Limitless The Strongest Revenant

"Tsk. But that doesn't bloody tell us anythin'. C'mon Nelle, did she really have nothin' else to say?"

"Sigh, and that only leaves us with more questions than it solves. There has to be something there. It obviously references the Seven Sins. Jas, can't you figure out more about it using {Insight}?" Lilly inquired as she massaged her forehead.

"You think I haven't thought about it? I already tried. But even the Akashic Records are silent on the topic. Anything and everything about Sins and the Successors is drowned out in noise. I can't learn anything. As if the topic is taboo and has to be redacted on purpose."

While the girls were all focused on investigating the Successors and their Sins, I couldn't help but focus on part of the first thing Sara explained.

'Successors must be male Formless Reapers. They carry the fate of humanity on their shoulders.'

As I repeated the statement, the information I had on hand all of a sudden began to click together. My memories, the suppression of the Formless. Even {Rewind's} last words.

"It is up to you now."

"John Smith. All seven continents currently agree on two things. One is to deny the Formless any support. And two is to ensure the number of reapers does not pass a certain threshold."

"IRIS shows itself to every Revenant and shares information about the past. The lessons from IRIS led them all to the same conclusion."

"So it seems. Well, anyway, I won't tell you the exact reason, but the gist of it is that the Formless must remain out of the limelight. Otherwise, the worst would come."

{Things have finally begun to move. And now you are at the same starting point, John Smith. Everything you seek is through those doors. I await your answer the next time we meet. Farewell. Buddy.}

"They were waiting," I muttered under my breath.

"Huh? Darling, what are you talking about?"

"It's the Successors. The Revenants are all waiting for the Successors."

"Dearest? What do you mean?"

I ignored Lilly and Jo for the moment and tried to get my thoughts in order. From what I know of David and the other Revenants. They were all domineering as fuck. It made no sense for people like them to just accept playing defense.

All this time, I often wondered why the Reapers couldn't push forward. But the clues in Roland's words made me think. IRIS never ordered the suppression of Formless. But this was the same conclusion all seven of humanity's strongest had come to.

Carlos's knowledge of the Revenants showed these fuckers were no cowards. If Zanele knew a Successor held the key to victory, then IRIS knew. So did all the Revenants.

It was like needing a key character in an RPG. You could over-level yourself for a stage as much as you wanted. But if the game's narrative required a someone for plot reasons, then you couldn't progress without him. Period.

{Rewinds} words and the memories from the past life were like the legacy of the past Reapers. Given only to the one who was essentially the protagonist. I may be one of them, but from what Zanele said, we were basically in a Battle Royale.

My musing ended when I heard Liv's warm voice excuse me from the discussion.

"Let's give Beloved some time to process his thoughts. What happened after that?"

Zanele nodded and continued.

"Shortly after I spoke with Sara, she challenged Luciano in a duel and fell to his blade. I was surprised by the sudden developments and ended up confronting the Successor. But he had neither anger nor sadness, only acceptance. All he said was 'so this is her choice' as he left."

"Wait, the fucking cunt just offed her and bloody left? Did he even mourn her, or what?"

"No, he did not. Lady Rhiannon. He left the body to us quietly while taking her soulgem. That was the last I spoke to him. Less than a year later, news of his death made headlines. As Luciano fell, a new Successor would replace him. Only I would wait for decades.

"As I felt that I was given a task by an Astral, I researched and prepared. In the following years, Zwe inherited the mantle of Hannibal and made me his concubine. I then used my newfound authority to spread a net to find the next successor."

Seeing Zanele's position in time to join the Royal Harem, Saraswati was truly a goddess of wisdom. Her decision to choose this woman to be her agent ended up being the right one.

"I tried to form ties with all the members of the African continent. It was hard, but I used servant girls to act as my eyes and ears in the other countries. In about 60 more years, news of an outstanding Formless Reaper once again made the rounds."

"That would be Omar, right, the next successor from Egypt, right?" Jo asked.

"Indeed. Using my authority, I quickly took him and his family under my protection. I then tried to figure out the rules of Sins and the Successors. I tried to determine why the Sins sought the Successor and why they always left him afterward.

"True enough, while acting as Omar's adoptive mother, I learned a lot. He followed Sibu and Luciano's footsteps. He met his Sins, bedded them, grew stronger, and then went on a journey. Despite the bond I tried to foster, Omar slowly grew distant as the Sins he met increased."

"What kind of experiments were you conducting? What was your experimental design or methodology? What were the main variables you were testing or manipulating in your experiments? How did you ensure the reliability and accuracy of your data?"

Zanele grew silent when Bella began to ask egghead questions one after another. To someone who used brains like my Honey, such matters were important. But as Zanele didn't have a formal education, it would be hard for her to give answers up to Bella's standards.

I raised my hand and grunted, "Tell me what you learned. Have Exa send the specifics to Bella."

Zanele nodded energetically with a smile. While she considered us her superiors, no one wanted to be put on the spot and made to sound like an idiot. The Soldat Matriarch cleared her throat before resuming.

"I understand. To put it in simple words, Sins are driven by visions, dreams, or prophecies to meet the Successor. Some of them believe it is from a past life; others do not. Successors always fall in love upon seeing a Sin. Right up until they spend their first night."

The woman before me hesitated as she bit her lip. It was like she wasn't sure if she should say what came next. After a few moments, she took a deep breath.

"And then?" I prodded.

"After the first night, the Successors lost all affection for that Sin. Always. Without exception. And when they did, they gained sudden insight along with a new {Fate}. Their faces showed an exhaustion I could not understand. As if they had lived a thousand years overnight."

While I focused on the latter part of her statement. The girls were all obviously more concerned with the first. Specifically the one that says the Successor fell out of love with each Sin he slept with.

'Ugh, this is getting more and more complicated.'