Rise Of The Hoarder

Something I had just realized after losing Ana, sacrificing Lara, and nearly losing it all, was that my journey was one of solitude.

To completely become what I intended and survive this wretched world, I needed to completely tear myself from any form of attachment—Lily was no exception!

I had to do what only benefited me, but that didn’t include taking this young girl who would need to rely a whole lot on emotional satisfaction, something I couldn’t give.

Killing her would also be too detrimental for me since I had to get rid of the ‘Evil’ Alignment I had before it was too late.

The Penalties that came with it made me restrain myself from overdoing it. At the moment, I needed to refrain from taking lives unless absolutely necessary. If I wasn’t careful, I could slip further down the ‘Evil’ Alignment spectrum.

That would be bad!

“I suppose it’s settled then…” I muttered, dropping my hands as I walked away from the girl.

“I won’t kill you… but I can’t take responsibility for you as well.”

It was a heartless thing to do, especially after being the one responsible for her completely losing her home. But, I didn’t have the luxury to worry about another person—not with so many unresolved problems of mine haunting me.

“Lily… you’re on your own.”

My steps were slow, without much energy or resolve… but I kept moving.

I had no idea where I would go, or what I would do. A few thoughts flashed in my head, but I was too distraught to completely think straight at the moment.

I had lost too much…_.

*************************

“WHAT?! HOW IS THIS EVEN…?!”

The Supreme Beings roared in shock and anger.

Never had they thought such a thing was possible—that an Executioner, one who was closest to the supreme level, would lose to a mere human.

It was inconceivable!

It was impossible!

But… it happened!

“That boy… is more of a threat than we initially thought!”

“Agreed!”

“We need to eliminate him quickly!”

The Gods were flustered, now a little worried. They had initially thought the singularity was a single pebble that stood in the way of the grand scheme of things, but now…

“What did you do, A-67?”

Sariel, an Archangel, was completely gone by some sort of trick made by the boy.

It seemed like a bad joke!

There was a reason she was chosen among the other Archangels. While their number was four, and they were absolutely loyal to the Statute, each Archangel represented several things—making aspects of their personalities.

For Sariel, she stood for justice!

After observing Jeremy Lewis’ actions up until now, they saw the kind of atrocities he committed and how inhumane the boy had been.

Clearly, there was no better Archangel to send but her!

Yet, the results they were hoping for didn’t end up getting fulfilled!

For one, the Archangel went too easy on her target. Usually, she eliminated her opponent in a single blow—not leaving a chance for discussion!

Granted, she needed to separate Jeremy from an innocent life—as per her policy—but from that point on, the target’s existence should have been extinguished.

Then why?

Why did she take so long in executing ‘Justice’?!

Her movements were too slow.

Her attacks were inefficient.

Her swings were light.

Still, even with those petty attacks being rendered by their absolute weapon, the Gods were not worried at the time.

After all, she had the advantage and would ultimately win.

To their surprise, the boy turned the tables and even caused the usually stoic Sariel to lose her cool.

Upon rushing to attack Jeremy Lewis, the Gods had perhaps thought that the Archangel would get serious and finally obliterate him.

To their dismay, once again, the opposite happened.

Their card… disappeared!

Yes, absolutely vanished!

How that was possible remained a question embedded in their celestial minds.

For one, no matter the Gifts given to humans, the Gods could still sense their nature and effects. Even if someone became invisible, the Supreme Beings could see them clear as day.

If a person teleported, they could see the trajectory of movement and knew where such an individual would appear.

In essence, they saw all and knew all!

That was due to the ‘Dimensional Ladder’ and their standing at the zenith. Nothing was beyond them!

Yet, none could decipher what happened to Sariel. Where did she go? Did she die? Could she die?

So many questions, and not a single answer was present to enlighten them.

It was at that moment that the Supreme Beings realized what kind of threat the singularity posed. For a moment, they were tempted to send another Archangel to finish the job, perhaps more carefully than the way Sariel handled things, but they had already missed their window of opportunity.

The system’s casualty that they had exploited the lady time wouldn’t help… at least not in a while.

Plus, there was no guarantee that Jeremy Lewis wouldn’t try the same trick he used on Sariel on the others. If they knew what ability he used, it would have been different, but… even they had no idea.

“What… was his Gift again?”

With that thought, they inferred from the list of Gifts in the index and observed the names that were shown.

In a flash, the long list of names sharply scrolled down until Jeremy Lewis’ name was shown.

All of them looked at the window that was displayed before them and squinted their pure white eyes to see.

The name of the Gift was…

… $%€£∆£©E.

They didn’t know!

They couldn’t see it!

Or maybe… the Gift didn’t exist!

There was no way the Index had crashed, which left only one option. The Gift the singularity had was not registered with the Index. It was a completely different Gift than the collective abilities that had been established.

This had to have been another truck of their fallen comrade.

“What a conundrum…”

The Supreme Beings sighed.

Regardless, they still had to resolve the issue. It was the only way that the coming scenarios would flow smoothly. Fortunately, the Tutorial phase was just about done. Once the Main Events of Armageddon began, they would be able to interfere more.

They could deal Special Privileges and Penalties to Gifteds as they saw fit… well, in accordance with the rules.

Still, once that happened, the days of their headache would be over soon.

Even if they couldn’t directly interfere… there was more than one way to skin a rat—even one as evasive as Jeremy Lewis!