Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 447: Bro Talk

As much as the Hand of God wanted to hide it, the isolation of the Animal Kingdom was a major event—everyone had questions, and they needed to be answered.

The news of Jack Rust’s return spread like wildfire. People celebrated all across the galaxy, and a number of rebellions were ignited or reignited overnight. Jack was a hero. He symbolized resistance, freedom, and most importantly, he had shown people that it was possible to challenge those above you. He had shown they could win.

The Animal Kingdom wasn’t the only tyrannical faction, but they were one of the most prominent ones. They suppressed the common people to a ridiculous extent, siphoning off massive quantities of resources and dooming entire planets to abject poverty. The only reason such a system of governance could persist was the Kingdom’s enormous military power coupled with the fear of the masses.

In their eyes, the Animal Kingdom was made up of gods, and they were only mortals. What meaning was there in fighting back? They’d just get squashed.

Jack Rust had shown the opposite. He’d come from humble beginnings and rose meteorically through the cultivation world. He had clashed with the Kingdom time and time again, always winning. He’d humbled them—shown that they could bleed.

Thanks to a single man, the iron-clad prestige of the Animal Kingdom had shattered overnight. When he became a sensation on Hell, every eye of the constellation had focused on him. The Kingdom had been proven incompetent—and then he’d liberated his planet, defeating the planetary overseer in an epic showdown which was transmitted across the galaxy.

How many young people were there in the constellation? How many had boiling blood, a burning heart, courage, and the determination to die for a worthy cause? When they saw Jack Rust liberate his planet, they wanted to do the same—to save their children, parents, wives, husbands, friends, neighbors, to give them freedom and a good life.

For the last five years, ever since Jack defeated the planetary overseer, the Animal Kingdom constellation had been wrought with civil war. Half the planets had rebelled, either openly or using guerilla tactics. The Kingdom may have been powerful, but they were just too few. How could they simultaneously fight on thousands of inhabitable planets?

The common people were weak, but they were just too many. Moreover, through believing in a purpose and fighting to the death, their strength had rapidly grown. New D-Grades powerhouses appeared everywhere. The constellation was overrun by pirates. The drums of liberation echoed between the stars, and bloody battles occurred often. Casualties were aplenty. The war machine of the Kingdom was beginning to rust.

The rebels hadn’t managed to form a stable coalition yet, but this was the first time in Milky Way’s history that a major faction was challenged. The Animal Kingdom constellation had never been more tumultuous. That was why the Enforcers of the Kingdom had been rapidly flying around, suppressing rebellions wherever they went.

It was in that state of the constellation that Jack Rust had returned. He hadn’t been high-profile at the start because he was on a different mission—almost nobody had noticed him.

When the Hand of God proclaimed the news of his demise, the flames of rebellion had been half-snuffed. Jack was more than a cultivator by now—he was a symbol in the eyes of all cultivators, a beacon of freedom. He was the one who’d originally set them aflame, the spark which had fallen on their dry wishes and despair. His death had been a hard blow.

If even he failed, how could they succeed?

While Jack was in the Black Hole World, the Kingdom had gone all-out. They had slowly pushed back the flames of rebellion and were in the slow process of reinstating order across their constellation. To ensure this situation was never repeated and replenish their troops, they oppressed the people even harder, sucking them dry of all resources. It wasn't an iron fist anymore, but a steel one.

That was the context in which the Dark Ram had emerged as a new symbol of freedom, though weaker than the previous one. Brock and his group had tried their best to fan the flames and have the greatest impact possible. In truth, even if Jack really was dead, Brock might have been able to turn things around. His Dao of Brohood was perfect for such a situation. He had already met with several leaders of the revolution and formed bonds of brotherhood. Given enough time, he would rise in power and lead them all against the Animal Kingdom, eventually subjugating it. The brohood was unstoppable.

But there was no need for that.

Jack Rust had returned. The symbol of freedom, the original warrior, the flag bearer of the entire constellation.

It wasn’t official yet, but many could connect the dots. Earthen Gemini had disappeared. The Kingdom had recalled every Elder and Enforcer to turtle inside their capital. The smell of their fear reached many noses, and they could only come up with one explanation—that man was back.

Jack Rust was here, and he was strong enough to make the Kingdom cower. A single man commanded the fear of a B-Grade faction, an interstellar empire.

Of course, his name was still a whisper in the wind as nothing was certain. But it didn’t matter. The Kingdom had retreated; the rebellions they’d only barely managed to snuff out reignited all at once, spreading wildly with no one to stop them like a wildfire in a dry summer forest. The Kingdom’s million-year-old foundation crumbled. They lost control. The constellation was taken over by rebels, each group of planets their own stronghold, all operating in brotherhood.

Nobody was taking their resources anymore. Moreover, the experience of war had furthered their Daos. Even more powerhouses appeared, springing up everywhere like weeds. While the main forces of the Kingdom were sealed in its capital, everyone else was growing stronger.

It wasn’t like the war was over. While the Kingdom had retreated, in truth, that was only their C-Grades. D-Grades and below still roamed the constellation, fighting a bitter war against the rebels.

One side had numbers, the other powerhouses. Without the Elders and Enforcers, the two enemy armies were roughly similar in strength, and they duked it out in battlefields of epic proportions.

Jack wouldn’t bother with such small fish. D-Grades wouldn’t give him any levels, nor would he lower himself to massacring weaklings. Above all, this wasn’t his battle to fight. Freedom could only be grasped, not given. Even if he swooped in to annihilate the Kingdom’s armies, that would rob the rebels of the opportunity to earn their own freedom.

Everyone had to fight their own battles. Even if it seemed harsh sometimes, that was the way of the Fist.

Of course, to the common people, Jack was already helping a lot. In their eyes, he had single-handedly occupied the attention of the Animal Kingdom’s C-Grades to give them an even battlefield. He was holding off the enemy leaders so they could fight their underlings.

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Tears sparked in the eyes of every rebel cultivator. They placed a fist over their heart. “That man…is so heroic!”

“Jack Rust! Jack Rust! Jack Rust!”

“For the Fist!”

It went without saying that pugilists had greatly increased in population recently.

Jack knew all those things but didn’t really bother. He belonged to a higher realm now—to him, the Milky Way galaxy was just a stepping stone. Meddling too much would be unwise. Let these people carve out their own fates. That was more important than playing hero.

His own war lay elsewhere—in distant space, in the clash of the Church and Hand, of the Old Gods and the Immortals, where A-Grades were only generals and Archons were kings. That was his battlefield.

As for the rebels of the Milky Way, he would just help them by destroying the Kingdom’s capital. They could dictate their own future afterward.

Jack leaned against a glass wall, sipping on whiskey—they’d found a barrel on an enemy starship they destroyed. He rolled the liquid in his mouth, passing it over and under his tongue, between his cheeks. His gaze was piercing the distance until he finally swallowed.

“So, they’re holed up,” he said.

“Right,” Brock replied, standing beside him. His knuckles rested against the ground, his body weight angled forward as if he’d charge through the glass wall and into space.

“How can we lure them out?” Jack asked.

“I’m not sure. If we make it too obvious, Eva Solvig will arrive. If it’s not obvious, nobody will come—the C-Grades have already retreated and will not move without reason.”

Jack clicked his tongue. “That’s a problem. I need a few more levels.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“I need to kill them to get levels. Slowly cultivating by myself will take a very long time.”

“I still don’t see the problem.”

Jack turned around with a puzzled frown. “What are you trying to say, Brock? I can’t assault their capital yet, and they will not come out. I have no way to earn more levels. I’m stuck.”

“Oh,” Brock muttered sagely. “So there are no other C-Grade cultivators to hunt?”

Jack raised a brow. “Other C-Grade cultivators? I wouldn’t want to go against innocents, but… Ah! Do you mean the Hand of God?”

Brock smiled. “Excellent idea, bro. You’re so smart.”

“It’s all you, Brock.” He cupped his chin, suddenly energetic. “The Hand of God… They’re trying to destroy every outpost of the Church in this galaxy, right? If Eva Solvig is leading them, and she’s a late C-Grade, everyone else should be weaker. I can take them.”

“Right. So we can go after them.”

“We can find their outposts. Shouldn’t be too hard—they’re public, unlike the Church’s. And it’s two birds with one stone, because not only are they the enemies of the Church, but also our personal enemies. They had a stake in what happened. They must also feel my wrath.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes. They deserve to die.”

“Well then, who am I to refuse the levels they so kindly offer?” Jack replied, spinning around. “Nauja!” he shouted. “Can you check the star map and find the nearest Hand of God outpost?”

“Sure!” she replied from the next room, while Salin shouted,

“Good idea! We didn’t have enough enemies before!”

Jack rolled his eyes, motioning towards the next room. “Shall we?”

Brock, however, shook his head. “No.”

“No?”

“I want to talk to you for a moment.”

“Okay?”

Jack seemed confused, yet also like he suspected what Brock wanted to talk about. Defensiveness and relief alternated in his eyes. Brock stared at him gently, yet deeply.

“How are you, big bro?” he finally asked.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

Jack sighed. “No, I’m not. Nothing is fine. I am exactly as you imagine—bitter, angry, and sad. How else could I possibly be?”

“Yes. I understand.”

Jack sighed again. His body relaxed, and from the outside, it seemed as if he’d deflated. Rather than the hard man he always was, he now seemed vulnerable—a side he would only show to his closest people.

“This is hard, Brock,” he confessed. “I am struggling. I have gotten over the shock, but the grief remains, and I don’t think it will ever go away. All I can do is lean into the rage. Am I supposed to live my entire life like this? A sad, angry man?”

Brock took a step forward and placed a hand on Jack’s shoulders. They seemed completely mismatched from afar, a human and a brorilla, but they were brothers at heart. “Time heals everything,” Brock said softly.

“But that’s a lie. Time softens the wounds, that’s all it does. Only we can heal ourselves.”

“Listen to my words, bro. As long as you keep taking small steps forward, as long as you never give up, then even the deepest wounds will be healed given enough time. That is the meaning of time heals everything.”

Jack raised his gaze to meet the brorilla’s. “How much time is enough? I do not enjoy this, Brock. I want it to be over quickly.”

“As much time as needed. It may be difficult, but you must endure. You must be strong. Guard your heart against the darkness and endure the pain, taking tiny steps forward until it’s over. It will happen sooner than you think.”

Jack sighed deeply. “You’re a good brother, Brock. What would I do without you?”

Brock smiled. “I know it’s hard, bro… You are shouldering a lot, and so many things have happened and are happening. What you feel is natural. I just want to let you know I’m here for you. We all are—that is the meaning of brohood. Whatever is happening, we can go through it together. You are not alone.”

Jack felt touched. He raised his head and smiled. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“I know. But at the same time, brother, there are some other things I must say. I don’t want to, but it’s my responsibility as your bro.”

Jack raised a brow. He drew back a little. “What?”

“You need to pull yourself together. As hard as this may be, you cannot afford to let it overwhelm you. You wield great power. If you misstep even a little bit, millions of people could die needlessly—on either side.”

“There is no needless death at the Animal Kingdom side.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” Brock replied, his eyes hardening. “You’re doing great so far, brother. Your actions are just and measured. You are a hero, but I can see that your mind is clouded. You just developed a dark Dao Fruit. I can sense that you are losing yourself, slowly walking off in the wrong direction. You are giving into the darkness without realizing it. Your resistance is being worn out. That is no good. You must turn yourself around and remember to keep fighting always, because if you don’t, then sooner or later there will be a moment when you make the wrong decision, and then you won’t be a hero anymore, but a criminal. A deranged murderer.”

Jack chuckled angrily. “What do you know, Brock? You cannot understand the pain I’m going through. Do you realize that I had to watch my own son get killed? Just rising to my feet after that is an achievement. The only way I can hope to bring justice to Eric is to avenge him.”

“That’s fine. I’m just saying, be careful not to go too far, because you’re about to.”

“How can I not go too far, Brock? My heart is a boat in a sea of darkness, and the only thing keeping me from capsizing is revenge. I cannot, and will not, deliver it calmly. I will strike out wildly and exterminate everyone who ever hurt my son, everyone who assisted in his murder, and everyone related to those people. That was my promise to him: the name Emberheart would cease to exist. If I go back on it, I will have failed him again, and I cannot stand that.”

Brock clenched his jaw. He stared deeply into Jack’s eyes, not with anger or challenge, but with sadness. Jack did not look away. Finally, Brock shook his head.

“Your words are wrong. I understand that your burden is heavy, brother, and I know that anyone else would have collapsed already, but you need to beat this. You need to be strong. Because you are my big bro, and I demand that of you.”

Brock turned and walked away, and Jack watched him. He did not speak. His thoughts were hazy, and his anger was still seeking an outlet. Since when am I so irritable? he thought. Is he right? Am I going too far? Or is he just afraid of shadows?

Fuck this.

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