The spacious lounge—well, Messiah's courtroom—had transformed into a war room.
The same room where he'd met Zaire and Nala earlier.
An egregiously long wooden table now sat in the middle.
Surrounding it were the survivors, seated in equally egregious chairs. Of course, Messiah sat at the head of the table. And yes, in the most gaudy chair of all.
On the other side stood the only two people left standing:
The scouts—Siobhan and Jeff.
Siobhan lightly cleared her throat.
"Ahem... Okay. Me and Jeff, we were looking through the hill. We knew a road existed, albeit messed up. The main road is a no-go after all. But before we went to scout that road, we thought we'd complete our secondary task. Kill and see what happens. And that's exactly what we did. It's now 5:30. Yep, we killed beasts from around 9:30 to 3. I killed all of them first. I mean, Jeff refrained from killing. And thus, as y'all would expect, I evolved first."
Tssuu...
A resonating deep breath went around the table.
What happened then?
"I gained a skill. Yep."
Jeff took a few steps back. Siobhan raised both arms.
"Blade Arms."
What followed was an ugly sight. Her arms started... coagulating?
They morphed; the skin danced. Horrifying.
Many participants turned their heads away, some's faces squished while some visibly squirmed.
Slowly, the coagulation stopped.
Her arms seemed... solid.
Siobhan smiled. The enthralled faces of the people seemed lovely.
She brought her arms down.
Like a guillotine, they cut through whatever they touched like butter.
Luckily, it was only the table, not heads.
"So, this Blade Arms is my skill. It turns my arms into swords, and also—"
Siobhan's eyes caught Amelia.
Amelia was shaking her head subtly. The message was clear:
Shh. That's enough sharing.
"Anyway, the golden number is one hundred. One hundred beasts before you, you know, evolve and gain a skill. Jeff got his too, and it's... let's say the cooldown and repercussions are a bit severe. Umm, yeah, also, the skills are part of who we were. I was a butcher, and Jeff was a PT. I grow sword arms, and Jeff becomes... the Hulk. Not a coincidence, I think. Anyway, after powering up, we went to the road. The dingy, hilly detour to Teal City..."
Everyone held their breath in dread.
It was time for the second part:
They evolve.
"Uhh... The road was eerily quiet. We thought, what the hell, what happened to everybody? We saw houses, bloodstains here and there, but where are... the beasts? Or any survivors? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We reached the peak. Empty, like its predecessor. Happy and dandy, we thought we only had good news to share. We can reach Teal City unperturbed, and... we humans can grow stronger. But then Jeff spotted it. Downhill, a few hundred meters away—a heap of some sort."
The room was quiet. Anticipation bubbled. A sprinkle of fear, too.
"We went closer... And there was this huge tree. The heap that neighbored the tree and hid it from our vantage point was entirely bones. Entirely. It was... phew... very, very, very scary. The tree was actively eating beasts and throwing away the bones."
"What tree was it?"
Messiah asked, his face ashen.
"A Moreton Bay Fig."
Siobhan replied.
The species drop was enough to make the survivors grasp the gravity.
That's a huge fucking tree.
Messiah bit his lip and continued,
"News in this region regularly pops up... about people committing suicide on a tree. A ginormous Moreton Bay Fig. I might be confusing trees now, but... yeah, I'm positive."
"Well, now that's straight up a horror movie, eh!"
It was Dirk—the brash guy, Amelia's partner during Zaire and Nala's recruitment.
Messiah smirked.
"It is. So, we have two options: go through an army of beasts, or go through a... super beast. Well, Madam Siobhan, what do you think we should do? Which one is scarier?"
Siobhan rubbed her temples. Tiredness was apparent. The adrenaline dump was now visibly evident.
"I don't know. I really don't."
"We should all aim to evolve first. We plan our next step based on the skills we gain."
Jeff finally interjected. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Good idea, Ser Jeff. We have sixteen people here. We rest for today. Tomorrow, five people go out and hopefully all evolve. The day after, another set of five go out and repeat the process. Then, on the third day, the final batch of four evolve. On the fifth day, we make our charge. Clear? Any objections?"
Messiah laid out the final plan.
"What do me and Jeff do?"
Siobhan asked.
"You two can... keep an eye on the beast. Monitor its development—how it acts, behaves. We'll need to learn everything about it if we're going to charge through. The people who hang back, please—it's high time to make yourselves productive. Pack bags, raid stores, and ready yourselves as best you can for our eventual expedition. Yes?"
Most survivors nodded at Messiah's words. Many were sad and defeated, but Messiah's words were starting to give everyone hope.
Messiah smiled at the reception.
Exquisite!
"So, which five of you plan to evolve tomorrow?"
Amelia stood up. She spoke, heeding no one else's opinion.
"Me, Matt, Dirk, Bright, and You."
Messiah beamed. His eyes didn't.
"Sure, sure. Why not, Madame Amelia."
Bright turned to Zaire and Nala and shrugged.
"Welp, will you two be fine without me?"
"Yeah, I mean, a familiar face would be nice, but... opportunity to make new friends, I hope."
Zaire smiled amicably and looked at Nala.
Will you add anything?
Nala bobbed her head. Once. Expressionlessly.
Nala dear, what the fuck does that mean.