Chapter 144: 140. Stalemate

Lilith summoned the soothing light of the Divine.

Everyone was on their feet to witness her divinity. Granting peace to the unsettled. Alleviating their fears and grief. A send of filled with hope.

Those left behind shed tears of both grief and hope that those who had fallen would find peace.

Lilith slowly descended from the skies. She was fatigued from giving it her all. She had used much mana to show a display of her Divine Connection to the Goddess leaving only ten percent of her mana. Slowly, she returned to her seat. Namely, Sylva's lap.

"Thank you for your hard work, Priestess."  Ma-Po offered his genuine appreciation to Lilith.

"Do not worry about it, Sir Ma-Po."

Ma-Po was the other representative of the Hunter Association. He was seated to Mirsha's right.

There were several high-profiled individual people on the stage. But at the center of it all, was chairs arranged in the middle of the stage.

It was the seat of power, or so others whispered to themselves as the center of the Sector were all gathered there.

Sylva and Lilith shared one seat. Mirsha and Ma-Po, were next to them and represented the Hunter Association's presence.

The last two seats were occupied by those from the World Government.

Julian Alister, the Sector Leader, and Suzu Quinn, the Sector Vice-Leader.

Julian Alister had a benevolent smile plastered on his face. He looked around and waved to the people. He made his speech earlier, and talked about the importance of moving forward and how his company, the Silver Bullet, would donate money in the efforts to rebuild the City.

But, barely anyone believed him.

Julian Alister, the blonde old man was one of the very first to desert the City with his closest associates.

He was currently one of the most hated people in the entire Sector.

Julian Alister, an Aristocrat that got his position through nepotism. He was the City's biggest Weapon and Tool Manufacturer and had deep ties to the Hunter Association's hierarchy.

Though this was Lilith's first time seeing Julian in the flesh— as he just returned from "evacuating" the people— she already hated his guts.

'He's a pussy who ran away with his board members, leaving the people to die.'

The reason why he hated him was simple. He was a coward who abandoned the people and from the testimonies of the pilots, threatened them to fly away earlier, leaving many people to die.

Julian noticed Lilith's eyes and shot her a quick glance, "Thank you for sparing us with your kind blessing." he acknowledged her efforts.

But hidden underneath his smile, was a pair of snake eyes, burning with hatred and disgust.

Lilith smiled at his direction as well. Her eyes became arches to show a beautiful smile and to hide the brewing sinister feeling she had inside.

'Julian Alister, this old coot is making my life a misery these past few days. I would have him assassinated if he wasn't the Sector Leader.'

There had been many attempts in Lilith's life over the past weeks. Ma-Po half-confirmed that they were sent by Julian, but there was no concrete proof of his connection so  there was nothing they could do.

"Thank you for your words, Saintess. To know someone with your illustrious identity knows the name of the departed must have eased the hearts of those left behind.." The man next to the old coot Julian also spoke.

This young man seated next to the old Julian was someone not even a third his age. He was handsome, but had a cold air surrounding him with his stiff expression. Missing an arm only added to his wild aura.

"I simply said what must be said. It is all the Goddess' efforts to provide peace." Lilith showed humility.

This young man was the current Vice-Leader of the Sector and the other man sharing the limelight with Lilith. His name was Suzu Quinn.

'To think the man I saved was actually the Vice-Leader of the Sector.'

Suzu was one of the patients Lilith saved.

According to the stories, Suzu lost an arm when he saved a child from a Tyrant Ape as he directed the panicking masses to the Underground Bunker.

'Though the story remains unconfirmed.' Lilith only heard of the story from the accounts of a young girl. But the Vice-Leader's side had remained silent. A move Lilith did not understand, outside of the fact that she heard that he didn't like being in front pages of the newspaper or any article for that matter.

But, Lilith was inclined to believe the story as she was the one who healed him when he was dying from losing so much blood. She could help regrow his arm, but she didn't as the potion was "very rare" and he wasn't an ally.

As a matter of fact, there were only very few Lilith saw as an ally inside the Sector.

Lilith was the Sector's savior. Many people approached her with smiles. Their arms stretched, promising that they wanted to offer her their help.

But Lilith knew better. She was well-aware that they only wanted to use her for their own good.

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So Lilith was very careful. Minding her every move and actions. Watching the people to gain as much information as she could.

Though she's already shown them her face, the true her must remain in the dark. For all Lilith was concerned, many things must be done before she could truly make her move.

She may have saved the Sector, and Children may like her, but most parents and adults were also worried about her. After all, a daemon was a daemon in their eyes.

'The Village is under surveillance, and I am left doing charity work. We are saviors. But many see us as savages. I need another fight… another proof. Ugh, I wish I could just wage war and get this over with.'

Sadly, Lilith couldn't.

Go rogue and the whole world would have their crosshairs on her back. With the Village out of the seclusive Forest of Beasts, Lilith couldn't even grow her forces to become absolute juggernauts and bulldoze an entire Sector. If she or any of her followers becomes too strong or too many in numbers, the Government will start asking questions.

'I showed ourselves to the humans and painted ourselves in a heroic color to ensure we don't make them fear us... but now, I am backed into another corner. Tch, so much for being a Priestess.'

She won, but she was still far from being free from worry.

[Keep it up, Lilith. You're doing great. The number of believers is increasing! The Goddess' followers are growing; at least that's a win.] Alpha excitedly announced, [Before long, we'll gain enough support and we'll be free to expand.]

'You sound like someone on Bubble Thoughts too much—Oh dear, are you the one who created that Bubble Thought account?' Lilith shuddered in horror, ' So that was why there were so many notifications.'

[…no—okay, yes, but we're getting a lot of traction. Others are responding to the teachings really well.]

'Delete it.'

[Wait, wait, listen to what I have to say.]

'We don't need one, Alpha.'

[Yes, we will. You said one of my tasks is to take care of those trying to ruin your reputation on the World Network. That account is necessary.]

'Tell me exactly how that is necessary while keeping in mind that I am supposed to be a daemon who just got introduced to technology.'

[Look, many fake accounts are popping up here and there, those politicians are posing as you to ruin your reputation, saying that you support the Dungeon Break of the S-Rank Dungeon Acalyst, and I don't know how, but some actual idiots believe that was you and spreading rumors. I mean, how can they believe that you are actually some robot made by the opposing political party? So, I had to do something, and besides, this shows that you're intelligent and capable of adapting to society! What I'm trying to say is, there are a lot of stupid humans, and after cross-checking history, it has been proven that those who have wrong opinions tend to scream as loud as they can to make their incorrect opinion correct.]

Lilith listened to Alpha's sad excuse to keep the account and just sighed by the end of her explanation, 'Sadly, you're trying harder to keep a Bubble Account than when you helped me fight Mirsha.'

Lilith made a snide remark remembering how Alpha did not return when requested.

[I told you, the High-Seraph Luceer cut off our connection, and the God Thoth purposefully moved slowly so you can deal with Mirsha alone. You might find that impossible, but she's the Grand Architect; High-Seraph Luceer can do many things. You got manipulated by her as well, right?] Alpha explained herself for what seemed to be the twentieth time since the fight ended with Mirsha.

Lilith already listened to her explanation in the past.

And she believed Alpha without a second thought.

Luceer was shy and seemed to have a weak heart, but she was cunning and made use of the situation she was presented with. It was only a conjecture, but Lilith believed that Luceer knew that she would send Alpha to cross-check the information they gathered from the Wendigo. And she purposely sent a "helper" to ensure Alpha's late arrival.

Lilith felt like she was being tested by Luceer. Nevertheless, it was now in the past and she could only wait for another chance to make Luceer's life insufferable.

[Look, if you have a problem, take it up to the High-Seraph Luceer. She was the one testing you, not me.] Alpha harrumphed in indignation.

'Fine, fine, and you can keep the Bubble account. But I swear to Letza, if our reputation is destroyed because of one of your posts, I'm going to kill us.' Lilith wouldn't be able to swallow the sheer stupidity of her downfall when that happens.

[Yeah, yeah.] Alpha waved off Lilith's threats, [I forgot to mention this last night, but I found that the flow of information is being blocked by someone. They are trying to limit the broadcast of anything related to us in this Sector. Even when some slip, it does not make it out of the Stronghold. There are many who believe that what happened here was some sort of movie trailer.  Any articles written about Sector 24 are being deleted, especially about the scandal of Julian abandoning the people. Purging the hackers and moderators is impossible for me. Doing something like that will have our access blocked.]

'Huh? Interesting, he's even dabbling on controlling information? How lovely of this old man. He knows he's nearing the end of his ropes.'

[Well, the election is coming. If Julian shows up empty in the face of the Grand Jury, he'll be stripped off his power.]

'Is that so? I forgot about that.' A maniacal smile sprouted within, 'So that means he's in a scramble, haha! And he's trying to win by not groveling to me but instead by picking a fight? If that's the case, pick an influencer, a blogger, or anyone with a wide reach on the Network. If they post anything, then protect their articles. Don't hack those who stop the flow of information. Instead, protect the articles and share them with many streamers who have an open channel. I'm not new to these kinds of warfare.'

Lilith spent the majority of the funeral arguing with Alpha and making plans. It had already been weeks since a proper advancement of her plans, Lilith now faced little to no improvements in her situation.

She gave the humans permission to observe her village while they gained the rights to exchange goods using the barter system. The next stage of Lilith's plan was starting to slow down.

At the final stretch of the funeral, Lilith and the others stood up to watch the coffins be sent to their final resting place.

Watching the dead be laid to rest, a thought appeared at the back of Lilith's mind, 'I... never got to give my mother a funeral.'

A dark memory flashed as she remembered that her mother's body was left behind to men wielding axes when she was forcefully taken by the man who called himself her father.