Esper Harem in the Apocalypse

"Yeah, I know. And I also know that you are only trying to buy time. But that doesn't matter. I do not want to make enemies with the Lord; I am not that stupid," the leader of the Under Blades said.

'Well, you already did. If you hadn't threatened to kill Maria and Lilim, I would have let you live after a few thousand punches. But your death warrant has also been issued!'

"Go ahead and ask whatever you might want to ask," she added.

SIGH!

"I understand your reasoning and passion to protect the— oh, my bad." Rudy raised his hand and quoted, "To keep 'peace' in the Underworld."

"That's great."

"But how would killing Rusher and his family bring the so-called peace in the Underworld? It won't miraculously make the Ross Syndicate wealthy again."

"Indeed. That's why, their death will be a sacrifice to maintain the peace. If I don't kill them, the rest of the syndicate members will learn about the truth, and it will spread like wildfire in a forest. There will be riots and wars, and still, Rusher and the rest will die by their hands— including Maria, Ruby, and Lilim.

Here, I am trying to save the ones I can; that is Maria, Lilim, and Ruby, who is currently out of the country. If I kill Rusher, his wife, and his parents, I can attest that they were 'mysteriously' killed by someone and the killer took all the money.

That way, the syndicate will remain intact. There will be no wars, and the peace will continue. Of course, the Ross Syndicate will get tight security after that for Maria, Lilim, and Ruby.

Do you understand now, My Lord? I am doing dirty work to save the innocents. I am playing the role of a bad guy… well, a bad girl so that no one else gets hurt.

Rusher and everyone is going to die anyway, so instead of letting them all die by other people's hands, I am saving the ones I can and killing the culprits," the leader calmly explained.

"Okay, that makes sense now. But why is killing Rusher necessary? You can simply say 'his body was never found' or maybe arrange a fake dead body?" Rudy asked with a judging look on his face.

"..."

What Rudy suggested was obviously a working strategy, and if one wanted, it could be easily put to work.

"That thought did cross your mind, right?" Rudy scoffed softly.

"There is one problem with your idea, Rudy Ross. The Underworld won't just accept someone's death if I attest to it. They will obviously ask for proof. Let's say I do as you said and let them all go. However, what if, one day, someone catches them?

That would cause greater havoc in the Underworld. Would you take responsibility when that happens? Would you carry the guilt of endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocents?

Why should someone fight with a sword when they have a gun? It is simple logic. Imagine what would happen if the Underworld realized that the Under Blades lied to them?

They put their trust in us and fear us for what we are. If we betray that, they will lose their faith in us. Forget that, they will stop fearing us and rebel against us. We will lose our purpose to live and the reason for our existence."

The leader of the Under Blades stood up from her throne and bowed down to Rudy.

"My Lord, please, I beg you, do not steal that from us."

'Why would someone go that far to protect something?' Rudy wondered. 'And what the hell is the purpose of living and reason for existing? That's exaggerating it too much, isn't it?

And yeah, she is indeed telling the truth. If she doesn't kill Rusher and the rest now, there will be riots and war. And not only the Underworld but the outside world would also be affected by it.

I thought about it when Maria dropped me off when we met for the first time. A few years from now, when I was in university, there was a huge war. This was probably the reason.

In my past life, I obviously didn't meet Maria or anyone from the Underworld, so things must have gone differently, and the Under Blades had failed to get rid of Rusher. But there is no proof.

What if the Under Blades 'did' get rid of Rusher, and the war still happened? Regardless, I am not letting either of that happen.'

Rudy raised his hand and raised all the 'fired bullets' up in the air. Then, he lowered his hand and rained the hundreds of thousands of bullets on the Under Blades.

The Under Blades might have missed Rusher as a target, but Rudy didn't miss a single of them.

In a mere second, Rudy had killed all the Under Blades except for the leader and her three subordinates, who were standing alongside her.

"..." The Under Blades leader looked around at her guards' dead bodies and asked, "What is the meaning of this, Rudy Ross?"

"You gave me a choice to choose Rusher and the others or Maria and Lilim. I don't like when someone gives me such options. I don't like when I get tested. So…" Rudy spread his hands and uttered, "I always make a third option, and this is my answer to that choice."

"How bold of you to do such a thing when Maria and Lilim's lives are still at my mercy."

"Oh, I know you don't mean to harm them. If you truly wanted to hurt them, you had plenty of chances already. In truth, you just wanted to get me out of the way."

"..."

"You know I am the Lord and what I can do. You obviously fear me, so there is no way you would intentionally anger me. I know who you are and what you are behind that mask.

Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Rudy Ross, and I am the Lord. You said you don't want to lose the purpose of your lives and reason for your existence, but you won't have to worry about a single thing if you are dead!"