Atticus's Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Chapter 1413  Shift

'He's dead.'

Atticus was quite thrilled with the current situation. He had wondered how Anorah planned on handling the traitorous council members.

As gods, it was impossible to directly attack them unless they agreed to it.

'But she baited him.'

Anorah had approached the matter with an unsettling calm. Analyzing Kaino and accurately determining the actions needed to bait him was insane as it was thrilling.

'Logoth helped.'

It was like a new world had opened up to him. In the Logoth state, he no longer wasted time doing the unnecessary, and only performed needed actions.

'I'm glad I learned it.'

Atticus returned his focus to the scene below. Anorah had lured Kaino into the arena of gods, and only moments later, returned unscathed. Without any doubt, Kaino was dead.

'Now for the others.'

The other council members had stumbled back, each one trying desperately to open the portal and escape to their world.

'It won't work again. How will you handle them?'

This was Anorah's matter to handle, not his. So he had resolved to take on the position of an observer. Still, except they were each royally stupid, then another rage bait wouldn't work on them.

Some of the council members realized this and had stopped trembling, even going as far as to calm the others down.

Anorah stared at them with the same emotionless gaze. Then, with the flick of her wrist, the world's portal abruptly vanished from the midst of the council members and appeared behind her.

"S-Saint! What are you doing?" one of the council members asked.

"Saint, do you plan on keeping us here forever?" Eyes turned towards High Synod Mathias who abruptly spoke. He gazed at the Saint with a hardened expression.

"You can't do anything to us unless we agree to it. In fact, by keeping us here, you're granting us access to Asterra and its people."

Mathias had always been a calm and logical man. Though he sometimes opposed the Saint during meetings and critiqued her judgments, he was still loyal to the Resistance.

But he had made the wrong call.

'I thought she would die.'

Kaino's offer had been backed with revelations. He had gathered the council members and informed everyone of everything that was going to occur. Many, including Mathias, hadn't seen the Saint surviving that, and due to that conclusion, made the wrong call.

'It's too late to change,' Mathias thought grimly. They had to recoup their losses and return to their world.

'She has no choice but to let us go.'

But the next event was one that shocked everyone present, including Atticus.

Anorah had suddenly brought the other portal in the underground cavern here, followed by five others from only she knew where.

Before they could all wonder what was happening, she activated each of them at once, and to their shock, her form multiplied into seven different Anorahs in a burst of light. They shot into the portals at the speed of light.

After a moment, they emerged.

"W-what is the m-meaning of this!?"

The expressions of the council members darkened. Mathias's eyes widened.

"What… what are you doing, Saint?" he stammered.

'I see. So she chose that path.' Atticus's eyes, along with others, shone down on Anorah, or the seven of her, who stood behind a group of kneeling people. Men, women, children. The moment the council's eyes landed on them, they paled.

"Those are our loved ones!" Mathias bellowed without even realizing it; his eyes were furious. But as he took a step forward, multiple bursts of light ignited, blades materializing out of thin air.

Mathias and the others froze as blades rested against each of the hostages' necks. Those were their families, wives, husbands, children, all being held hostage.

"Pl-please, I'm sure we can discuss this." Mathias tried to reason, but all he received was Anorah's emotionless gaze.

The rules of the Verge were numerous. Though it wasn't as popular as the others, there was one which supported the actions Anorah had just taken.

If god A invited god B to their world, and B accepts, then A is automatically invited to B's world. What it simply meant was Anorah could enter the world of the other council members as she pleased.

"You're not like this. You wouldn't harm innocents. J-just let them go and we'll discuss what needs to be discussed."

Mathias was right, and even Atticus believed him. Anorah hadn't been the type that would harm innocents to further her agenda. The hostages had done nothing to deserve death.

'But this was before.'

Atticus had long since noticed the shift. When he had met her emotionless eyes after the clash ended, he had seen the same glint he would usually see in his own eyes; the desire to do whatever it takes to reach his goal.

'She means this.'

She would kill them.

'She has changed.'

"You betrayed the alliance and put billions of people at risk." Anorah's tone maintained their machine-like aura. She spoke as though she was stating facts.

"Your actions caused the death of a High Synod member, along with thousands of Knights of Light. For your crimes, you will be branded as slaves so you can repay what you owe."

A council member choked out, "S-slaves!?"

It wasn't even swearing allegiance to the Resistance. They would be her slaves!

Still, Anorah continued without a care.

"Your families are being held hostage, and so are your respective worlds. You have five seconds to accept."

What went next was a true indication of Anorah's change. The council members had tried to argue, still believing that the honest and good Saint wouldn't go that far.

However, after the first waves of heads rolled and blood drenched the earth, they were shown just how serious she really was. How much this incident had changed her.

Without any other options, the council members began to accept the terms one by one until there were none left.

Anorah branded each of them with a slave mark, etched directly on their wills.