Dragovich immediately roared, pushing his power to the limit. On the edge of death, he found that his body was bursting to the seams with power he had never experienced before.
The Zilch Berserker was overdrawing his life force and potential in order to overcome this crisis, but such things would not be enough to keep him from death against this particular foe.
Gunner's fist still struck his jaw, blasting the lower half of his head off as Dragovich staggered back. The retaliation and defense he had prepared crumbled, as his red aura dissipated into nothingness upon his death.
He simply fell lifelessly to the side, his body crumpling like a folded omelette. Gunner gazed at the body and calmly stretched his hand out, dragging the fleeing Illisun Horus over into his grip.
"No, wait, please! Do not kill me! I have never shown direct hostility to you, physically or verbally! Besides, someone needs to relay your message to the council, right?"
Illisun immediately began to beg for his life once he felt his throat in the hands of Gunner. He knew that nothing he could do would save him from this fellow, so his only choice was to convince the half-giant of his usefulness.
Gunner listened and agreed to some part. However, he smiled strangely and pointed to Eunice Diver, the blonde bishop who was kneeling in the dirt, vomiting all her stomach's worth due to the slaughter she had just witnessed.
"What about her?"
Illisun turned to look at Eunice, who incidentally raised her head to look at him. Her pretty face was plain with fear and horror, trauma in her eyes. She was just a bishop who administered light sermons and healed people.
When had she ever seen such cruelty? Not to mention, she would soon be a victim of it. It was a miracle she hadn't soiled herself, though it would likely happen once Gunner officially set his sights on her.
Illisun saw this and sighed. He smiled bitterly, and his aura of desperation shifted to one of despair and resignation.
"Yes, she is a better candidate than me... I don't have anything else to say. You can kill me as you wish, sir." Illisun stated honorably, closing his eyes, so he would not feel too strange when total darkness overcame him.
However, all he felt were his legs connecting with the earth - something that hadn't happened in a long while as he liked to float imposingly - which stunned him.
He opened his eyes to see Gunner towering over him, the half-giant's intense green eyes scrutinizing the Wind Elemental. Illisun felt that by looking into those eyes, he was like Atlas, a man forced to carry the weight of a mountain on his back.
"You are not bad. As you said, you did not show any hostility and neither did she. One of you will return to the council to report my words. The other will be sent back to Safemoon along with these materials." Gunner stated with mild interest.
When he spoke the word 'materials', he gestured to the corpses of the dead Grandmasters. Stunned out of his mind, Illisun asked the obvious but foolish question.
"Materials? Materials for what exactly?"
Illisun suddenly regretted his thoughtless question and was about to apologize when he saw the Branded Servant smile darkly. It was a weird smile filled with morbid amusement that did not fit the fierce and direct Gunner's face.
However, after being with Darius for so long, and seeing some things his master had done that would even make Demons fear him, Gunner realized that this world was truly dark.
"They will be used for a greater purpose... heh. If you're so curious, I can subscribe you to their fate as well, so you can find out for yourself." Gunner answered casually.
Illisun felt chilled to his bones. Whatever it was, he could tell it was something that would scar him for life if he ever found out. As such, he naturally rejected hastily and prayed that whatever purpose Gunner had for him was better than what he was talking about.
Gunner tossed two HoloBraces to the duo. "Wear these. You are now slaves of Safemoon. As long as you work hard enough, though, you'll be allowed to buy back your freedom by following Martin's instructions."
Illisun and the now recovered Eunice hastily caught them and wore them. They understood the alternative was death and with the fresh corpses still around, they were not in the state of mind to try their luck.
As with anyone else in Faust not from Gravitas, they were shocked by the HoloBrace's functions when they first logged in, but Gunner didn't have time to play with them.
He waved a hand and some troops rushed to carry the bodies of the Grandmasters away to be transported back. Some other troops adept with Earth magic came and terraformed the area back to normal so the APCs wouldn't suffer any damage.
These were basic troops, mind you, but they all had Adept level power with magic and combat. Since everyone awoke naturally, their elements were different, though their training in their elements was peak tier with all the time they spent in time dilation.
The Elite troops were all Grandmaster stage and used only Phoenix fire magic due to their progenitor. Speaking of them, they had been casually watching the battle with interest.
They were loyal to the Stone family first and foremost, before Safemoon, so they were excited to see their idol, Gunner, pound some retards into a pulp.
They got to see that and more. They were like boys watching their favorite baseball star land a home run. If not for the fact that their idol had stated his dislike for it, they would be screeching and cheering like monkeys.
Achilles especially jumped out and appeared beside Gunner who was gazing at Illisun and Eunice who were hastily leaving now that they got their orders.
"What's next, Bossman Gunner?"
Gunner gazed at Achilles with some level of warmth. He was one of their people in the truest sense, and he was also someone with - now - enough power to at least give the Branded Servant some trouble when they sparred.
"Let's allow the fellows to rest. Everyone come out and play for a day, then back in the transports. Set up Devil Summoning Arrays and contract as many succubi and incubi as you can to please all of our troops."
Achilles smiled when he heard that. "The boys will be happy. My Elite guys can easily prevent their core lifespan or true essence from being sucked away while giving the succubi something small to feed them. But what about the normal troops. Could they be sucked dry?"
Gunner shook his head. "They underwent the same body and mind training as your elites. They can prevent their essence from being taken away and will only share what they feel is necessary. They also cannot be bewitched."
Gunner scoffed coldly. "Besides, the essence thing is only a tip, not necessary. We'll be paying them directly for their services."
Achilles blinked in surprise. "Yeah, that would be better, but do we have so many Demon Gold coins?"
Demon Gold was the currency of Armadon just as Dius was for Elysium. It was a terrible currency that would inflict bad luck on any non-Demon or Devil who kept it, but for those two races, it was harmless.
Its conversion rate with Dius was abysmal, at 1 Dius to almost 10 million Demon Gold. After all, the currency had no international value since it was used only in barren Armadon, but Dius was like Faust's dollar, it was everywhere.
Basically, you can compare it to the relationship between the US Dollar and the currency of Venezuela, the Bolivar.
Gunner smiled with amusement. "Why would we give them their shitty currency when we have the best in the world?"
Gunner tapped his HoloBrace, which had a - theoretically - infinite amount of Supreme Coins. Doing the math, Achilles could only murmur 'ah' as the realization hit him.
"That's probably better than anything they ever hoped for. They might be so excited that they might physically fuck our boys to death. We might even be pestered by them endlessly for us to use their services again later on."
Gunner laughed. "If anyone dies, mark their name down and resurrect them. Make them wear a cone of shame for the next week. As for the sex services, we can make it a weekly thing."
The harsh VR training of the normal troops made them mostly asexual, so the only way to curb that would be the demonic vaginas of succubi which were said to make one experience pleasure so great that even gods were not immune.
This should be enough to make them feel good. They also did not accumulate stress like a normal army, so this wasn't entirely necessary, but Gunner was in a good mood.
Achilles licked his lips. "I wonder if I can summon Lilith for myself.. All the Demi-God wanted to try her once, but the Gods forbade it. Thank Lord Darius that I can now enjoy it since I left those cunts!"
