Things became more interesting when the matter escalated quickly. A corpo and heroes war actually took place. It was just that it was not a battle of might. It was a battle of words and public image.
The heroes called out many officials and exposed their crimes to the public. They called on the public for their arrests and imprisonments.
The corpos, on the other hand, struggled to hold on. They were the ones that started the public bashing. They could dish it out but couldn't take it after their dirty laundry and the skeletons in their cupboards were exposed.
The corpos did fight back using the secrets of heroes. After all, the heroes weren't perfect. In fact, many of them were rotten to the core.
But a hero committing murder and hiding it can't compare to a CEO kidnapping people for lab experiments, running a human farm, or running a sex trafficking ring.
What clinched things was that the heroes were willing to arrest and execute wayward heroes to appease the public. The corpos, on the other hand, loved their lives too much to submit to that kind of punishment. The public didn't like that.
Many people took to the streets to protest the lack of redress. It was clear to the two of them that the heroes were winning. But Wrath was not impressed.
She snorted and said, "Of course, the only war that they can win is a war of words and battle for public image."
Kelvin said, "That's their forte. Maybe they should have targeted the corpos instead of us villains in the first place."
He said that because the impact of this war of words was much bigger than the war between heroes and villains. This is even though many people lost their lives on the battlefield.
The casualty rate between the two was at least a hundred times. Actually, less than ten heroes and corpos had died. That's the combined casualty of which all of the people that were killed in the war of words were heroes.
No corpo has died. 5 heroes were executed by other heroes. 4 heroes were killed by villains and their enemies after they lost their reputation and their power. A single hero didn't wait for execution and chose to committ suicide.
The difference in amount of death was a thousand times, but the public was a thousand times more incensed. The protests and riots even caused a lot of destruction to the city.
In comparison, the open war between the heroes and villains caused zero destruction to the city while the secret war caused mild destruction. The impact was that big.
It was so big that Kelvin became concerned that the demigod would be disturbed and forced to act.
He didn't have the mind to keep enjoying the chaos. He just wanted it all to end or for it to be delayed till after his expedition, when he will leave in the next month.
He was a nervous wreck as he waited. Only Wrath was in the mood to enjoy the back and forth between the heroes, the corpos, and the people. She called it an authentic reality show with a dash of mortal danger.
He was ready for the worst things to happen, so he packed up and left New London for some days. It was only then that he could relax.
He had to live in the wilds under the elements, which was not nice. But he was grateful for it because a full-blown fight started between the heroes and the corpos soon after he left.
Actually, it was the people in the city that began resorting to violence first. When words failed to get them what they wanted, they turned to violence.
Peaceful protests turned into violent rioting. Violent rioting turned into manhunts. The people attacked the headquarters of various businesses. The guards and henchmen of the corpos resisted their attacks and fought back.
People were actually killed in the struggle. It was then that the heroes intervened. They took the side of the people in attacking the corpos. That's how the war of words turned into a war of death and destruction.
Fortunately, things didn't escalate beyond that. The owners of the city couldn't allow it, so they intervened. The four kings moved to capture every CEO and their accomplices. Then they executed them to appease the people.
This happened a day after the heroes joined in the fight and began using violence too. All the dissatisfaction was pulled out and resolved in less than a day. The war ended there and then. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire
Wrath and Kelvin watched all of these happen on his phone from the safety of an abandoned building in the wilds.
Kelvin sighed in relief that the war had ended and that the great sleeping dragon hadn't been woken up. But Wrath only had complaints about how her source of entertainment had been cut short.
She said, "They are party poopers is what they are. They are sticks in mud. They are boring wardens. They are..."
She had a lot more to say about them, but Kelvin interrupted. "What kind of power do they wield? They didn't even show their faces. They just had a meeting where they voted to end the war with brute force, and it was done according to their wish."
Wrath asked, "Do you mean the kings? They have a lot of power if you compare them to you. They are also much more wealthy than you, considering that all the tax in the city goes to them. But their positions are just those of caretakers. Any power they have is the one given to them by the demigod."
"I bet they are all in the amateur league to preserve their lives. They also don't show their faces so that they won't be targeted in the destiny games."
"They are just fat bastards content with getting fatter while they sit on their asses all day and ruin my fun. They are cowards, is what they are. They are obtuse..."
She returned to cursing them out.