A humanoid with grimy green scales over her entire body walked up to Cynthia, avoiding eye contact. Her face had the shape of a french bulldog's, but it wasn't a snout.
She didn't have a nose. Instead, she had two small slits in her scaly skin, reminiscent of water creatures. Lastly, her mouth looked human, albeit wider.
Her face made no biological sense to Cynthia, but she wasn't bothered by it.
"Name." Cynthia ordered.
The woman opened her mouth the slightest amount while looking at the ground.
"...m..ar..y…" Mary eked out in a raspy voice.
Cynthia narrowed her eyes.
"Is that the normal way you talk?" The elf scoffed.
"Because I have questions, and I need to hear clear answers.
So if you're doing this because you're self-conscious, you'll end up a meteorite like the other people wasting our time."
The woman's eyes trembled, and she tucked her chin into her neck. Now her already downward-facing head was nearly vertical.
"My name is Mary. I represent God Cthulhu." Mary sang.
Cynthia's eyes widened in astonishment. She looked around and found that everyone had the same expression.
Mary's voice was beautiful! It felt like a melodic masterpiece that soothed the souls of everyone present.
Cynthia was accustomed to beautiful music in Neilfenheim. However, she had never heard anything like it.
"...Skill." The elf ordered gently.
"Most of my powers are dangerous because I use water magic," Mary sang, "But I can also transform into a monster so I can fight if necessary."
Cynthia found it difficult to pay attention because of her beautiful voice! That immediately triggered a desire to kill the woman on the spot.
"Mary! Does your voice have some type of siren effect?" She snapped with animated purple eyes, "If so, you need to tell us now!"
Mary's eyes filled with panic. She immediately lifted her head to make eye contact and explain herself.
"This is just how it sounds, it doesn't have a—"
Mary's eyes widened in shock when she saw Cynthia's ghostly pale face. She threw her head down in shame and began crying.
Every sob was heavenly, and the candidates didn't realize the woman was crying.
Only Cynthia knew she was crying and why. She wanted to console the woman, but her fight or flight response was already overclocked, sacrificing unnecessary mental processes for survival.
When Mary looked up to explain her voice, she opened her mouth to speak.
That was it.
That was all it took to leave Cynthia a rattled mess.
Mary had a jaw that folded in on itself. So while it looked like a wider human jaw, Cynthia was certain it could fit a watermelon in it!
Cynthia didn't see how large it could get, but she knew. She knew because Mary's canine-shaped head made room for twenty rows—
Rows.
Rows! Of needle-like teeth on the top and bottom of her jaws. They were the thickness of toothpicks, were yellow, and had green mossy sections near the bottom.
So not only could she fit a human skull in her mouth easily, she could juice it in one bite!
If that wasn't enough, there wasn't any white in her eyes. It appeared that her eyes were injected with ink, creating all-consuming pupils.
Mary sobbed uncontrollably, creating a melody that calmed the entire area.
Cynthia snapped back into focus because of it.
She took a deep breath, dry-swallowed, and patted Mary on the shoulder. It caught the aquatic humanoid by surprise, and she calmed her crying in confusion.
Cynthia was cold as ice, so seeing any amount of emotion was bewildering and comforting.
In truth, the elf saw her voice was slowing down the pace, was done speaking to her, and killing the woman would trigger panic. So she was trying to resolve the situation.
"Your voice is beautiful, and you're… an amazing person, Or something." Cynthia said awkwardly between deep breaths, "We just need to get you a surgeon's mask."
Mary looked up with hope-filled eyes.
When she did, Cynthia had to summon every ounce of self-restraint not to get creeped out by her eyes.
The green-scaled woman immediately shot her face down.
"What's a sur-geons mask?" Mary whimpered.
Cynthia's fear was gone, and her annoyance returned with accrued interest. She needed to work! How much support does a person need to survive?
"They're used for surgeries to prevent infection from spreading." The elf replied coldly.
"They're everywhere you look here. I was told it's because humans are idiots and polluted their world to the point they couldn't breathe.
Then nearing the first quarter of the century, they boomed for some reason, and now they're everywhere you look. So we'll find you one… or just make one… It's just cloth, not that hard!" Cynthia snapped in frustration.
She couldn't believe she was still conversing with the woman! Moreover, she was shocked the woman didn't already have a mask!
"Bus 3. We'll get you a mask later. Now cry somewhere else! NEXT!"
Mary immediately shot up and ran toward the bus. Another candidate took her place, and things continued onward.
The pace was constant and only slowed when someone tried using their powers.
A Light Pillar incinerated an entire area of candidates half a second later. The male candidates and survivors looked at the area in horror.
There was ash floating in the area, but no human remains. Caitlyn turned [superhuamns] into ash in a single strike!
"That's what happens when someone even attempts to use their powers!" Leon roared.
"Notice that women died too. We won't even think about hostages!
It will only take the men ten minutes to run to the Sanctuary. You're not in danger if you don't kill yourselves or make us take the initiative.
So keep quiet so we can finish up, and the men can leave!"
The area fell still, and the female candidates froze in fear.
"Next!" Cynthia yelled out, "NOW!"
"Next!" Quinn echoed aggressively.
The line started moving again, but it was still taking forever. The constant need for Leon to reinforce his policy was taxing for Lindy.
While she couldn't care less whether the men died, their screams gave her a headache! It was flaring up her temper problem.
It took considerable willpower not to liquefy half of the people to speed it up.
However, she restrained herself to the end because Leon was there, ruffling her hair when he noticed her gritting her teeth.
They had spent an hour and twenty minutes getting the candidates loaded into the buses and still weren't finished.
Even for three hundred women needing to register, that was excessive.
However, Leon's primary objective wasn't to save survivors. It was to protect his current haremites.
He offered them protection yesterday so he couldn't show up forty casualties and 200 new women. That would crush their morale and make finding volunteers for the retrieval teams difficult.
Therefore, he meticulously set up the bussing system to prevent collisions between drivers or damage from magical power interference.
Tricksie was a survival trump card now, as she could shrink that people Caitlyn could fly to safety at 140 mph.
With that reassurance, Leon allowed the process to continue with a haremite safety first policy.
His teams loaded up people for an hour and a half before a beast woman approached him with swiveling hips. Every step she took seemed to leave a shadowy after-image.
She had neck-length, silky black hair and cat ears. White highlights popped against it, swirling chaotically in a gorgeous design.
She was so confident and potentially lethal looking that he addressed her as an equal.
"Yes?" Leon asked.
"I'm wondering if you'd wager that there's a cat girl in that sanctuary?" The woman asked with a smooth voice, "One with pink hair, fluffy white ears, and doesn't act her age?"
Her tone made it sound like a statement rather than a question, causing Leon to narrow his eyes in suspicion.
The candidate wore a loose black shirt with short sleeves and black leggings. They popped against her white skin.
However, the part about her that made her look intimidating was her amethyst eyes. They weren't regal like Cynthia's; they were vibrant and looked vicious.
"No need to wager. Yes, Mindy's here, Minx." Leon replied, "I'm getting you an escort to take you to her now."
Minx was stunned by the speed and ambivalence he gave her the answer she sought.
[Caitlyn, we've found Minx. Take her to Mindy and then keep an eye on her.]
[Coming!]
The blonde tapped Tricksie's shoulder, and the latter immediately wound up a fastball and sent the figurine in her hand hurdling to the earth.
Boom.
The scene happened far in the distance, but she flew forward at a remarkable speed.
Leon turned to Minx.
"We brought Mindy here to look for you, and now you're together. I don't have time to play the [if you hurt my sister then], or you're [proof of the patriarchy] games.
So accept our care, and know that we won't hesitate to kill you if you do anything stupid. Do you understand?"
Minx nodded with a fascinated expression on her face.
Leon wasn't a ruthless man massacring people arbitrarily.
He was a man arbitrarily massacring people.
It was the difference of one word. However, it was a huge difference since the term ruthless denoted the person's character.
Ruthless was a title given to those lacking [sympathy].
Cold men that were willing to do anything to achieve their goals. Callus, accepting of a cruel world, tired, cruel, unforgiving.
Not Leon. The look in her eyes said he was devoid of [empathy].
He couldn't become callus or accept a cruel world because it was always cruel and never idealistic to begin with.
Leon felt nothing for the people he was killing.
Two hours later, he'd never think of those people again. He'd never consider their condition, life experiences, dreams, families, relationships, or humanity.
As Caitlyn entered her field of vision, she rushed to ask the question on her mind.
"Do you feel anything aside from impatience or light anxiety right now?" Minx asked.
"Nope. Leon Traxler. Man of high culture and a front-grade psychopath. Good for friendly women, bad for men, period." Leon replied briskly.
"I aspire to have a harem of thousands but have a sex phobia regarding women.
I have plenty of contradicting traits on paper, but you can see they work in practice."
Leon turned to the transport team of women and then back to the corpse-festered hellscape Minx had just walked out of.
"I see. Well, my sister is here. If you would like my strength, how about we make a bet—"
"Great timing. Minx, meet Caitlyn. She's my sweetheart." Leon interjected.
"She'll be your host and executioner if you derail our operation. So connect with your sister, accept that you're useless in this battle, and don't gamble during our operation, or I'll kill you.
Lindy, Tricksie, you're with me."
Leon turned around to complete his current task.
"Wait!" Minx cried as Caitlyn forcefully picked her up in her arms, "Did Mindy tell you about my power?"
Leon turned around to face the woman before they took flight.
"No. Unlike you, Mindy doesn't begin exposing secrets immediately." He replied bluntly.
"Normal people don't gamble with questions about their sister's life, nor do they double down in the next line.
So I'd place money that your power is gambling related, meaning you gambled with your life during the apocalypse when you chose it.
I don't gamble with my life. So if I'm bringing a wildcard into our transport operation, it means one thing."
Minx's eyes narrowed. "What's that?"
"The odds of us killing you after you've gambled during this operation is 99/1." Leon declared coldly, "If you have an addiction that will play those odds—"
An icy chill crawled down Minx's spine in anticipation of his words.
"—you deserve to die."
"Y-You don't understand. I can—waaaaaaiiiiittttt…."
The cat woman was whisked into the sky at a brutal speed.
"Well, that's one objective that's completed." Leon chuckled as he watched the two fly ten thousand feet in the air.
Taking Minx into the sky wasn't necessary, as Mindy was 100 feet away in a pickup truck.
Caitlyn was just being Caitlyn, and he found it amusing. Perhaps endearing, even? He'd have to look up the definition later.
It wasn't a joke. Leon had never experienced emotions before, so he generally resolved to learn what words fit the strange feelings he experienced with Caitlyn and Lindy.
Not that they mattered; Leon was just curious.
"At least we can leave whenever now." Leon sighed as he watched the final groups get organized in the buses.
After another 20 minutes, it was time for the female survivors to join.
Watching the surreal speed at which the team accomplished the goal showcased the level of safety precautions he placed on the candidates.
His team just packed women into the moving trucks indiscriminately.
That sight bothered Leon more than any other he had seen that day. He officially felt like a human trafficking ring leader.
Leon didn't like it, but he didn't have time to think about it.
—
Time Till Road Opens: 00:30:37
—
"HEY! It's been a hour and a half!" A man with a black beard screamed.
"You said a little over an hour! We're not causing problems, but please work with us!" A smaller man wearing a baggy hoodie in the summer yelled.
Unlike before, the behavior of the men wasn't driven by stupidity.
It was fueled by desperation.
Now that Caitlyn and Tricksie weren't hurdling bodies into the group, forcing the men to yell and run, they could hear the sounds of beasts roaring in the distance.
There was an army of monsters, beasts, creatures, insects, avians, and lizards on both sides, filling the broken remains of the city's outskirts.
The time before their barriers got released was ticking down, and they released battle cries in response.
"PLEASE! WE WEREN'T THE PEOPLE CAUSING ISSUES!" An athlete-type man yelled.
Like a broken floodgate, the area devolved into a confused panic. Fear passed from one person to the next, chaining the group together in a web of synesthesia.
Their desperation ran rampant, waving through the crowd. Everyone looked at each other, desperately searching for someone who had a way to break free without dying from retribution.
"Alright, people, let's wrap it up!" Leon roared, "We have only a few minutes. After that, we're leaving the rest behind! MOVE!"
—
[A/N: The real novel starts tomorrow.]
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