My Wife is a Dead Villainess, and I'm Her Living Weapon-Chapter 100: Faction

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Bianca Valestra.

The younger generation had forgotten. Marcus’s hadn’t. They lived through it. She represented the epitome of human hubris, and perhaps the greatest mistake committed by their entire species.

And now she was back.

The Duke rose and slammed his fist into the table. Golden light surged across his skin. His pleasant voice twisted—gravelly, echoing, as if thousands spoke at once.

"What is the meaning of this? You all told me she was dead!"

Despite his intimidation, the other two at the table didn’t even bat an eye.

"Gerard, calm yourself. This summit is for us to work together," President Shang said in a stern voice. A glowing spear manifested in his hand, which Shang rested on his shoulder. "Or do you wish to begin Earth’s crucible now that Heaven’s Fist is dead?"

Tsk. Gae-bolg. He is serious.

Marcus’s body screamed to run at the mere sight of Shang’s spear. It was their leader’s personal weapon created from the body of an alien Tyrant. An oppressive black fog began to cloud over them as Shang smiled.

"Both of you! Stop this at once!" shouted the woman at the table. A bright light burst from her hand, slicing the black smoke apart. Marcus felt his body being purified by the sacred light coming from the woman’s hand.

"Jian, put that toy away! And you, Gerard, what happened to your manners? Sit down! We have much bigger problems. Behave—or I will take my information and leave!" she threatened.

The two world leaders grumbled as they disarmed and sat back down. If anyone else saw how these two interacted, few would believe that they were the faction heads who controlled the world.

Marcus turned around to check on his companion, "Tess, you all right?"

Tessa wiped her mouth as she let out a cough, "I’ll live. The president is a bastard; if Pope Cavour wasn’t here, I might have died from Gae-bolg’s curse."

"Go. I’ll deal with them. They’re all a bit high-strung," Marcus confessed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay," without another word, Tessa quickly left the room.

When a few moments passed, Pope Cavour once again continued, "First, I will preface this with a request. The three of us do not see eye to eye on many things, but we need to stand together or risk extinction. We cannot delay any more!"

Duke Nobel then chuckled, "Isn’t that convenient? You manipulated public perception against us as you pleased. Then suddenly we are allies again?" he scoffed. "Cease your hypocrisy, Seraphi. You are no saint, but an evil bitch masquerading as one."

Pope Cavour trembled as she bit her lip. Her eyes watered as if they wanted to let floods of tears fall from all the repressed emotions.

Marcus saw the hate in the Duke’s eyes. He knew that Gerard and Seraphi had grown up together and were close—but they would never return to what they once were. There were far too many wounds between the two of them.

Can’t blame him, though. If that happened to me, I would have killed the Pope already.

"Gerard, you know I regret what happened to Elanor. I never meant for the uprisings to happen. It was not my fault!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU DON’T GET TO SAY HER NAME, BITCH! I WILL KILL YOU..."

BANG!

A loud sound shattered the tension. It came from the man in the center.

"Seraphi, you know I don’t care about your squabbles with Gerard. I came here to brief you about our findings. If you intend to waste my time arguing about the death of the Duke’s wife, I am leaving. Tell me what you know if you want my help. Now."

President Shang’s outburst caused the room to be still. Although each of the leaders here was weaker than Heaven’s Fist individually, they each had hundreds of thousands under their banner. If they really wished to destroy the other, Earth wouldn’t survive.

"Sniff, okay," wiping her tears away, Seraphi placed her hand on her ear and sent a digital file to the three men in the room. In high-level interactions, it was commonplace to send information directly into one’s nanomachines.

Using this secure channel, video, audio, and images could be shared directly into one’s vision like AR interfaces, enforcing secrecy.

It began to play and showed a video Marcus was familiar with. The massacre committed by the metallic wolf against the Truthsong Crusaders. The same one Malric Thorne used to interrogate Sera Dale.

"This is the first instance of these metallic beings; I’m pretty sure you all saw it at some point, as it has already been two months," Seraphi explained in low spirits.

Marcus couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Despite her demure, frail appearance, the Pope commanded the Hunter unit. This video made the rounds because the hunter unit was butchering people for answers, both from the Bloodright and the Ascendancy.

But then a second video file played in Marcus’s nanomachines. Unlike the snow-covered lands in the first, this one showed a rich forest bathed in the colors of autumn.

The Flame Swallow dungeon?

It showed a different sight. The viewer was looking up; what he saw sent shivers down Marcus’s spine.

Flame Swallows! How are they burning?

Soon, the people in the feed confirmed what Marcus knew.

[Oy! Isn’t the curse of Compromise still on? How are those bird bastards flying!]

[I don’t know! Just put your shield up! Hank, give them a warning! It must be a bluff!]

[HALT! IDENTIFY YOURSELVES! THIS DUNGEON IS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE TRUTHSONG CHURCH!]

But then, the Flame Swallows began to fall. Marcus watched the crusaders burn and die in the fires, helpless and unable to even resist.

"Seraphi! What is this..."

Before the Duke could finish, another video played. It showed a hulking armored warrior. His equipment was unlike anything Marcus had ever seen before.

Just what the hell is that? Is that human? Can he even move in that getup? And whose nanomachines is this feed we’re watching?

[Breaker. Are you strong?]

"..."

The voice sounded robotic, but even Marcus felt the disdain in them. Flustered, the owner of the feed changed his stance. Marcus saw a knife glinting on the feed owner’s right hand.

That knife. Is it Arjun? Ah, right, he was working for the church.

[Breaker. I will ask again are you strong?]

[I am.]

Ah, it is Arjun Sharma, Marcus concluded from hearing the feed’s voice.

[I see. If I killed you, would the church consider me a threat? Or just a nuisance?]

[W-What?]

[I am asking if your corpse holds enough value to serve as a greeting card?]

[Why are you after the Church? Were you sent by Bloodright or the Ascendancy?]

But rather than reply, the armored warrior attacked. Despite trying his best, Arjun Sharma could not put up a fight and was overpowered.

[Ack! W-What?]

[If this is what strong is, humanity is doomed.]

Marcus then watched the video shift; it forced the viewer to gaze at the hollow, burning eyes of the armored warrior. It was a terrifying show of force, but Marcus paled due to a different reason.

It’s the same, this bastard has equipment made from the same material as the wolf. W02 is not a one-off, it’s part of a faction.

[To the Church, the Ascendancy, and the Bloodright—your time is up. For what you did fifty years ago, I’m coming to end you. Bring your absolute best. It won’t make a difference.]

[Wait!]

Crap. You don’t mean to tell me that was W01, right? He looked pissed, but why? He wasn’t even alive 50 years ago. Wasn’t he supposed to be a good kid baring he was a defect?

And then the feed cut off abruptly.

"That feed was from Arjun Sharma, an S-Rank breaker I employed to guard the Flame Swallow Dungeon. That was his last nanomachine broadcast."

Think, Marcus. Why would W01 and Bianca Valestra be working together? If they are, things could go south really fast.

"Keep going," President Shang said coldly. "You have more to show right?"

The pope nodded.

A third video began. This time, it showed the POV of someone up on a cliff overlooking a vast meadow. From the color of the trees, it was still within the same dungeon.

[Commander, am I seeing this right? Heaven’s Fist is down. And he is not getting back up.]

[What? Give me that!]

The feed used a pair of binoculars and zoomed in on Heaven’s Fist. He was covered in metal and drooled while gazing into the nothingness.

That can’t be real. Heaven’s Fist really lost?

[...]

[What do we do, sir? Do we notify her holiness?]

Before the feed owner could answer, a tiny ashen-colored figure exited from Heaven Fist’s mouth. It then collapsed in an eagle spread.

[There! The bastard is down! I want that thing secured and in custody! Go! Send everyone!]

The church’s Crusaders quickly charged towards the small figure. From Marcus’s estimates, there were over a hundred of them. But before they could arrive, they were attacked. Powerful beams of plasma began to rain down on them without mercy.

Tens died in the first few seconds.

[Commander! This is too much for us! We must retreat!]

[Stop your bellyaching! That thing, whatever it is, took out the strongest Breaker in existence! We have to get something! Her Holiness will give our deaths meaning!] fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

They charged forward under heavy fire and eventually got close enough to see who was shooting at them. It was a beautiful woman with white hair and carrying a sniper rifle. She stopped shooting and simply brought her hand down.

"Leave none alive."

And like fire through dry grass, the army descended. One that Marcus could not understand.

Crap. It’s W02, along with Snow Wolves Alphas and Flame Swallows. Bianca Valestra was supposed to be a loner mage! Did she suddenly gain tamer talents? Or was it because of W01?

The final video ended in the complete annihilation of the entire Truthsong force. It left a heavy atmosphere lingering in the room.

"Jian, Shang, Marcus. Unlike 50 years ago, we are not against just Bianca Valestra," Seraphi prefaced.

"We are up against her entire faction. One that can cobble up multiple species together, remove the Curse of Compromise, and has multiple S-Ranked warriors, including one powerful enough to kill even Heaven’s Fist. And they are coming for us."

At the Pope’s grim declaration, Marcus sighed and inwardly thought.

I should’ve retired when I had the chance.