End Of Nightmares (Book 3)

Chapter 54: Creeping Death

Yiren woke up early that day. Looking on the right side of the bed, a redhead is snoring soundly. The past 48 hours is nothing but hectic and chaotic. The whole base is in full alert, with every personnel at ready for what seems to be a full scale war. Armored vehicles loaded out, attack choppers fully fueled, with foot soldiers carrying hot weapons at all time.

When asked the reason why, Lily simply said this.

"A storm is coming. And we will do everything in our power to brave through it."

For the past months Lily has been nothing but cryptic, but no matter what kind of assignment assigned to her, she did it perfectly and more. From a hired mercenary, she bumped up into Yiren's second in command in a week. She is the true tyrant, conquerer, and a true leader. Insubordination will be met with harsh consequences.

When a group of her men trying to stage an uprising due to discontentment of her quickly achieved position, Lily took less than six hours to apprehend every single one of them, foiling their plan before they could even finalized it. To send a message to everyone, Lily personally gutted them alive and hung their body at the main gate.

"Question my authority again, you will not be the only one hanging there. I'll make sure you will leave this world with the rest of your family." Lily grinned, bathed in the blood of her victims while pointing her knife at the rest of the men. Her brutality that day marked the rebirth of Ashura.

Within a month, Yiren's group; also known as Magellan monopolized the majority of the alomidium's production and mining, raking in riches beyond anyone's wildest dream. Slowly ROK is losing their footing in Alassolva, turning the country into Magellan's playground. But the thorn in Magellan's side is still there; the Northern Alliance, consisting of all the tribes that against the occupation of Magellan. The only one that dares to stand in the way of Magellan's conquest.

Yiren wanted Lily to annihilate the Northern Alliance, but she made a better proposal. Drive out their source of supply; ROK forces. Then provide them with a new lifeline; Magellan. Share a portion of the wealth, buy their loyalty. Even if their higher ups are against it, the people will definitely overthrows their own leader for survival. The worst that could happen will be the rise of extremists, which can easily be brought down with minimal effort.

"Be the tyrant, but be just. Not only you will gather more followers, but also creating a circle that will willingly throw away their lives for you. Nothing is easier to manipulate and use than a group of blind fanatics. The beauty of extremism." Lily broke it down for Yiren. And surprisingly, it worked so well to the point Yiren is afraid.

Lily had shown Yiren over and over again how capable she really is, no matter the situation and scenario. And now, Yiren is trapped. Not in a literal way, but in term of romance. She now began to hope. Hoping to stay by Lily's side for as long as she can. Not only Lily had conquered her men, but her heart too. She parted Lily's scarlet hair aside, tucking it behind her ear.

"Can a monster falls in love? Is this love?" She whispered to herself, tears rolling down her cheeks.

All her bad deeds flashed before her eyes, all the sins she had committed before, even now. Is someone like her deserves such beautiful thing when all she had ever done in her wake is destruction? She is always confident in her decision, yet now, she is starting to doubt herself. Regret starting to rise from her deepest core, from something she thought she had thrown away; humanity.

As her thoughts are getting wilder and getting out of hand, so does her breathing. She is starting to hyperventilate, gasping and choking for air while gripping her chest tight. The rustling of her struggle jolted Lily from her slumber into high alert, tanto knife in her hand for defense.