Absolute Depravity: Reincarnated with a lustful System-Chapter 288 - The War Generals’ Future[Catching Up With The Generals]

'Status lost: Emperor's curse!' The moment Michael, Dominion, and Razor were hit with the announcement, the three had turned to each other's throats. And unlike Nabe, being bound by the curse they all knew exactly what had happened. 𝚋ｅｄ𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅ𝚕．𝚗ｅｔ

"Dominion, open your fucking chambers!" Nabe yelled out at the top of her lungs.

Stabbing her fist against the iron door, she tried to strike it down but bound by a protective spell on the other end, the door wouldn't flinch even an inch.

"Michael and Razor are gone, what the hell did you do?!" Howling at him in rage, she kept slamming her fist onto the metal. "And where the fuck is Atlas?!"

'What?!' Her last sentence shocked her, after all, she was able to yell out her adoptive father's name, something she couldn't do before. 'What changed?! What happened?!'

"What the fuck are you idiots hiding from-" All of a sudden the door flung open, sending Nabe falling face forward from the momentum of her accelerated fist. "Aghh! What the hell?"

"Michael? Where did he go?" Dominion asked, offering his hand to help Nabe get back up.

'This asshole!' Slapping his hand away, Nabe got back on her feet by herself. As she collected her thoughts, she first noticed a full set of glimmering armor adorned by the war general in front. 'He didn't wear that when allegedly protecting the emperor's room when we were called back from our stations.'

"You mister!" Grabbing hold of his collar, Nabe jerked his head closer. "Where the hell is Atlas? And why did you lie about him being in his room resting?!"

His expression contorting into a scorn, Dominion, gave Nabe a look of utter disgust. Having never seen his eyes so full of hatred, Nabe's fingers uncoiled on their own and she even took a few steps back.

"Don't test my patience Nabe, I have no reason to pretend to like you or Michael anymore," Dominion warned before pushing Nabe to the side.

"Huh?" Being oblivious to the situation with Atlas, Nabe grabbed Dominion's arm to draw all the information she could from him. "Dominion, what in the hell do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what you think," without turning around, Dominion opened a mercury portal and passed right through.

Left behind in such a short span of meeting him, Nabe was at a loss. Not even Michael and Razor would tell her anything when everyone started freaking out, but now with everyone gone, she was slowly starting to get the whole picture by herself.

'Something happened in that room Dominion was guarding, right? That has to be it!' Even still, she was slightly misguided by her optimism toward Atlas's life. However, as she reached Atlas's empty room and looked around, the haunting realization finally started setting in. 'In what world could he…Who could even hurt him without an uproar through the entirety of Atlas?'

Even though through her years she'd wanted nothing more than to be freed from her adoptive parent's shackles, but now that it had turned into reality, she was having a hard time accepting it. In her fantasies, she'd hoped to grow ecstatic at the news of his demise, antithesis to her belief she was anything but happy.

In its stead, her heart and mind were fighting a conjunction of emotions, none of which she could reason through or understand. The more she thought about the situation, the more she felt entangled in an uncharted web of thoughts. How come I don't feel happy? How come I neither feel sad? What the hell happened exactly and where and how could a god get hurt? But most of all what she was at a loss for, was what she was supposed to do now, especially since all the others seem to already know what they wanted to do.

'Michael left for who knows where Razor is out and about as well, and Dominion, what did that bastard do and why didn't he let us help Atlas?' There were too many questions that needed to be answered, but with nobody to answer them, Nabe decided to abandon them all. 'Haruki? Where is he? Shouldn't he be under Atlas's control?'

Settling down on Atlas's bed, Nabe continued to ponder until she figured the demon lord of lust must've had something to do with Atlas's disappearance.

'Fucking hell, I'm glad I didn't betray him.' With a plan to pay Haruki's servants a visit to find out if he was there, Nabe began making her way out of the castle to find out some answers.

***

"Where the fuck are you going?" Razor asked Michael, admittedly not too pleased with the current situation.

Walking out through the front gates of the emperor's castle, Michael turned around to look at Razor slowly walking up behind him.

"The emperor's dead, I can't expect that bastard to keep his dead brother's words so I'm returning to my people to keep them safe," Michael replied, his eyes glaring at Razor as if warning him to keep his distance.

"Afraid he'll start killing the elven now that the throne is his?" Razor dug further, moving closer to him regardless.

"Him and you both, since I know you've never been too fond of elves either," Michael shot back as he started walking towards the barracks.

Following behind Michael, Razor had something to tell Michael as well. However, waiting until they were both at the training grounds, he only spoke when Michael stopped and turned around visibly a bit annoyed.

"What…Do you want?" Enraged, Michael spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to leave to find the emperor's body…like always, and I need your help," Razor answered.

"Out with it then, I'm not going to stall time waiting for Dominion to take the first step," Growing increasingly impatient, Michael was ready to leave if Razor wasted a second more of his time.

"Alright then," Opening a realm tear beside him, Razor reached inside and took out a brown bag dripping with blood. Reaching in, he threw the bag away and showed to Michael the head of a man with gouged-out eyes. "Dominion's messenger, apparently that bastard knew the emperor had left for somewhere else despite how sick he was."

"Nothing new with that, I already concluded that much after seeing that empty room," Michael shot back, still not too invested in what Razor had to say.

"I know, but, this little fella told me that Dominion and Atlas had a fight before he fell sick and that when Atlas left Dominion said something along the lines of 'Visiting his heir in his condition? I doubt he'll survive with nobody but himself.'" As Razor finished speaking, Michael knew what he was getting at.

"So he's with the mother, wherever she might be," He asked, his eyes squinted with interest.

"Yeah," throwing the head to the side, Razor looked right at Michael's scowling face. "Help me find his body, and I'll sign a covenant to keep you people safe from Dominion once we bury the emperor."

Scoffing at the idea, Michael turned around and a jolt of thunder surrounded him. Almost ready to leave, he spoke to Razor to what he presumed to be the last.

"In all the realms, how do you intend to find her?" Michael asked, looking at Razor from over his left shoulder.

"A god's heir, not many can carry such a child, the list isn't as long as you might think Michael, especially after Asmodia died," mulling over Razor's words, Michael did see some value in incorporating his help, and finding out who killed the emperor was something he too was interesting in.

"Fine, meet me in feral land, I'll be checking up on the eleven settlements there," lowering himself to his knees, Michael readied himself to shoot his body through the air. "But if you dare try to stab me in the back, I'll tear every fabric of your being like I did the dragons!"

"Fair enough, I'll hand over my status to my underling, and be on my way there all by myself," Hearing Razor's response, Michael finally took flight and left the castle for good.

Watching the slayer of dragons zooming through the skies, Razor reminisced on something he'd realized not long before.

'The gods, the empire, the humans, and even the monsters, they're all morons, morons who fight over the most trivial stuff, and this conquest to be superior over the other is leading us all to a grim end.' Being helped by Michael and Nabe against Dominion before, Razor's resentment towards monsters has toppled slightly towards humans. Even now, he didn't like either side, but being in the middle of that scale of hatred helped him see things through a much clearer perspective.

"I'll find his body and bury him, that's the last thing I'll do as a soldier, past that…" Having no clue what he should do when left by himself, Razor's head hung low wondering what the laymen did to enjoy a peaceful life.

'I wonder if the elves do any farming or trade.' Shaking his head, he pulled himself out of thought and left the decision for later. 'I need to be off.'

And with that, he made his way to wind his commanders to let them know that one of them was getting a giant promotion.