Lazy Salvation The Only Survivor

Heavy steps echoed on the walls as Cassius walked down the spiraling stairs.

Magnus followed close by, but all of his attention was fixed on the multicolored small rock nested between Cassius's fingers.

This was the first ti he'd seen it leave the room, and he knew very well the implications of such an action.

'It seems that Ash Harth pushed the leader more than I ever imagined... to have him imdiately resort to his final weapon...'

As Magnus's mind kept imagining what on earth that rock was going to be used for, they finally reached a dimly lit chamber.

In the center, blue circles lit up the ground with labels stuck next to each circle denoting the na of a place or region.

"...The fad teleportation circles," Magnus murmured.

"Right. I'm really blessed with talented subordinates." Cassius nodded in appreciation.

"...It's all thanks to the leader's charisma and intelligence that they ca to work under you," Magnus replied in a serious tone.

"...Really? But we can't deny their willingness to follow my lead despite the dangers. You have to give credit when it's due, Magnus." Cassius shook his head, as humble as ever.

"Yes, leader."

Despite the seemingly harmonious back and forth, both Cassius and Magnus knew that every talented individual in this cult was chosen by the Astrologer.

Cassius's innate ability wasn't only useful in distinguishing between friends and enemies; it could also scout for hidden talents and give the cheat sheet to persuading them in the form of a complete read on their personalities and all that encompassed it.

Using it, he gradually built a team of loyal followers that later turned into a group, a faction, and now, finally, evolved into a full-blown cult.

These teleportation circles' functionality was just like their na—able to teleport objects to a pre-designed location—and they were built by soone who had an innate ability that allowed him to instinctively understand a unique system that harnessed mana in ways beyond body reinforcent.

He was one of the most precious followers Cassius had ever gotten, but even he paled in front of Magnus.

That was because Magnus had sothing rarer, so much rarer than re utility. It was faith.

When he first read his personality, he discovered that Magnus had a predisposition to follow through unconditionally once he put his faith in soone.

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Cassius, back then, was still a hero among the Pride army, so it wasn't hard to win Magnus's admiration and get closer to him. From there, as he kept acting as his leader and superior, it wasn't long before Magnus started believing in him as a subordinate and a fellow comrade. And it was then that his disposition went on full display.

Respect turned into admiration, then into belief, and finally into unconditional faith in the man nad Cassius Asta.

That faith was so pure that nothing would change it; proof of that was that even after Cassius defected, Magnus still followed. When he established the cult, Magnus even beca its vice leader... and when Cassius clearly ant no good to the human race, Magnus did nothing to stop him.

But if it was just this, Cassius wouldn't have put so much importance on Magnus. After all, while it would take more ti and effort, manipulating soone to be fanatically loyal to him wasn't out of the realm of possibility with his Astrologer.

No... all of this was just one aspect of Magnus's disposition. The other, more mysterious aspect was his ability to get stronger the more faith he had.

It was like he used faith as so sort of passive energy, like mana, but higher in quality. This, with ti, made him stronger... Almost the strongest Cassius had ever seen, aside from that monster in human skin, Shun Morikawa.

Cassius, however, had other plans for this energy aside from it acting as a re mana replacent.

He subtly glanced at the unassuming multicolored rock in his hands, then sighed softly. The sight was wistful, as if he were reminiscing about sothing he'd soon leave forever.

"Magnus... for how many years have you followed now?" He suddenly asked.

"We t for the first ti twenty-one years ago, sir, when you saved and my mother from those bandits, and I've followed you for twenty years."

Magnus didn't get flustered by the abrupt question—or maybe his facial features didn't allow him to. But he still answered promptly all the sa.

"...Twenty years," he murmured. "You followed for that long, then you at least deserve an explanation."

"Sir?"

"...I bet you've always wondered why I went from a proud general to... this?"

"..." Magnus didn't answer, but the silence was confirmation enough.

Even for the ever-faithful man, this enigma managed to break his ever-unquestioning deanor.

Cassius nodded as if he'd known of his vice leader's silent confusion since the start.

"It all started from a certain mission," he began. "The Narkals' invasions had been getting more frequent, leaving us no breathing room. The demi-human side was also getting restless, leaving us stuck between a rock and a hard place."

He paused, recalling the events of those tis.

"...For the demi-humans, we already know their motivations and weaknesses to a certain extent since they're rational beings that can be reasoned with."

"For the Narkals, though..." His lips curled up, but his tone stayed humorless. "We only knew one thing about them for sure. It was their eternal urge to destroy. Even when we tried to study their weaknesses, and succeeded to a certain extent on the individual scale..."

His fist tightened around the rock. "... When they co in endless droves, everything becos aningless."

He glanced sideways. "You fought beside more tis than I can count, so you know exactly what I an, don't you? That hopeless stretch of days spent cutting those things down, only to wake up and find the waves rolling in again like so cosmic joke that refuses to end..."

"...Yes."

Cassius let out a slow breath. "...Humanity's higher-ups knew we'd be overrun sooner or later, so they ca up with a plan."

Cassius's voice wavered for a split second, making Magnus all the more curious.

"...The plan was to gather an elite team. Each one would be a champion of humanity. Each one would excel in a field. They would infiltrate deep into the Narkal territories and unravel the mystery of the ever-infinite numbers of those monsters."

"I was one of the chosen." His eyes hardened. "And the only survivor."