Chapter 119: Submit to Me
"I'll get straight to the point. I'm giving you two choices."
"One: submit to me."
"Two: remain dead. No one will ever find you, and you can forget about resurrection. I wiped you out once; I can do it a second time."
Otonashi Chiya spoke with flat, blunt honesty. Though the five were reluctant, they had to admit that he truly possessed the power to one-shot them again. Consequently, they didn't dare show any attitude; when your strength is so vastly inferior, having an attitude is just a death wish.
"We really don't have a choice, but the military high command..." Barem started to say that the military wouldn't just sit by, but he cut himself off halfway through as a realization dawned on him.
The high command... were they even still alive?
"I've already slaughtered half of the high command. The remaining half, if they have any brains, will stay very quiet. You know it as well as I do—now that I've dealt with you, is there anything left in the military's security forces that can stop me?" Chiya asked.
The five bound Hybrids fell silent. Chiya was telling the truth. If they had been dispatched so easily, there was no hope for anyone else to stop this youth.
"Submission or death. Think it over," Chiya said calmly.
The faces of the five showed varying degrees of hesitation and internal struggle.
Then, the Whip Hybrid spoke up: "What about our salary? Will we still get paid the same as before?"
"..."
Chiya was momentarily speechless. Although he remembered this "Whip Sister" as being a bit dim-witted and prone to chuunibyou tendencies, hearing her say this at a time like this was still...
"At a time like this, you old hag, you actually have the heart to talk about that..." Barem couldn't help but roast her.
"Who are you calling an old hag?! I am an ancient, superior race—an immortal, high-class human..." the Whip Hybrid retorted in her typical eccentric fashion.
Chiya interrupted her mid-rant. "Just tell me—how much was your previous salary?"
"Ah, let me think. I received three thousand last month. This month's pay hasn't even been issued yet, and then you tied me up here," the Whip Hybrid replied.
"Three thousand Rubles, I assume? What about the rest of you?" Chiya continued.
He soon discovered that these guys were all making a few thousand Rubles—the lowest being 2,000 and the highest not exceeding 5,000. Although the exchange rate between the Ruble and the US Dollar in this world was roughly 1:1, three or four thousand a month seemed incredibly low to him, far below the standard pay for military Devil Hunters.
In reality, the reason for this was that Hybrids like Reze spent almost every waking moment in training when they weren't out on missions. Their physiological makeup as Hybrids meant they didn't even need to eat to survive, and the military provided their housing.
From the military's perspective, these "war machines" had no need for high salaries or luxury spending. They were paid according to the standards of ordinary government officials rather than the high-pay scale of elite Devil Hunters. Since they lacked the time or inclination to spend, most of them simply let their wages sit unused.
However, the Whip Hybrid was a bit of an old miser at heart—and a somewhat eccentric, airheaded woman—hence her nonsensical questions earlier.
"Whatever your previous salary was, I will pay it to you as a base wage without a single cent missing. Furthermore, if you perform tasks for me—such as hunting devils—I will give you an additional commission," Chiya stated.
"Of course, money is only part of it. I won't restrict your freedom as severely as the Soviet military did. As long as you are available when I call and don't cause trouble for me, you can do whatever you like the rest of the time. I'm too lazy to micro-manage you."
Aside from the Whip Hybrid, the others didn't actually care that much about the money. It was the promise of high-level freedom that enticed them. Life under the Soviet military had been incredibly dull and monotonous; even those with relatively more "freedom" due to their specific roles were still heavily tethered.
The most painful aspect for them was that while the high command viewed them purely as "weapons," they still possessed all the complex emotions of a human being. Previously, they had resigned themselves to their fate, neither wanting nor daring to resist. But now, a mysterious youth who possessed crushing power—and could slaughter the top brass at will—had appeared before them. Their hearts began to stir.
They really had no other choice anyway. It was better to believe in the benefits he offered; even if the reality turned out poorly, it could hardly be worse than their time with the military.
"I, Oleg, am willing to submit," the Spear Hybrid was the first to speak.
"Barem, also willing to submit," the Flamethrower Hybrid followed immediately.
The Whip Hybrid looked at Oleg, then at Barem. "Ah? You both made up your minds so fast? Then I, Furia, submit as well!"
Subsequently, the remaining two Hybrids also voiced their submission. Chiya learned that the Axe and Hoe Hybrids were named Sival and Toye, respectively.
Actually, these Hybrids didn't hold much of a grudge against Chiya. As Reze's "colleagues," they understood perfectly well why he had struck at the high command today: it was pure revenge. They felt no loyalty to those officials, who had never treated them as human beings in the first place.
"And me, me, me!"
At that moment, Reze suddenly raised her hand like a student and said with a smile, "I've been Master's loyal subordinate for a long time now~!"
"Reze, go ahead and untie them."
After saying that, Chiya gave the five men one final warning. "One last thing: if you ever harbor thoughts of betrayal, I will not give you a second chance. What you will face then is eternal death."
The five nodded obediently. They hadn't even dared to resist when they were under the military's oppressive yoke; they certainly wouldn't dare betray the youth whose strength had completely overwhelmed that same military.
"Just don't be stupid. Master is actually a very good person," Reze added, her tone uncharacteristically serious as if she were genuinely advising them.
"Reze, weren't you the one assigned to this mission? It turns out you were the first to jump ship..." Furia, the Whip Hybrid, couldn't help but comment. The "mission" she referred to was, of course, the order to bring Chiya back to the base to be turned into a Hybrid.
While untying the five of them, Reze replied:
"It's called leaving the darkness for the light~ Since we are all 'weapons' anyway, isn't it a good thing to follow a master who will actually treat us well?"
AN-
Studies
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