Chapter 91 - Defeat

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." When Wain left the room, Gisle suddenly started laughing like a madman.

He smiled broadly and muttered, "Great, excellent, perfect! Fuck, my luck definitely hasn't left me yet!"

Gisle was so glad because he might have been in trouble shortly. In fact, a few days ago, he had already reached the point where he could begin to evolve. 

Gisle didn't tell anyone about it because he knew that he would have to disappear for a few weeks if he started to evolve.

Usually, Gisle would have had no problem doing this, but he was the leader of hundreds of thousands of people and was doing a great job of evolving the organization. Everything he had worked so hard to build could fall apart if he were to disappear for such a long period.

He tried to think of a solution to this problem, but it was a total headache. Gisle had one plan, but it seemed to him an impossible task. He wanted to take over all parts of Overion and unite the city.

He would then be the only ruler, but that was not Gisle's main goal. When he united the four parts into one, there would be many problems and issues to solve. It would take at least a month, and that's when Gisle was going to disappear and deal with evolution.

His plan was to hand out hundreds of instructions up front and install the person in charge. He had already thought through solutions to most of the possible problems after the city was united.

Gisle wanted to do just that because other cities were unlikely to dare to attack Overion. Also, only after the typical and expected problems have been solved would Gisle deal with the more unique situations.

During the time his assistants were solving problems, he would be able to evolve. In Gisle's opinion, this was the best option possible. Of course, there were plenty of downsides even then, but it was the lesser of the evils.

The biggest flaw in his plan was that he couldn't take over the whole city quickly. He didn't have the strength to fight mercilessly or even real wars for power and territory.

But, with the arrival of Wain, everything changed. Sure, Wain wasn't strong enough to destroy cities with a wave of his hand, but Wain wouldn't fight alone.

Gisle had hundreds of men with superpowers at his command. Every one of them was willing to act on his orders. Even if someone disliked Gisle, he still had to obey because together with Gisle were such powerful people as Teresa, Agnes, and Grut.

Moreover, Gisle was also one of the strongest in his organization. With the appearance of Wain, another problem was solved. Besides Agnes, Teresa and Grut were other influential people under Gisle's command.

It was Zero, and she was the strongest of all except Wain. However, like Wain, she acted on her own most of the time, but Gisle knew that Zero valued Wain even more than herself.

Teresa had told him about what happened in the lab, so Gisle knew all the details. Thus, if Zero found out that Wain would be involved in the war, she would join in as well. Moreover, the mutant girls considered Zero their leader. 

Gisle was glad that Wain was back because he improved the situation many times over by his mere presence.

'Alright, I need to develop a plan to capture the Sea Punishers and destroy the northern part of Overion.' Thought Gisle and got to work.

...

Wain went downstairs to the university's courtyard and thought about the conversation that had taken place.

'Hmm, I need something to do for the next twelve hours. I could go to one of the Dungeon controlled Last Light's, but I have no desire to. I can't think of anything but the coming war. I'd a better look around. First, a lot has changed here.' Wain thought.

He decided not to go to Dungeon for another reason. He didn't want to waste energy. He had recently used Oblivion Thunder, and his energy reserves were still not fully restored.

Wain looked at his cloak and muttered, "My favorite cloak has turned into some rags lately. I need to fix it somehow."

Wain didn't want to change his cape. He was a real cape lover. He wanted someone to fix his cape. Wain thought of finding a tailor, he was sure that among the thousands of people living in Last Light's main base, there were such people.

"Wait, why would I need a tailor when there's a blacksmith I know well here?" Wain thought and asked one of the people where Lea was.

He immediately got an answer and headed to the north side of the base. There was a massive forge, about the size of a large two-story house, to his surprise.

"Looks like in two months, Lea has gained some notoriety for her abilities." Thought Wain and stepped inside.

But, he did not see Lea inside. There were other people there, pounding anvils. Behind them were the furnaces and all the tools needed for the job.

'I see. It is to be expected that there are other people with a soul connected with blacksmithing besides Lea.' Thought Wain.

He watched the blacksmiths work, but after a few minutes, he frowned. For, he realized that his past assumption had been wrong.

'They don't have blacksmith souls. Moreover, it looks like they haven't even activated the Soul Altar yet.' Thought Wain.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A girl with a pretty face approached Wain. She was in charge of talking to potential customers and passing on orders.

"Yes, these people, do they use the power of showers to forge gear?" Asked Wain.

The girl looked at him in surprise but then replied, "No, these people haven't activated their Soul Altars yet, and as far as I know, they don't have craft souls. Don't you know that there's only one person with blacksmith soul in Last Light at the moment?"

'I see. They were doing blacksmithing before the apocalypse. That explains why I don't feel any aura from them.' Thought Wain.

"Where's Lea?" Asked Wain.

The girl answered uncertainly, "Miss Lea isn't taking orders right now..."

"Why?"

"She's depressed..."

'What the fuck is going on here!' Wain thought to himself.

"I still want to talk to her. Where's her workplace?"

"Over there." Said the girl pointing in the direction.

Wain nodded and headed toward Lea's room. He went to the door and wanted to open it but...

"Closed? That lazy girl doesn't understand the situation she's in at all." Mumbled Wain, and he kicked the door open with a single kick the next moment.

The wooden door rattled into the wall and broke in two. Wain stepped inside and saw a dazed Lea. She hadn't expected someone to suddenly break into her room.

"Wain...?" Lea mumbled confusedly.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Asked Wain. He was surprised to see what condition Lea and her room were in.

There were hundreds of candy wrappers and chocolate wrappers scattered all over the floor. Everywhere was filthy, and it looked as if ten people lived here, not one little girl.

"You're back?" Lea was still surprised that after a long time, she finally saw Wain.

"Yeah-yeah, I've been busy. It doesn't matter now. What's going on with you? Why is the only man with a blacksmith soul idle?" Wain was not happy with the situation.

He, like Gisle, wanted Last Light to evolve, and after seeing the changes that had occurred in two months, his desire only increased. 

Of course, Wain still continued to be a loner, but he realized a lot of potential in this endeavor, and progress was already visible.

"I... I can't make gear anymore..." Lea said in a sad voice.

"What? How is that possible?" Wain was surprised.

He didn't understand how a man could lose his abilities. Of course, Wain knew that, if necessary, a person could pull their main soul out of Soul Altar. 

But, in such a case, the human was critically wounded and could even die. Wain wasn't known other cases in which a person lost their abilities.

"I'm depressed..." Lea said in a pitiful voice. "In all this time, I've created over twenty objects, and they've all turned out to be the worst garbage of garbage. I don't want to do anything else. I give up..."

Lea has always had a lousy handle for failure. Gisle and the others tried to support her, but they were unsuccessful. It had been days since Lea had left her room and eaten sweets.

Crackling.

Suddenly Lea heard a loud crackling sound. She looked at Wain and saw him walking slowly in his direction, but he wasn't going to comfort her. He was angry.

When he took a step, the wooden floor beneath his feet broke, and his eerie aura exerted a terrifying pressure on Lea.

"Lea, I don't think you understand something. We don't need a useless blacksmith who can't even wipe his snot and pick up a hammer." Wain said coldly.

At that moment, Lea trembled with fear. She treated Wain well, but she knew he was scary in anger.

Wain saw this, and at that moment, Gisle's words came to his mind, 'Wain, bullying her won't make things better. You're a bad teacher.'

When Wain remembered this, he calmed down a little. He was used to solving problems by force and fear, but in this situation, he was not talking to the head of a criminal gang or some politician, but to a simple girl and quite vulnerable.

'Damn, her heart is going to stop in fear.. I'm not going to get anywhere.'