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28. I Said What
🕑 Added 2024-10-03 15:00:08 +0000 UTCThe old lady looked up. Levi spun around.
A hulking man even larger than Piri with blue-tinged skin stood over them. He had the same build as Piri, and a similar face. He crossed his arms. “I did recommend someone to the cult, but it wasn’t this pipsqueak.”
“Oh?” The old lady looked Levi up and down. She squinted. “Then what were you doing—”
Levi put his hands on his chin and gave her puppy dog eyes. “I was just so eager to join the cult that I couldn’t help myself. I snuck into the back of the party so that senpai would notice me, uwu.”
Isa kicked him. Even Colin gave him an exasperated look.
Shaheed laughed. He waved his hand. “No need to punish someone so eager to join our ranks, Knell. We’ll simply count him as another adherent. Isn’t it always a joyous thing to welcome new soldiers to our ranks?”
Levi winced. “Don’t call me that. I have trauma over that word.”
“What, adherent?” Isa asked.
“No. Soldier.”
“Here is the man I meant to introduce. A powerful otherworlder who sees things the way we do.” Shaheed flourished his cape, throwing it aside to gesture behind him.
From the back of the plaza, a man walked forth. He moved with deadly purpose, his head low, eyes blazing. His broad shoulders were firmly set, and a sword sat on his back, hilt within easy reach at his shoulder. Every inch of him was covered in lean muscle. Even the way he walked spoke to the poise and strength of a warrior.
“Mother fuck,” Levi muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Kai strode into the center of the field. He looked around haughtily and put a hand on his hip. “I heard there’s a dangerous dungeon here?”
“Boo, hiss. No one asked for you,” Levi complained loudly.
Kai turned. He met Levi’s eyes, and his narrowed. He jolted to a halt. “I thought you would have died by now.”
“I was hoping the same for you,” Levi retorted.
Shaheed’s eyes widened. He looked from Levi to Kai. “Do you know one another? Then, are you, perhaps, also an—”
“I’ve never seen this trailer trash before in my life,” Kai declared.
“Yeah, same. I don’t hang with total edgelord losers like that guy,” Levi replied.
The man checking marks looked from Levi to Kai, then back to Knell, completely lost. He gestured at Levi. “Ma’am, should I let him in, or…?”
“Let him in. At the end of the day, His Holiness still marked him personally. We must honor that mark.”
The man nodded. He gestured at Levi. “Come on in, then. Welcome to the Cult.”
Levi stepped forward. Colin followed.
“Wait, hold on. I haven’t checked him yet,” the man called.
Shaheed stepped in front of Colin. “Stop right there.”
“He’s mine,” Levi asserted.
The man at the desk looked at Knell. She paused, then nodded. “Let him through.”
Shaheed raised his brows. He looked at Colin, then reluctantly stepped aside. As he did, he tossed a nod at Knell. “You’ll tell me about this later.”
She hummed primly. “Perhaps.”
Levi raised his brows. Interesting. She didn’t clarify aloud that Colin is my zombie. I wonder why not? And the way she acted toward Shaheed… His gaze flicked to Shaheed, then away. Internal politics weren’t his problem. Not until they became convenient for him, anyways.
Behind him, Isa lowered his shirt, showing the man behind the desk his mark. The man peered at it, then nodded and marked Isa’s name. Isa buttoned up his shirt and joined Levi on the far side of the line, where those accepted into the cult milled around at random. Kai stood alone in the corner, arms crossed.
“Hey! You guys got in, too? Congrats!” Mae offered Levi a high five.
Levi took it. He nodded over her shoulder. “Look at that loser in the corner. His hair in his face like a real cool guy, a cold look in his eyes. Trying to be tall, dark, and dangerous, but he doesn’t even pull off tall. Honestly, I’m embarrassed for him.”
Mae tilted her head. She looked Kai up and down. “He looks pretty tall to me.”
“That’s…” Levi turned. He looked Kai up and down. “I wouldn’t call it tall, per se.”
“He’s taller than you.”
“That is entirely beside the point,” Levi insisted firmly.
Mae giggled. She glanced at Isa. “Do you guys know that guy?”
“Who, Levi? Never heard of him,” Isa said, glancing in the opposite direction.
“Aww, what do you mean? We’re besties. You’ve even sucked on my neck before. It doesn’t get any closer than that.”
Isa winced. He grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”
Mae’s eyes widened. She looked from one to the other. “You two have that kind of relationship? Gosh! I never would have guessed. I thought for sure it was him,” she pointed at Levi, “and blondie. I mean, right? They totally have that codependent vibe.”
She leaned toward Roan, who leaned away. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“None of us have any sort of vibe, the unfortunate realities of our pasts aside,” Isa grumbled.
Levi gasped. He clasped his hands to his face. “What? You can’t deny what happened between us, Isa.”
“I can and I will.”
Mae’s eyes just kept getting wider. She pulled out a notebook and startled scribbling. “Please, don’t mind me. Keep going. I’m nothing. I’m a breath of air, a fly on the wall.”
“Even if you put it behind you, I’ll never forget that day in your bedroom, and the passion we shared,” Levi pledged, a hand to his heart.
“It’s okay. You can forget it,” Isa reposted.
“So cold, so cruel! But that’s fine. My desire to become a beautiful vampire will never—”
Isa kicked him in the leg. “Shut up.”
“Resorting to violence? Domestic violence!”
Mae lifted a hand from her notebook to put a hand on Isa’s shoulder. “There’s no need to get violent. I understand being ashamed by your feral desires on that fateful, lustful night—”
Isa stared at her, lost. Behind her, Levi broke out into silent laughter, slapping his thigh.
“—but there’s no need to hurt him, just because he’s more open about his love for you.”
“What love?” Isa asked flatly.
Mae gripped her heart. “Ah! The cold dom and the passionate sub, what a perfect pairing!”
Isa’s jaw clenched. He turned away, irritated. “Anyone else I wouldn’t mind, but this manwhore?”
“Sorry, man. Can’t help that we’ve got top tier yaoi chemistry.” Levi nudged Mae, drawing her attention. “Hey, Mae. No reason, but are the elves infested by otherworlders?” Levi asked.
She tilted her head. “I wouldn’t say infested. But we are fascinated by them! Some of us devote their entire lives to the study of otherworlders. And it’s a huuuge fad to talk like otherworlders, too. I mean, isn’t their way of speaking like, super cute?”
Levi nodded slowly. “Right. Yeah. So that’s a yes.”
Isa frowned. Quietly, to himself, he muttered, “What the hell happened to the world after I left it?”
Levi grimaced. He shook his head. “Oh, man. Yeah. A lot. World Wars—two of them. Several cultural revolutions and at least one Cultural Revolution. Girls can wear pants now—you’d probably approve of that—and shorts, and miniskirts. Boys can wear makeup and heels.”
“Boys could always wear makeup and heels,” Isa said, confused.
Levi paused. A second later, he nodded. “Right. Eighteen hundreds. Powdered cheeks and all that. I totally forgot. Anyways, so, it’s back in fashion. Kind of. And there’s cars and computers and shit. A lot has happened, it’s all very confusing.”
Colin nudged him. “What about the apocalypse?”
“That only happened in one world, not all of ‘em. No need to bring up something so pointless,” he replied.
Colin pursed his lips. “Stingy.”
Mae gasped. “No way! You’re an otherworlder?”
“What, me? No, no. I’m an otherworlder otaku, just like you,” Levi said.
She clasped her hands together. “Oh my gosh! We have to exchange notes. I’m such a huge fan, you have no idea.”
“For sure! In your tent, maybe? Alone? Tonight?” Levi suggested.
She giggled and fluttered her lashes. “Why don’t we chat over dinner and see how things go?”
Levi grinned. “You’ve got a deal.”
Isa rolled his eyes.
Slowly, the lines wound down. As the last new cultists joined them on the other side of the tables, the old woman, Knell, moved to the front of the group and climbed onto a low platform. Shaheed stood beside her, while the white-haired girl stood slightly in front of both of them, her eyes on the crowd. Levi eyed her. Bet she’s the other two’s bodyguard. Actually, I wonder if she’s an otherworlder? If she was their bodyguard, it implied that she was stronger than them. At their age, they could at least have the stats of a level twenty Hero, and that was a conservative guess on Levi’s part. For the girl to have higher stats than them, she’d have to be an otherworlder, with a System and a Class.
Or the other two are just administrators, but then it still would be strange to pick anyone but an otherworlder for their bodyguard, since their cult forcibly recruits otherworlders all the time, according to Isa, anyways. He nodded, feeling safe in his guess.
The old woman cleared her throat. She stepped forward and gave them a stern look. “Welcome to the Death Cult, new adherents. Here, today, before you go forth to enter the cult’s dungeon and prove our worth, I want to remind you of one very important fact.”
She looked across all the new cultists. “The end of days is upon us. All the other major gods and goddesses have called forth Champions. Only a few Champions remain. The Champion of War. The Champion of Life.” She took a deep breath, meeting each of their eyes in a slow sweep. “And our very own Champion. The Champion of Death.”
“Teehee,” Levi whispered to himself.
Across the group, Kai glanced up. He smirked.
“I want to remind you that the Champion of Death has never been seen before. We, the Death Cult, have tried for many long, hard years to bring about her Champion, and we have failed. Over and over again, failed.”
She threw her hand out. Her eyes turned hard. “This cannot stand! This is our chance to unite the entire world with Death. To bring all the citizens of the world, regardless of their belief, to our Goddess.”
Levi raised his brows. Uh. What?
“We must have a Champion. And who knows? Our Champion might be among you.” She gazed out into the crowd. Her eyes rested on Levi for just a moment before moving on. Addressing the crowd once more, she called loudly, “Go forth! Grow strong. Attract our Goddess’s eyes, and prove yourself worthy to be her Champion!”
The crowd broke out into applause and cheers. Using the crowd noise as cover, Levi leaned toward Isa. “Uh. Am I going to, uh, lead the whole world to death?”
“I don’t know. Do you feel like you’re going to do that?”
“I mean, if I win. Is that the end game?”
Isa shrugged. “No one knows. It’s not like the world has been through an Apocalypse before.”
“Oh. Right. Fair. I mean, yes, obviously, but—”
“In any case, the scripture is vague, but it’s clear on one thing. Whoever wins, whichever Champion is the last man standing… they are the one who gets to impose their will upon the world. So if you don’t will for everyone in the world to die? They probably won’t die.”
Levi wiped his brow. “Phew.”
“But no one’s actually sure. After all, it’s the end of the world. Maybe everyone dies, no matter what. Maybe the final Champion is the only one who survives. No one knows, because how could they?”
“Hey, as long as I’m not forcibly required to kill everyone if I win, that’s good enough for me. I’m a man who’s good at wiggle room. Got a lot of wiggle in me.” He shook his hips to demonstrate.
“Keep that between you and Mae,” Isa muttered, rolling his eyes.
“Mae thinks we’re keeping it between us,” Levi pointed out.
“Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.”
He chuckled. “But hey, any time you want to turn me into a vampire—”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not? Is it too intimate?” Levi asked, waggling his brows.
Isa steadied him with a dead look. “I don’t want to have to put up with you forever.”
Colin snorted.
Levi nodded. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”
