to draw us out and finish us.

“We will leave a small cell behind to maintain this base, but we will depart to the East,” I said.

“It won’t be easy to kill the Lord of Nanjing. He is an actual fighter, came up as a soldier, not one of those Lords who doesn’t know how to wipe his ass,” Danian said.

“Could you win?” I asked.

“Hopefully, maybe? No idea how many stats he has, probably 5,000, but if he closer the Envoy’s level, then it would be a disaster.” I nodded at that. While I knew all of this, it helped for Danian to get his thoughts off his chest. There was a lot of pressure on him as our lead combatant.

If he fell in combat, it would be a disaster and many of us would die horribly. “I will assist in the fight directly,” I said and Danian gave me a nod at that.

“Ren…if we lose you then…,” Fuyuka trailed off.

“If I don’t lead from the front, who would follow me?” I said with a smile. She just shook her head and patted me on the arm. It was her way of saying to be careful. “We will the arrangements and depart at once.”

“The astrolabes? Only two are mobile. The remaining three, it would be a project to prepare them for transportation safely,” Fuyuka said, and I winced. Our best efforts to reverse engineer them had gotten nowhere and we had lost a couple over the years. With the disappearance of the UCS and no city, research was a luxury we couldn’t afford.

Just surviving another day in the wilderness was a luxury. “We leave three behind and take the two with us. It will make raids more tricky, but it is the only option we have. Danian, if you could arrange things with the combat squad. Fuyuka you handle the astrolabes. I will handle the supplies. Let’s plan to depart in this evening.”

They both nodded and I began packing up the command room. So many things would have to be left behind. Mementos of all the previous leaders that had fallen over the years. The wedding ring of Mei. Our first leader and the one who led people into the wilderness. She had stayed behind to fight the Divine Empress personally.

Charles’ photo of himself and his family. He was quiet but focused. Our second leader. He had been captured by the Envoy in a raid. Then there was Sota and the map he had worked to gather information to make. He had been the one to recruit me all those years ago, saving me from a life of slavery. He had died during a trap set by the Lord of Freedom.

Then there was Benjamin. He had been contentious, but he devoted all the resources to an assassination attempt on the Divine Empress. I looked at his notebook and research notes he always carried with him. There was no word about what happened to him, but the assassination attempt had clearly failed.

Then there was Hana. Her spare eyepatch was still hanging on the wall. She had suffered permanent damage from a monster and her eye couldn’t be restored. She had stayed behind to give everyone a chance to escape when the Envoy had caught up with us. So many memories. Countless fallen comrades.

I looked at the tattered flag. A rising flag with a sun on it. Just like the Japanese Imperial flag of old, but there were a snarling wombats on either side. A flag of hope, of unity, and a brighter tomorrow. Now it would be used to cover our graves. Moving our base was a last gasp before we completely collapsed and were hunted down.

The fact that the command staff was just us three, showed how bad things had become. We were the only people left with the history and experience to survive the might and cruelty of the Divine Empress.