Limitless The Strongest Revenant

"Yes. When you leave a Revenant's battlefront, you also leave the area they 'cleanse'. There have been many powerful Reapers who have tried to set up their own battlefronts. Even though they can fight the undead, they usually succumb to the malice and end up dead."

"..."

I see. That makes sense. Vincent said that the limit was 100,000. That was probably for Wraiths. Isolde could carry three million and still be fine. The limit as a Phantom must be around that number.

When I hit four million, my soul collapsed, so I obviously went over.

For Specters and especially Revenants, the number has to be significantly higher. But that begs the question. Would Hellsend be able to survive the 24th floor if we made our own?

"Wait. Is that why the battlefronts are using different tactics to purge? Because the Revenants have an inherent limit that they cannot cross?"

Phillip suddenly bro-saluted me as he spoke.

"I am amazed at your ability to see the truth buried in the details, my lord. You are correct. The reason why North America leaves some zones corrupted is because that way we can go much further."

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At this point, everything clicked. Europe and Africa were the only ones to clean everything in their zones.

As a result, Europe was stuck and unable to move forward. This was probably the reason why Clive Zanardi prevented his assault teams from advancing. So much so that he intentionally had the women of Europe ravaged to create saints.

Africa, on the other hand, was able to reach the middle levels, but failed to advance for over five centuries. This was despite having the second largest Reaper army of the seven continents.

Meanwhile Asia and South America, used tactics that allowed them to purify the bare minimum before advancing. Both continents planned to use the power of their neighbors to deal with the garbage they couldn't.

Australia and the North, due to limited numbers, could do little but try to maintain what they had. Somehow, slowly but surely, I began to understand each Revenant's decision.

At first I thought they were all just fucking cowards or idiots. But every decision or rule they enforced on their battlefront was done after careful consideration. Asia in particular was fucking brilliant.

They were flanked by Africa, the second strongest Reaper army, and Australia, the strongest in terms of quality per Reaper. With both sides protected, they decided to spread their lines thin, knowing that full well they would still be okay.

This allowed them to access the lower levels and their riches without expending everything they had to defend their borders. They literally used the undead and their neighbors to keep each other in check.

It was so effective that both Africa and Australia were indirectly nailed down by Asia's actions. South America, using similar tactics, kept Europe and North America on the defensive.

Meanwhile, the North, effectively a zombie beachhead, caused Europe and Australia to take a massive beating. At the moment, the only battle fronts even capable of advancing at all were North America, South America, and Asia. Everyone else was at an impasse.

"My lord. Every Revenant has a limit to how much malice they can hold. Since they are already the peak of what a Reaper could become, there is no way to increase it. The only other alternative would be to raise more Reapers into Revenants.

"But the truce has made that difficult. Especially when Assault Teams have an even higher fatality rate than Death Seekers. And often, even if they make it back, they're not necessarily able to continue fighting."

Then I remembered the words of the Specters I had met.

"Look its not I cannot understand, but I made the same sacrifice. I am already a Specter. Why do you think I did it? Because I wanted to lose my memories? No! It was because there was no other choice!

If everyone followed them, How do we replenish the Assault teams?"

"If that is true then good for you. Most of us have, no. Had a reason. But when the person tied to that reason died, we lost our will to continue this… fucking whatever this is."

"You see, I didn't forgot immediately, so I wrote everything before my memories slowly disappeared. I created Saviors for one purpose. To kill reapers who suffered from soul collapses."

"Its an interesting feeling. The journals were stained with blood and tears. Yet to me right now, it felt like the words of a stranger."

"My request to Administration was simple. Find me a reaper who is not afraid of pain and death. If he completes my request, I will return to the front lines."

Each of them had a reason; if they had been able to persevere, they would have become Revenants. Then they would be able to expand the Reapers' domain. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of them were taken down, either directly or by circumstance.

Suddenly, the idea of leaving Isolde and other Phantoms as bums didn't seem so appealing. What Hellsgate needed was Revenants, not Phantoms or Wraiths. Not evolving to the next level made a Reaper nothing more than a useless waste of space.

"If that's the case, wouldn't I be similar to those who tried and failed before?" I asked bitterly.

"No, my lord. There is one great difference between you and the others who have tried."

"And that is?"

Phillip pulled out a 5.56 Sacred and placed it on the table.

"My lord, you have no idea how much your actions have affected the world. Before you, every Formless who excelled was taken out before the end of their first week. The same plans have been made for you. There are numerous controls to ensure that the Formless remain weak.

"For the Death Seekers, this control was manifested in the Mercenary A.I. They were to constantly evaluate your potential as a Revenant. Plans to terminate Formless Reapers were carried out for powerful individuals the moment they showed promise."

"..."

"However, in your case, all plans to terminate you were abruptly halted when you began purchasing Sacreds in bulk."

"Why?"

"My lord, I mentioned that the spirit that is present in everyone and everything in Hellsgate has emotions, right?"

"Yes. So?"

"I talked about malice and its negative effects. But just as there are bad emotions, there are also good ones. On an extremely rare occasion, a benevolent wish or emotion is hidden in the mire of negative ones."

A benevolent wish hidden among the negative ones. Of all the things we discussed, only one came to mind.

"The Devil's Remains..."

"Correct. Normally, they come from virtuous heroes or people with the highest positive karma, and they alone create artifacts brimming with positive emotions.

"Unfortunately, because these spirits are mixed with malice, it takes holy energy to extract them. These energies, when mixed with malice, completely exorcise the negative emotions."

It was a ray of hope. It was as if fate itself was telling the Reapers not to give up. A single person's good karma would transcend himself and purify the evils around him. These people would be the only ones worthy of going to heaven.

"Unfortunately, just as the reapers have a limit, so do the devil's remains. This means that the benevolent energies will eventually be used up and disappear. Due to their limited nature, there were never any plans to include them in the purifications."

"I could understand why. You needed a saint and a thousand souls to bless a weapon. And you wouldn't even be sure if you could recoup your investment before it ran out."

"Correct again, my lord. Even though all the battlefronts knew that they could use Saints to purify, it was simply impossible. However, His Majesty then realized that you do not really consume the blessings and can use them indefinitely."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Holy hell, so David wanted to use me as a devil's remains miner from the very beginning?"

"Indeed, my lord. That is why he decided to give you an entire floor. To see if you could bypass the need for a Revenant."

"Well fuck..."