Bab 20: The Result
News of The Hanna Guilds being defeated by The White Fang spread like wildfire. Multiple people went to The Hana Guild's Base in disbelief only to see the burned-down building and aftermath of a large-scale battle. The Purple Lotus, The Madfalls, The Hana Guild, and multiple other groups had fallen to The White Fang.
At this point, it couldn't even be disrupted. The White Fang had managed to conquer Kuchinashi City in less than a month. And basically, everyone knew the person who was behind the accomplishment was the person named Shen. News about his abilities and powers spread along with the news of him taking over Kuchinashi City.
"Were... Willing to surrender immediately. We, Will, support the White Fang by supplying them and their complete takeover of Kuchinashi City as well." Keeping their heads low, three figures were bowing on the stone floor. Their voices were trying their best not to tremble. Looking down on them, Shen was sitting down in a relaxed manner. He had repaired his clothes and seemed perfectly fine as if he was never injured, to begin with.
"Good, I didn't want to waste time dealing with you three anyway. Of course, I'm sure all of you know the requirements of this, right?" All three of the men looked up at Shen and nodded frantically. "40% of all our supplies and products will be delivered to warehouses under Purple Lotus control every month. We won't let you down, we promise!"
A slight smile appeared on Shen's face as he waved them off. "Fine, then you're free to go. L1, L2, get these three out of here and bring in the next few." The moment he took over, Shen began taking control more directly. At this point, it would be fair to say he was extorting the entire city of Kuchinashi.
Not only could he use this as a way to strengthen his own forces, which were a mix of The White Fang and the Purple Lotus now. But it had been over a week since he took down The Hana Guild, and in that time, he had sent a small percentage of what he extorted back to Sienna. And it would be an understatement to say the reaction was big.
Back in the main base of The White Fang located in Mistral, everyone was in a craze. After their victory, The White Fang obviously reported back. And when that report leaked, everyone couldn't believe it. They had actually taken over Kuchinashi City. No one knew something like that was going on because Shen never told anyone.
When the news struck the base, it was like lightning to everyone and some even received recordings of Shens 'Speech'. It all seemed so hard to believe. In her office, Sienna had her hands on her head. "He played me…" Shen never told her what he was doing in Kuchinashi City, so she never knew why he required such a large number of their members.
Looking down at the clipboard on her desk, she flipped through over 20 pages of paper. Each one detailed a shipment from Shen to her containing weapons, vehicles, Dust, and anything else you could imagine. Over the past week, their resources had basically doubled, and everyone knew Shen was the reason why.
He was becoming like an idol to all of them. He was so loyal to the Faunaus and White Fang that he even devised the plan to make Kuchinashi a Faunaus safe city. As for Sienna, who 'Signed' off on the idea, she was getting praise as well. Shen's words of telling her if she complied, she would find their cooperation quite enjoyable rang in her head.
She had not believed it before, but now she had the proof right in front of her. Suddenly she heard a knock on her door as she looked up, and her tails swayed. "Come in." Sienna wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone. However, she was surprised to see Blake was the one who entered the room.
"Branch Leader Sienna." Blake greeted her as Sienna raised a brow. "Blake? Why are you here?"
Blake looked down a bit as she held her arm. "I wanted to verify something… Is it true Shen really went to Kuchinashi City and took it over?" Sienna thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Yes."
Hearing that response, Blake seemed to be a lot less tense as her eyes practically reflected looks of admiration and something else. 'He really did it… That's amazing. I mean, I saw the video, but he looked so different and changed so much so quickly.' Sienna saw the look in Blake's eyes as she thought of something.
"Blake, how would you like me to send you to Kuchinashi City?" Blake's eyes widened a bit as Sienna explained. "I need someone to go there and report back to me. You know, really tell me how things are over there. Of course, if you're not willing-" Sienna was cut off by Blake putting her hands on her desk.
"No, I'm willing. I'll go as soon as you want me to." Sienna was taken back as she smiled. "Ok, I'll have a ship prepared shortly then." Blake smiled as she thanked Sienna before leaving. 'I'm still interested to know what he did to her to have her so infatuated by him. It seems like it's been growing stronger by the day.'
Back in Kuchinashi City, Shen had just dealt with another group offering surrender. "That's everyone, Master." Hearing L1, Shen leaned back and nodded. "Alright, then you two are free to go." The two of them bowed before taking their leave. When they did, a smile crept onto Shen's face as he opened up his System.
{Personal Information}
Name: Shen
Level: 12 [193500/512000]
Race(s): Life Fiber-Hybrid (20%)|Human Demon-Hybrid
Abilities: Life Fiber Manipulation [Lv. 4]|Karmic Retribution[Lv. Max]|Devil Trigger [Lv. 1]|Witch Walk[Lv. Max]|Squirmy Fingers[Lv. Max]
Skills: Tangle (Life Fiber Manipulation)|Appearance Manipulation (Life Fiber Manipulation)|Mental Refitting (Life Fiber Manipulation)
Linked Skills: Demonic Blast(Devil Trigger)
…
He had gained a lot of levels since he last checked his System. One from fighting against Neo, another three against those Huntsman and Huntresses. And then the XP from The Hanna Guild paired with Vermillion Raddock got him yet another level. All in all, he had levelled up four times. 'Dear lord, my XP needs have gone up a lot.'
His max XP doubled every time, meaning that killing grunts would barely do anything for him compared to before. Excluding even Huntsman now, the only way he was going to be levelling up is from killing people who actually matter to the story. But still, it wasn't all that bad. 'My Hybrid percentage has been capped at 20% like last time. But Life Fiber Manipulation levelled up as well.'
Right now, he had a bunch of points he could put into his stats, and at the same time, he had more money available to him than ever before. "Meh, I'll wait when it comes to putting in stats." Right now, he felt he was pretty strong and didn't want to waste points just because he had them. He would wait until he ran into something he couldn't deal with.
However, as for his Gacha Spins? Well, he couldn't think of a reason not to do them. But just as Shen had that thought, he heard someone walk into the room. "Hmm?" There was almost no one who would walk into this room without asking him first. So as he looked up, Shen was surprised to see the person was Neo.
"And to what do I owe the pleasure." Shen put on a smile as he observed Neo. Compared to the smugness she usually displayed, Shen would say she was acting differently. 'Timid? No more like she's… Nervous?' Shen thought for a moment crossing out and thinking of the different possibilities before laughing. "You want to be able to talk to me like I offered?"
Slowly Neo nodded as she clutched her umbrella. This was the first time Shen had seen Neo acting like this in and outside of the RWBY show. "Honestly, I thought you would turn me down. But since you're up for it, then come here." Waving her over with his finger, Neo walked over to him. Shen stood up as he grabbed Neo by the shoulders.
Turning her around to face the farthest wall, he whispered. "Try to relax. This will be hard to do otherwise." Slowly Neo got less tense as she breathed. Placing one of his hands on her head, Shen began doing what he did best. He wasn't lying when he said he would be able to speak with Neo.
His Life Fiber's had gone up two levels compared to when he used them on Blake and were linked to him. Of course, he wanted to do this to Neo for a while now, but he thought the opportunity would take time to arrive. She was extremely loyal to Torchwick, so he thought getting closer to her would be much harder compared to a mentally unstable Blake.
But now that the opportunity had arrived, he wouldn't hesitate. 'Mental Refitting.' Life Fiber's poured down from Shen's palm entering Neo's head. Her body jolted as she felt something weird happening to her. "Relax, just trust me." Shen calmed her down as he continued. The process only took a few minutes as he then retracted his hand. He didn't do what he did to L1 and L2, one of the reasons Shen wasn't positive if he could.
The second was that Neo's ability to act and plan was one of her best traits besides her ability to fight. He didn't plan on interfering with it by forcing too much control over her. Instead, he only left a single Life Fiber wrapped around her brain. "So, how are you feeling?" Neo seemed a bit out of it, as if she had just come out of a blissful trance.
She looked up at Shen and didn't move her mouth. However, despite that, Shen heard a voice it was a mature voice but was extremely vocal. Shen actually recognized the voice instantly. 'That sounds exactly like Neo's voice actress.' Well, technically, she's the person responsible for singing her song but same difference. "Fine." It was a single word.
However, Shen responded. "Good then." Neo seemed to freeze in place as she heard Shen say that. Her mind seemed to go into a state of shock as she stared at him. "You… You can hear me?"
Shen nodded. "Of course, wasn't that the whole point? Did you think I was lying?" Honestly, Neo didn't know what she was thinking.
When Shen first offered, she didn't believe him fully; however, the chance, the opportunity, it was all too tempting for her to flat out ignore. She had finally come to her decision when Shen took over Kuchinashi City. "He can actually hear me…" Shen took a seat as he just listened to Neo repeat words over and over to herself. He hadn't met someone who was mute before, let alone someone who regained the ability to talk even if it was to one person.
He planned on letting her sort it out as he focused on his System, but then she did something unexpected. As he was sitting there, Neo suddenly hugged him. 'Huh?' Shen was at a loss as he heard Neo. "Thank you… Thank you so much." Her voice was choked, and it was then that Shen realized she was actually crying.
'Well, I was not expecting this to be something I saw today. It's almost making me feel bad. Almost…' Shen ended up using the same kind of persona he utilized against Blake to calm Neo down. When she finally did, he spoke to her. "Well, be able to talk more later, but there is something I need to do. Oh, and on your way out, tell L1 & L2 to bring me 50000 Lien."
Neo nodded with a genuine smile without a hint of that smuggery she usually had. After seeing her leave, Shen rubbed his hands together.
"Now then, Gacha time."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone