Unchosen Champion-Chapter 301: Forgiveness
Hai Yun squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the sounds around her. She sat on her knees with her head down, completely depleted, unable even to weep. The burdens of leadership had already exhausted her emotions. The lives she had become responsible for would be lost, but in the end, that’s what they had all expected. What more could she have done?
She had exhausted her mana in an ultimate attack that had been snuffed out with hardly any effort by their opponent, just as he had negated all the others. Without any resources to manipulate her spells, she was less than useless, and ultimately, she was a liability. Physically, she was nearly as weak as she had been as a regular human, regardless of the levels she had gained during the assimilation. It was exactly as pathetic an end as she deserved. She only hoped that her ineptitude would be forgotten, left to rot in the dirt, along with her existence.
She was full of regrets, but she did her best to let them go before she was killed. A single tear ran down her cheek as she wished that she could have been better for the sake of her attendants. The trust she had been given had never really been earned.
But minutes went by and death didn’t come. It wasn’t until she was physically lifted off the ground and placed on her feet that she came back to her senses. The person that had brought her back to the present was the very same man that had defeated them all.
She blinked, eyes bloodshot, simply confused while his hands firmly held her arms until she put her feet down.
“You’ve had a hard time, huh?” He observed, seemingly understanding everything at a glance.
He pulled her into a generous hug, evoking gasps from her nearest dirt-covered attendants as they slowly recovered, dragging themselves back toward the battlefield. Her face felt warm as the rest of her tears finally came.
“Don’t worry, you did a good job.” He added as he released her. “The kid Seki explained enough for me to get the picture. I’m gonna need to talk to the Banshee, I mean Irina, but we’re all good.” He stated as if whatever happened was somehow already water under the bridge.
He put one hand on her shoulder and used his other to pull her limp hand between them, then placed a wrapped chocolate in her palm, before nodding to himself and walking off to speak to others. She stared at the chocolate for a long time, wondering where it had even come from and what it meant.
“Mistress?” The young girl that had been her attendant since the beginning spoke quietly, dirt caked in her hair from tumbling away in the blasts. When Hai Yun turned her head, glad that the girl had survived, still carefully holding the chocolate, the girl continued. “He’s inviting everyone to come with him to Ghost Reef, he says he’s Coop… from the leaderboards.”
“Oh.” Hai Yun managed, throat scratchy, unsure of what to say.
The girl kept going, smiling in a way Hai Yun hadn’t seen before. “He said we’re all welcome to stay in his settlement if we want. And he said he’ll do his best to keep us safe. Don’t you think that’s great?”
“Huh?” Hai Yun ineloquently expressed her skepticism. Safe? What was that? They were on the verge of being crushed by overwhelming power just minutes ago. Every single day brought more disasters. What was her attendant talking about now?
She glanced over at the man who was going one-by-one to speak to the people he had held back from instantly killing, though they hadn’t realized it until afterwards. Reina Kitawa was having her wrists wrapped by her fiance before they began interacting with him, clearly slightly uncomfortable by his approach. After all, the members of the caravan had not been holding back when they joined Irina in an effort to kill the stranger, but he had thrashed them while handicapping himself in an exhibition of patience beyond realistic. It made Hai Yun question just how many fights he had experienced prior to meeting them.
In seconds, Coop was nodding encouragingly at Reina’s fiance, fully engaged with the man while complimenting his shield barriers with dramatic hand gestures, then he was pointing toward the horizon, explaining something to Reina with a big grin on his face. When she heard whatever he was saying her neck practically snapped as she strained to see, then she reached to embrace Coop before stopping to bow deeply several times while he timidly tried to get her to stop.
Afterwards, he went with the pair to Akari and her gangster boyfriend, who both seemed keen on maintaining animosity toward him. Hai Yun’s eyebrows rose as she watched him win the delinquents over right before her eyes. While Reina’s fiance healed Akari, she went from staring daggers at Coop, to proudly showing him her mismatched pair of swords. Her boyfriend went through the same process, ending up presenting the patches he had sewn into his jacket for Coop to unabashedly admire.
Coop and Irina had the longest conversation, but neither attacked the other, so it seemed like they had come to some understanding. Unbeknownst to Hai Yun, Irina was actually Chosen of the Departed, a faction of the very same Undead that she held such animosity towards. She had abandoned the quest they had given her, uncomfortable with converting live humans into her personal thralls, and joined Hai Yun’s caravan instead.
Irina was wrestling with how her alien faction had transformed her. She detested how a permanent choice had been thrust upon her without her full knowledge. Though she had been changed into a monster, she clung to her last bits of humanity, even while other humans detected something was off about her. Before her chance encounter with Hai Yun, everyone she met immediately condemned her, instinctively deducing that she was an abomination.
Hai Yun and her people had offered her tolerance, but Coop offered her a chance at redemption, so long as she renounced the membership to her faction, an option Irina hadn’t known was available, but eagerly accepted.
Meanwhile, Coop wasn’t affiliated with the Undead at all, and Irina had jumped to conclusions just because he had a mana affinity that was deceptively close to those of her sponsors. Apparently, it wasn’t the first time such a misunderstanding had occurred, and Coop was quick to offer forgiveness. If anything, he seemed to enjoy the exhibition of skills, and was proud of Irina for her defiant spirit as well as all the people willing to back her up.
While they spoke, the army that had been following Coop caught up. Their arrival turned out to be an unplanned reunion as they weren’t an army at all, but actually civilians that Coop had previously offered to protect.
The blind hermit and the Keepers of the Mountain that had fought alongside Hai Yun and the others in the Sacred Mana Well appeared among the crowds that followed Coop. They left Shinjuku Gardens, following the Champion of Ghost Reef, and had collected more and more exiles from the super settlement as they went.
Hai Yun learned that when her scouts interacted with the soldiers of Shinjuku Gardens, it triggered an event where thousands upon thousands of people heard news that the Kitawa sisters were nearby in the Underlayer and collectively sought them out. An ultimatum had been issued to the residents of the settlement, and the possibility of joining the Kitawa sisters made the option to leave more appealing, with many groups taking the plunge into the underground.
Then, as Coop united with the Keepers of the Mountain and marched south, they overtook the wandering refugees, who were lost in the Underlayer, and pulled them into his orbit. He had approached Hai Yun’s group with the intention of adding them to the parade, though he was making a point of approaching each group alone, just in case anyone turned out to be hostile, in order to protect the civilians that had come under his care.
To Hai Yun’s understanding of human nature in the assimilation, Coop’s actions made no sense. Why would anyone anchor themselves with the weak and helpless? She struggled to make sense of his motivations, but she followed along all the same, such was his momentum.
For the first time in the assimilation, Hai Yun was untethered from the burden of leadership. Though the caravan continued to look to her for guidance, she simply followed Coop, wondering how this whole charade would all end. Naturally, she was still pessimistic about what the future would bring. She couldn’t imagine a place for them, but she tried to enjoy the respite while they explored the Underlayer together, waiting for him to send them packing. It didn’t seem like they would be enslaved, but certainly they would be turned away at some point.
A few days later, they reached the Aotearoa New Zealand settlement and another reunion took place. Evidently, a small group from Ghost Reef had arrived in time to help the local Maori-inspired warriors clear the last objective of their invasion, forming a bond between the two successful settlements through shared combat.
Following the unspoken leadership of their Champion, even the regular residents of Ghost Reef were quick to make friends and offer help with no strings attached, completely diverging from the experiences of Hai Yun throughout the assimilation. From her perspective, it seemed careless and unsustainable.
Coop was surprised to find his own companions for reasons Hai Yun didn’t understand until she learned that they needed to walk for at least another week in the Underlayer before reaching his intended destination. The residents from Ghost Reef had fought their way across an entire continent, two if they counted passing beneath Antarctica, though they hadn’t found any more monsters until reaching New Zealand. It was a journey that could dwarf her own extensive travels, and they had done it in a much smaller amount of time, with such little effort, it seemed comparable to a simple hike.
Hai Yun continued to observe, doing her best to reinforce her mask while she had the chance. It all felt unreal.
Coop chatted with everyone, but he always kept it far more casual than she had ever experienced. When he spoke to her, he showered her with compliments, calling himself a big fan and built her back up in ways she didn’t understand she needed. Her position on the earliest leaderboards, as the strongest Unchosen, had left an impression on the Champion of Ghost Reef. As far as he was concerned, he considered her in contention for the strongest on the planet based on that performance alone, and introduced her to who he believed was her biggest rival: an extremely shy, but kind, girl named Charlie. Apparently, he hoped they would become friends.
He did the same with others, bringing Akari and her boyfriend to a woman named Camila while talking about cousins that weren’t present and how funny it was that there was a whole genre of baseball bat wielders in the assimilation. It seemed like Coop really enjoyed learning about the skills of everyone else.
Under Coop’s guidance, Reina had her fiance swept up by the doctor of Ghost Reef, and within one day, the paladin was already referring to her as his sensei. The good doctor used the respectful paladin to draw a contrast with the way Coop spoke so casually to her, causing her large husband to chuckle to himself. They joked together in a manner that made it difficult to remember Coop’s position as someone who wielded enough strength to annihilate them all.
Hai Yun was swept along, feeling strange about what she learned of Ghost Reef. It was like their leader didn’t take anything seriously, or like he didn’t acknowledge the apocalypse at all. She would have believed they hadn’t experienced any hardships, but the other residents happily shared their ordeals. The stories were unbelievable, to the point that she wasn’t sure if they were simply made up, but their powers reflected their experiences. The reason she was no longer on the leaderboards was that these people had never stopped grinding.
Meanwhile, by her count, they were confidently inviting almost one million people, mostly exiles from Shinjuku Gardens, but also some from New Zealand and various places across South America, to their admittedly tiny settlement. She was worried they were underneath some collective delusion. No matter how strong they were, they couldn’t possibly accommodate such an influx of people. Much smaller numbers had been too much for much larger settlements to tolerate. She anticipated a collapse.
As more days went by, Hai Yun found an opportunity and cornered the doctor, seeking answers from the one among them that seemed the most sensible. “Why is he doing this?” She had to ask.
“Doing what?” Dr. Seraphin wondered.
“Taking all these people to your settlement.” Hai Yun clarified. “It will only invite problems, won’t it?”
“He’s just a sweetheart. You’ll get used to it.” Dr. Seraphin promised.
Hai Yun couldn’t accept such a simple explanation. “But won’t this put too much pressure on your base? Shouldn’t you prioritize your own survival over helping others? You’ve fought hard to establish yourselves. Why risk it all on strangers that will certainly throw off your harmony?”
To Hai Yun’s surprise, the doctor laughed at her honest concern as if she was misguided before answering. “Helping is the whole point of our survival.” When she discerned Hai Yun’s confusion, she continued. “Look, one way or another, Coop has helped literally everyone that ended up in Ghost Reef, including myself and my family, sometimes in ways he doesn’t even realize. In return, we’re helping him. That’s all.”
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While Hai Yun found the explanation unsatisfactory, she left it alone. She found herself preparing for the catch as the crowds migrated across the Underlayer, and she wasn’t alone. Most of the people that the residents of Ghost Reef intended to offer sanctuary formed a vast, weary parade that huddled together as they crossed the desolate wasteland, sharing unspoken traumas. Their faces bore the scars of their experience in the assimilation, marked by hardship and recognition that they were too weak, with eyes containing a mix of fear and desperation. It wasn’t only Hai Yun that had forgotten what hope felt like.
The residents of Ghost Reef were supportive, gently offering encouragement while easing them into the idea that life wasn’t only suffering, no matter what alien invaders tried, but they were so few relative to their guests that the message failed to take root.
Ten days from when Hai Yun first met Coop, they finally arrived. A flicker of light pierced the steady underground illumination, shining like a solitary beacon in the tunnels. Hai Yun shielded her eyes after it had faded, before recognition set in and she took a second look.
A spotlight rotated around one of the massive stone pillars in the distance, a thousand feet up, advertising itself like the world’s largest lighthouse had been built into the stone, watching over the sea of dirt. It rose from the heart of the earthen wasteland, painting the dark soil with a streak of silvery brightness, casting long shadows when it reached the refugees, before the light continued on its steady rotation.
Hai Yun’s heart skipped a beat, feeling disbelief while Coop’s eyes twinkled at his first hint of home after a long trip around the world. Beneath the light, around the entire base of the enormous column was the first structure any of them had seen in the Underlayer, a place supposedly unfit for such permanence. Star-shaped fortifications had been erected in a radial pattern with extensive outer earthworks all the way around the massive stone column. The walls stood out against the dark dirt of the Underlayer, the color of crema nova marble, smooth enough to reflect the rotating light protected in the center and tall enough to be a problem for even the largest of the Prime Constructs.
Remembering that the columns were already enormous, easily as wide as the largest football stadiums, she realized that the fortress had to be even bigger with the distance deceiving her eyes. It was as if it was prepared with the intention to face all the invaders of the Underlayer at once and not just survive, but be victorious. It was an ambition she didn’t understand.
Sentries had spotted the crowd before they had laid eyes on the walls, and multiple small squads had already been dispatched to greet them, but the parade had more or less halted thanks to the confusion and disbelief of its members.
Once the sentries realized that this particular set of refugees was led by Coop and the residents of Ghost Reef, all sorts of people appeared from the fortress to welcome them home.
Hai Yun and the other refugees eventually followed along, slowly succumbing to the enthusiasm of Ghost Reef, unsure of exactly what they were being pulled into. Seeing was believing, but it all felt like a mirage. They hadn’t believed the stories of Ghost Reef’s organization and realistically anticipated most of the stories told by residents would be exaggerated, but their expectations were flipped. The residents of Ghost Reef had seemingly downplayed their accomplishments to an enormous degree.
Multiple large gates, tucked deep into the fortress between each of the pointed embankments, were opened wide, inviting them to enter. As they approached, hundreds of locals greeted them with friendly smiles and welcoming words as if this was a regular scene for them.
Coop noisily greeted some people that had specifically come to see him, including someone who he was particularly excited to see named Marcus. Before Coop left, he grabbed a particularly large man and pointed directly at Hai Yun, singling her out among the massive crowd that was filtering into their underground city, as if he had been keeping tabs on her.
Moments later she was confronted by a pair of bear-like humans. They loomed over her until one elbowed the other.
“Miss Hai Yun?” The one on the left started shyly, the recipient of the elbow.
“Yes?” She responded, several of her attendants drawing protectively around her, all having to angle their necks to gaze at the faces of the pair.
“The boss suggested we be the ones to give you a tour!” The second announced. “You see, uh, we’re big fans!”
“Fans?” She wondered, having heard something similar from Coop.
“That’s right!” The first exclaimed before holding out a pen and a stack of papers. “I’m Tiny Cleary, and this is my brother, Junior Cleary. Before we start, could we have your autograph?”
Hai Yun glanced at her nearest attendant, but they were as flabbergasted as she was. “Sure?” She accepted the pen and wrote her name, then watched as the two showed each other with extremely satisfied expressions, transforming their image in her eyes from actual bears to teddy bears.
Next, they led her through the smooth tiled streets of the underground fortress, quickly explaining that everything was actually made by hand because the Underlayer caused severe erosion to mana-based structures. It was so shiny because it was all brand new, built up over the last few weeks alone. Their words quickly became too technical for her to follow as they explained the processes, but she nodded along, not wanting to diminish the excitement of the large tour guides.
They guided her and a smaller group of her followers through their teleportation system, to which Hai Yun couldn’t help but express her doubt, but they reassured her, encouraging them all to try it together.
A minute of solitary darkness had Hai Yun recalling the week spent climbing through the cave that the Kitawa party had explored on their deserted island, eventually discovering the chasm. It had been a long nightmare.
When light reached her eyes again, revealing a dream, she gasped in shock.
—
Warm humid air enveloped Hai Yun like a soft blanket as she witnessed the breathtaking panorama of a welcoming town center built in a tropical paradise, surrounded by sturdy fortress walls. Though the fortifications were smaller and older than the ones in the underground, something about them held significance, as if their age proved their determination.
Turquoise waters sparkled in the sun and palm trees swayed gently in the breeze, shading blooming flowers while hummingbirds and butterflies hovered back and forth. It was completely free of the devastation and violence the rest of the world experienced. With her own eyes, she witnessed the proof of the haven created by the walls and those who guarded them. It still seemed unreal.
A row of market stalls, occupied by humans, aliens, and ghosts were interacting with a steady flow of curious newcomers, a wide canal at their backs. A single enormous ship that would have dwarfed her antique merchant ships was idle at the side of an extraordinary walking bridge, dozens of cannons being diligently cleaned. A group of children were leaping from the bridge into the water, laughing like they didn’t know about the apocalypse before climbing rope ladders onto the elevated wooden decks of the ship. Pirates on board were encouraging the antics.
On the other side of the bridge, a stone pavilion glowed invitingly, with people relaxing on benches and stone seats, drinking from coffee cups and conversing with a casualness that left Hai Yun utterly confused.
The most prominent sign from the nearest stall read: ‘Weary from your travels in the Underlayer? Come try a Rejuvenating Elixir! Free of charge for a limited time!’ A cartoon slime person stirred a cauldron on the side of the bold letters. The human worker sat in a lounge chair, feet up on the counter as they relaxed in the shade. Something about their posture said a lot about the atmosphere of the town, despite bustling with what seemed like tourists.
The second shop advertised a service in equally colorful letters. ‘Need custom furniture for your new home? Commission Jane Lancaster Today! Trained by Balor himself: Satisfaction is Guaranteed!’ A woman, that must have been Jane herself, was actively sculpting an artsy coffee table from a stone slab within the second stall.
Hai Yun blinked as she took in the buildings all along the street that followed the canal, before spotting the ocean’s horizon in the gap of the outer wall, at the end of a series of palm trees shading the street. Somehow, it wasn’t nearly as scary as the ones she had traveled on, with all of the ghostly sailing ships dotting the horizon. When dolphins jumped from the water in the distance, she almost laughed, so clearly was the scene a figment of her imagination.
“C’mon, Miss Hai Yun, we’ll start with the Crafting Quarter!” The two Cleary brothers suddenly appeared from a separate runed portal, guiding her group away from the more crowded city center. “That’ll give you some ideas for what kind of profession you might want!”
Hai Yun was swept along for hours, feeling like she was hallucinating. She was gifted new clothes to replace her worn gowns by an alien, the handful of retainers that hadn’t been left behind for the tour received sets of leather armor the salesman called Ghost Reef Standard Issue with bonuses that would apply if they became residents, aliens and ghosts introduced themselves and invited her to join guilds and clubs, and eventually she found herself inside a cheerful tavern, eating a complimentary meal served by a handsome demon. It was the second time she had eaten in the entire assimilation, the first time being a single chocolate.
While she ate, trying to sort through all of the overwhelming things she had seen like she was a rural tourist visiting a major city for the first time, a wraith appeared and handed the two Cleary brothers a packet of documents. They sorted through them while she did her best to savor the stew they had recommended.
“Well alright! Congratulations Miss Hai Yun!” They suddenly announced. “Nice! The masons are getting fast!”
“What? Huh?” She sputtered, completely forgetting her elegance, unsure if she had missed something.
“You and your people have been granted floor 18.” Tiny briefly explained. “Looks like Coop personally vouched for you, so you got approved immediately.”
“We’ll let you go check it out when you’re done eating!” Junior happily suggested.
When they left the tavern, it was growing dark. There was some commotion near the central gazebo, beneath one of the flowering orchid gardens hanging beneath a trio of thick palm trees.
Tiny laughed when he realized what it was. Coop was passed out on a bench with a black cat on his chest. One hand was hanging over the edge and a dog was beneath his idle fingers, tail still beating the intricate stone path with enthusiasm.
“Dude is out cold!” Junior exclaimed in a hushed whisper, not wanting to disturb the scene.
Passersby were trying to decide what to do, but those that knew Coop and the animals warded them away, letting the Champion do what he pleased, and the Cleary brothers led Hai Yun back to the teleporters, beneath the enormous tower where she had first arrived. They made her promise to visit their research barn and sent her off.
Another short trip in the solitude of darkness and she appeared inside a gently glowing cavern. Magical lamps had been set up, lighting up the area with a pleasant golden hue that was reflected on the smooth stone pathways that had her recalling an ancient city in the mountains, wet from melting snow.
Behind her, a wide, spiraling ramp extended up and down a huge chasm that had a visible flow of mana swirling upwards. There were four separate landings on this floor alone, lined up with level portions of the ramp, criss-crossing with each other as they led to other levels without interrupting the view of glowing mana.
She was standing in the center of a rectangular courtyard, one of four symmetrical plots surrounding the chasm, that each acted as an open air foyer to an extremely wide chamber, housing the teleportation runes that Ghost Reef used to travel around their settlement. Each section was separated by gently glowing pillars, but were connected by a wide circular boulevard, making it seem like the chasm was the focal point of four shared spaces. The chambers themselves were lined with hundreds of simple, multi storey, stone carved apartments that were embedded in the walls, each with a lamp marking the entrance invitingly.
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Exploring the empty neighborhood in the same chamber as her were the rest of her attendants, as well as all those lost souls that had joined the caravan and survived through their ordeals. They were relaxing on stoops or gathered in groups, and Hai Yun heard laughter from them for the first time ever.
Irina was the first to notice her presence, and she skipped over, wearing a brightly colored sundress, hair brushed for the first time since they had met, held behind her shoulders with a white ribbon. She looked like a completely different person.
She smiled at Hai Yun happily, revealing her perfectly normal features, and Hai Yun was stunned by her youthful beauty, having grown used to her disheveled appearance. Irina turned to the side and shouted into the empty space. “Virgil! Here she is!”
One of Ghost Reef’s wraiths appeared with a woosh, dressed in something like a butler’s uniform, though his ephemeral appearance left his legs mostly absent while the rest of him was transparent.
“Greetings, my Lady.” He addressed Hai Yun with a polite bow. “I have been assigned as caretaker for this floor. If there is anything you or the other residents need, structures rearranged, or any problems that arise, please let me know immediately. Advancements in our professional architects have resulted in extensive possibilities for each level, so your wish is my command. The only limitation is that we cannot expand up or down to avoid encroaching on the other floors.”
Hai Yun glanced up, but the curved ceiling was easily over a hundred feet above. She hadn’t even noticed it, despite the time spent in the expansive Underlayer making her accustomed to wide open spaces.
“The Keepers of the Mountain are our neighbors up above.” Irina noted. “No one is below, yet, and apparently none of the floors are anywhere close to full either.”
“What happened?” Hai Yun couldn’t help but ask the girl. The gloomy person that was barely containing a demon was gone, replaced by a hope-filled nymph-like being.
“I abandoned my faction and lost the title they had granted me.” She looked at the ground shyly, rubbing the tip of her slipper on the smooth stone. “My class is still the same, so the way I fight won’t exactly change, and I received a curse, but I just have to redo 33 levels to get rid of it ‘cause Coop paid for the rest. Now I don’t have to worry about permanently transforming into something not human!” She beamed at Hai Yun as she spoke.
Hai Yun hadn’t realized that was an option, or that anything in particular was wrong with Irina other than what was wrong with all of them. They were going through an apocalypse. Hai Yun looked around and wondered if even that was true. Ghost Reef was seeming more like a fairytale.
Irina giggled before deciding to give Hai Yun a moment. She skipped back over to one of the other groups before they explored the interior of a building. Others gathered with their families, relieved for the first time in months.
“Virgil? What is this place?” She wondered.
“Your new home, if you want it.” The floor caretaker responded.
“Home?” Hai Yun whispered, testing the word while feeling like her mask would never recover.
