Chapter 365: Loyalty
(Meanwhile, Planet Terra Nova, Outer Slums, Guild Office of “The Uprising”)
The Uprising had once been a powerhouse—an influential guild boasting hundreds of thousands of loyal members.
But the past few years had not been kind to it.
Forced to abandon their prime headquarters in the city center, they relocated to the slums, unable to keep up with the soaring rent prices.
Now, their guild hall creaked louder than its members’ morale.
The ceiling groaned with every breeze, and the warped wooden floorboards bowed beneath even the lightest step.
The air reeked of rust and damp timber—a scent that lingered like failure.
Empty mission boards lined the peeling walls, flanked by faded banners that once inspired pride but now served only as quiet reminders of a forgotten glory.
The guild’s decline was not just in location, but also in spirit, in purpose and in the very heartbeat of the guild itself.
“No Sam, I don’t think you understand!” A guild member standing in the missions hall said, as he shook his head and tried to explain the reality to his brainwashed friend.
“I heard from Jason that it’s over,”
“Another week, maybe two. If we don’t find a way to make at least three million MP, we won’t have funds to repay the loan sharks, renew the guild license, or to pay rent for this damn forsaken place…”
“The rival guilds are already mocking us. Calling us zealots without a leader. Delusional idiots worshipping a ghost.”.
“They think TheBoss is never coming back.”
“They say that Chaosbringer is delusional, and that The Boss has long outgrown us….
According to them, we will be unable to pay our debts soon, and then all our assets will be seized by loan sharks, and our core management team will be forced into manual labor to repay their loans” he argued, as a tear escaped the edge of his eyes.
Things were truly tough for The Uprising right now.
However, their faith in ‘TheBoss’ returning someday remained unshaken.
“Jason knows nothing! Lord Boss will return someday! And once he does, we will prove him wrong!” Sam replied, as he continued to remain as delusional as ever.
——————
In the adjacent room, Chaosbringer slouched behind his cracked mahogany desk, a half-empty bottle of sour berry liqueur swaying gently in his perfectly manicured fingers.
His long, shimmering nails, once painted with radiant hues of pride, were chipped now. His once-fiery eyes stared blankly at the peeling wall in front of him as he wondered what desperate move he would be forced to make next.
‘The Sophia girl and her Alcazar family are relentless. They keep offering more money every month, trying to get me to sell everything I know about my Lord,’ Chaosbringer thought, exhaling a heavy sigh.
Five million MP. That was the last offer they had given him to spill the truth. And still, he had turned it down.
‘I will never sell information about my Lord. But I do need money to keep the guild alive,’ he admitted silently, taking another slow sip of his drink, as suddenly, the door to his office slammed open with a sharp crash.
*CRASH*
A young guild courier stumbled inside, panting, tears streaming freely down his cheeks.
“Leader!” the boy cried out. “It’s… it’s a package! A package from the Boss!”
Chaosbringer didn’t move at first. The words echoed in his head, soft at first, then louder, building until something inside him snapped back to life.
“…What did you just say?” he asked, as his dead eyes turned alive once more and his slouched posture automatically turned straight.
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“A package. From him!” the courier repeated, holding up a cloth-wrapped parcel with trembling hands.
“It says ‘TheBoss’ on the sender label.”
Like a man struck by lightning, Chaosbringer shot up from his seat the moment he heard those words, as his sudden rise caused his creaky chair to stumble and fall backwards.
*Thud*
“Give it to me!” He said as he lunged forward with startling fervor, snatching the parcel with both hands as though it were the final sacred relic left in a crumbling temple.
“Don’t touch it. You— out. Out! This is divine property, child! Be gentle!” he hissed, clutching the package tightly against his chest, his voice cracking with emotion.
Slamming the door shut behind him, Chaosbringer returned to his desk and placed the package down as reverently as a priest laying an offering upon an altar.
“OH HOLY!”
He gasped aloud the moment he saw the name scrawled across the label in familiar, sharp handwriting:
From: The Boss.
The package had no return address. no seal. no hidden insignia. Just that name. That sacred, holy name.
“Mother of divinity… it’s real… it’s him…” Chaosbringer mused, as he quickly unwrapped the package and checked the contents inside.
As inside he found, one wrapped block of brick, one letter and a cheque.
‘What did the lord send?’ Chaosbringer wondered as he peeled open the letter first, fingers shaking like a storm through silk.
[ “I now remember everything.
You’ll hear from me soon.
Until then—take care of our people and use this money wisely.
Also, keep this package safe. It’s very valuable for me.
Greetings, The Boss.” ]
Tucked beneath the note was a blank Universal Bank cheque… stamped for a total limit of 10 million MP.
Chaosbringer didn’t cry.
He sobbed.
Unashamedly. Loudly. Beautifully.
He fell to his knees as the tears streamed down, smearing the little remnants of eyeliner still clinging to his lower lids.
“My Lord… my light… my GOD!!” he wailed, clutching the note to his chest like a lifeline. “You REMEMBER ME!”
He looked up at the rotten ceiling, lips quivering into a manic smile.
“He’s BACK! He’s ALIVE! He hasn’t forgotten us! He hasn’t forgotten ME!”
He twirled in place like a drunk ballerina, hugging the cheque against his cheek as he giggled through the tears.
“No more poverty! No more judgment from those damn doubters! The Uprising shall RISE again!”
He clutched the package to his chest now, rocking back and forth like a lover reunited after war.
“I knew it. I knew he’d return to us. I waited. I prayed. I believed. And now… my faith has been rewarded.”
His sobs softened into sniffles, as he ran a finger over the sharp lettering on the envelope.
“My Lord… ofcourse I will keep your package safe for you. I will let no-one even touch it.”
Still cradling the parcel like a newborn, Chaosbringer slowly rose to his feet, straightening his robe with newfound dignity.
The drunken haze that had clouded his days vanished, replaced by a spark that hadn’t burned in years.
He walked to the cracked mirror on the far wall, wiped his tears, and began fixing his makeup with trembling hands.
“If the world doubted before, let them doubt now,” he whispered, applying a fresh coat of shimmering lipstick. “For the one we serve remembers us again.”
Then, with eyes burning bright and lips curled into a confident smile, he turned to face the door.
“Prepare the guild hall,” he called out. “Repaint the banners. Polish the floors. You sector E slackers—clean your boots and find your spines. It’s time for this guild to rise again!”