Chapter 184: Only the Guilty is Guilty.
"Master..." She lowered her head. "Please, let me do this."
"Atlas is guilty, that man and child have nothing to do with them, check the data, you know this is wrong." He stared at her holding on to her hand when she tried pulling away from him. "Dina."
"They killed my parents, Sol." She raised her other hand and weakly punched his chest. "They have done so much wrong, they've ruined so many lives, how can anyone live with someone who's done such atrocious things and still be innocent, they're all guilty they should all die!"
"What are we doing currently?" Sol stared at her. "Tell me."
"Taking down an evil organisation-"
"We're exacting personal revenge against Atlas for what they did to Usami, and what they've done to your family as well, Atlas; not the families of Atlas employees, don't do anything now that you won't be able to stomach later." Sol released her hand when he was sure she had calmed down.
"Take that anger out on those that deserve it and leave these ones to me." He pointed to the hole, and without a word she slowly flew out and vanished in a blast of fire.
"Don't do what I did on Hāl, revenge doesn't close your wounds, it just forces them shut with fire while you slowly become your enemy."
"S-sir-"
"I'm not sparing you, Hilary Decker." Sol stared at the woman who had thought his appearance meant mercy.
"You made a choice when you decided to join Atlas, you've seen what they do, even if you haven't seen it in the labs the entire world has seen them rampage across countries and continents, seen them wipe entire villages off the map, killing millions over the last six years, you saw all of that and unlike the many others who left you stayed, working in analysis and risk management, you mitigate whether it's beneficial or not to kill innocent people to pave the road for your boss, there's no way I'm letting someone without a conscience roam free.
"I can change-"
"The last person who said that to me is the same person who killed my unborn child." Sol's eyes flashed white as he briefly relieved Sitri's horrors. "Say your goodbyes and get the fuck out." He looked at her husband.
"Isn't there anything we can do to change your mind, don't you have a family of your own?" The man asked, and Sol stared at him, and then at their child crying between them and sighed. "Please."
"She's directly responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of men and woman, and children, entire families, I'm not calling myself innocent- I'm the most tainted one here." Sol balled his fist and sat around their dinner table.
"I have the blood of trillions on my hands, the difference between you and me Hilary, is that I did what I did to save my people, to save even earth and the people who live here, I did it to give everyone the chance to live without the threat of demonic invasion looming over their heads at every turn, thinking that my friend; my ally, was here ready to defend you all in my absence." He stared at her watching the colour drain from her face as she thought of what he was saying.
"Usami was meant to be a hero, a warrior who stands against evils and she's a damn good one too, she always put her best foot forward even when she was separated from her only family, but then I return and not only do I find out that she has been blackmailed into killing for you and your organisation, I also find out that you people forced her to have children three times in the last seven years, and then you killed two of them in experiments, in the name of your science, in your greedy thirst for power and evolution!"
He balled his fist looking over at her husband and son who stared at her in horror. "You knew, you saw, and not only did you not leave you helped them commit more atrocious acts! My mercy doesn't extend to people like you, so I'll say it again..." He looked to the man once more.
"Say your goodbyes and get the fuck out, you can always come after my life in the future, that's fine, but if anyone dares to target my loved ones they're signing over their existence."
"Evan-"
"-Let's go." Her husband pulled the boy away from her and stood, leaving without so much as a word to her.
Sol walked over to her and extended his hand to her after seeing all her hope wither and die along with her will to survive. "Will it hurt?" She asked, and Sol closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I'm not a monster, I'm just angry, tired, and in pain, plus they left the room but they're still watching." He answered her watching her stand and take his hand. "You'll probably be the only one I extend this mercy to, I made a promise after all." He looked at her husband through his peripheral and then released her hand and vanished when her first tear fell.
"He's right, Evan." Hilary sat and looked at the door as her husband returned with the little boy holding his leg and looking at her from behind him.
"I did everything he said I did, and a lot that he didn't mention as well, I'm a terrible person who doesn't deserve a second chance." She leaned on the table and looked at her arm when she began disappearing into sparkling dust that blew through the hole in the wall as it slowly mended from Sol's residual magic.
"I'm sorry, I really am, Evan, Elliot, I love you both." She smiled at them and then vanished into a flurry of lights and magical residue, leaving the kitchen spotless.
***
Three hours after the incident in Europe with Dina, she appeared in the west hovering about the abode where the President was hidden, high in the sky where nobody could see her, but close enough where sensors detected her as she emitted a steady flow of energy in the night sky, forming rainclouds just as she had done everywhere else that she went, after three hours of relentless back and forth they had come to associate thunder with doom and destruction thanks to her.
A few minutes after her arrival, Sol arrived as well and without so much as a word he folded his arms and descended like a bomb, destroying the roof of the great-house and crashing thriugh the earth shattering dozens of underground levels until he was standing on top of a bunker some 300 metres beneath the surface.
"When I was a kid I always wanted one of these." Sol's eyes shone with white and flickers of golden light as he raised his fist and blew blew a hole in the roof of the bunker with a single punch falling through and landing with his hair bright and white and his eyes scanning for any kind of threat, although he knew that nothing there could harm him.
Seven people sat around a large table, each of them on his list, and before that table was a screen that took up the entirety of a wall with dozens of monitors each with a single person representing another large government.
"Sol Vestic." The president addressed him before he said a word, and Sol lowered his defences even more, reverting back to his base appearance and releasing a breath as Dina followed through the hole and snapped her fingers casting a barrier around the entire bunker.
"Do not utter master's name with that filth you call a mouth." Dina stepped forward and waved her hands across the room killing everyone except him and his analyst by causing their hearts to implode inside of them, but when she raised her hand toward him Sol stopped her.
"Don't, this one doesn't die, even though he's the one who deserves to die the most." He instructed her, and she closed her fists and walked over to the corner of the room and took a seat next to the terrified analyst and crossing her arms.
"Why have you spared the country leaders?" She asked.
"It would cause another wave of mass panic and hysteria if we killed a bunch of presidents and prime ministers, the countries would fall into chaos, it's easier to deal with them this way." Sol answered her gesturing that the president sit and after seeing what they had both just done the man took a seat as obediently as a child when he heard he'd live.
"You're wondering what I want, right, President Tullok," Sol asked and the man nodded eagerly.
"Anything you want, I will give it to you without question or-"
"What I want you can't afford, unless you have the ability to turn time and undo what you allowed them to do to her."