Athanasia: My Hacker System

Chapter 320: John Wants to Establish a New World Order

"It’s up to you, pal," John said, casually tossing the scroll toward Ricky. It landed on the floor between them. "Either sign it with your blood, and our fates will be tied forever. Or you don’t... And you know exactly what that signifies."

"..."

Cissel stood to the side, her heart thumping hard as she watched John outplay Ricky. Even when Ricky had tried to drive a wedge between them with the truth of her regression, John had pivoted and turned the pressure back onto him tenfold.

Seeing this scene made her heart swell with a strange, immense happiness. It was as if she had placed a desperate bet on an unlikely horse, and that horse had just won the grand prize by trampling over the favourites.

"I don’t see anything wrong with doing this," Luke said, breaking the silence. As Ricky looked toward his friends for some form of support, he found only firm resolve. Luke’s voice was steady.

"John is the reason we are all alive today. If not for him, we would have been killed by the machines long ago in this shitty place. Loyalty is the least we owe him, proving it the least we can do."

"That’s absolutely right," Elena joined in, expressing her thoughts openly as Ricky’s eyes moved to her.

"He has achieved the impossible and secured every advantage we have in this trial. I would never dream of doing any harm to him. To me, signing a contract like that is as simple as swearing my formal oath of allegiance. If you have no intention of betraying him, Ricky, then the scroll shouldn’t scare you."

She instantly extended a hand, her eyes locked onto his with a mixture of defiance and surrender. John didn’t hesitate. He reached into his inventory, took out three golden scrolls, and threw them towards each of them without saying a single word.

In a world that was filled with people like Ricky and greedy, manipulative Paragons, a world ruled by the cold calculus of self-interest and the perpetual desire to take advantage of others, John knew he could never trust mere words.

Pledges, oaths, and promises were cheap; they were the currency of the old world that had already failed. If any of the people standing before him held even a speck of ill intention toward him or his vision, they would never agree to sign this contract.

And for John, that meant one simple, inevitable result for anyone who hesitated: death.

John already had a grand plan etched into his mind, one that required the absolute, devoted effort of every single person in his inner circle.

Having even a slim chance of someone trying to backstab him in the heat of a future crisis would jeopardise everything he had fought to build. He wouldn’t leave his survival to chance.

The choice for him was simple; he chose to move forward and achieve his goals without the burden of worrying about sleeping at night in peace or failing his grand plans because of someone else’s greed or lack of honour.

"I’ll sign it," Cissel said instantly.

She drew a dagger, cut the tip of her finger, and let a single drop of blood soak into the parchment. The scroll flared with a brief, blinding gold light before vanishing into golden specks, the same way it had happened with Luke and Elena.

"Now it’s effective," she whispered, her voice carrying a weight that felt heavier than the atmosphere of the trial. "We are bound forever. Together."

John felt like her statement held a subtle, deeper meaning that transcended a mere alliance, yet he realised it wasn’t the time to care about the intricacies of her heart.

He turned his attention fully toward Ricky, his gaze expectant. The other three followed suit, their eyes boring into the last friend to prove his intentions loud and clear.

"Tsk! Fine!" Finding himself standing entirely alone, Ricky felt his hand forced. "I’ll sign it. But you have to remember, John, my allegiance is predicated on you helping me secure the Kraken God Paragon seat. That is the deal."

Ricky mimicked others’ actions, cutting his palm and gripping the scroll until it was saturated with his blood. He activated the contract, watching as the golden light enveloped his hand, binding his fate and future to John.

"It won’t be a nice ride," John said calmly, a rare, beaming smile breaking across his face, a smile that looked more like a warning than a comfort. "And yet, I promise you we’ll do everything in our power to succeed. Because in the end of all this, those Paragon seats you covet so much will hold absolutely no value."

"What?!!" Ricky exclaimed, his voice cracking with surprise and immediate doubt. "Are you going to renege on your words now? You just said you’d help me!"

"Oh, that’s not what I meant at all," John said, slowly shaking his head. He looked at the group, finally providing his definitive answer to all the useless philosophy of the Paragons and their endless, petty squabbles.

"Think about it. The era of having many Paragons competing for power and influence is the reason we are in this mess.

The root of all this, the main reason we ended up not only ruining Earth, but also trying to ruin Athanasia and even losing our chances in securing the future inside the apocalypse, is this useless competition between different Paragons.

They fight for scraps while the world burns. So I’ve decided... Enough of this sh*t already! I’ll screw up all the Paragons. I’ll lay waste to their pointless factions and their meaningless struggles, and I will establish a new order."

"New order... Like what exactly?!"

Hearing his words made Cissel’s heart palpitate faster. She couldn’t help but recall the grim, dark future she had tried so hard to change through regression, the upcoming deadly apocalypse and the extinction of the human race. Hearing what John was proposing confirmed her earlier, desperate guess: he wasn’t just a variable. He was the solution. He was the One.

"The order of a single monarch leading all of humanity into the post-apocalyptic new world," John said simply, as if he were stating a law of physics. "Dividing our powers when there is a disaster looming in the future is foolishness. It’s suicide. Our path won’t end by taking control over this pocket trial; it will only truly begin there."

"..."

Every one of his friends finally realised the scale of his ambition. They understood why he said the Paragon seats wouldn’t have any value.

John wasn’t aiming to just secure a few powerful allies on his side, and he certainly didn’t intend on becoming just another Paragon in a crowded, dying world. He aimed higher, bolder, and more dangerously than any Paragon had ever dared to dream.

He wanted to smash the old regime entirely and restart something anew, a unified human front that would save and serve everyone, protecting them from the brutal fate of the Source Code apocalypse.

"That’s a brilliant dream, indeed," Ricky said, though he was the only person who didn’t look inspired. He looked terrified.

"But still... How do you plan on doing this? You don’t know how truly scary the existing Paragons are in the real world. They don’t just have endless legions of strong warriors on their side; they are monsters of strength in their own right.

They have abilities that can rewrite the reality of Athanasia at a whim. Just look at Cissel and her regression ability, her other abilities. Just look at me and my dual abilities..."

Ricky moved his eyes around the place, and even Cissel couldn’t help but slowly nod in agreement. Taking down the established Paragons and establishing a new global regime sounded perfect on paper, yet all of them knew how impossible it was.

"I’m not saying this out of pure fantasy," John said, an evil smirk playing on his lips. "I have something other Paragons don’t. I have the new territory of humanity that will be established once we complete this pocket trial. Even if they rule the old world, we are already leaps ahead of them in the new, post-apocalyptic world."

John didn’t know the exact nature of the privileges he would gain after securing the first official territory for humans in the Source Code World, yet his expectations were high.

He could see the future clearly: he would be the one controlling access to the apocalyptic trials. He would monopolise the knowledge, the experience, the advanced weaponry, and the gear needed to overcome the machine threats.

"And yet, we are just five," Elena said, her eyes drifting toward the distant borders of the territory, where the fog still clung to the horizon. "Don’t tell me you plan to use the help of those thousands of human survivors as well. They’re disorganised and weak..."

"No, they can’t be trusted," Cissel barked, her protective instincts flaring. "Even if they are impressed by you now, John, the moment they are back in Athanasia, they will return to being loyal to their respective Paragons. Their families, their lives, everything is tied to the old order. They can’t be trusted with a secret of this magnitude."

"I know that," John said, raising a hand to stop the debate. "We will start with only the five of us. We will plan things our way, add members to our small circle only after they’ve signed the scrolls, and slowly expand our influence from the shadows. We’ll use the Azure Academy as our secret base of operation."

Then, he began to lay out the specifics of his plan, detailing and explaining his vision in a way that made the impossible seem like a simple series of manageable problems.