Tears started flowing down Tord's face as his memories slowly returned to him. Reign was able to see them as he was the one getting rid of the seals and allowing the true memories to come back as the fake ones got erased.
Seeing what the leader had done in the past made Reign angry. He knew that the organization and the leader were definitely not good people, but he never expected him to have actually had people kidnapped and their memories altered in order to make them into obedient members of the organization.
From the memories that Tord had, this was something that had been done before the system arrived, when he was a kid. That meant that the organization definitely didn't shy from taking people away from their homes, killing, and pillaging in order to increase their strength.
Reign wondered just how many of them there were.
With how the seals were placed, even Reign would find it difficult to sense them right away, the only reason he was able to sense Tord's soul and seals was that he had many more than just seals that changed his memories.
As for the other members, had Reign left any alive, he might have been able to check if their memories were altered as well, and if yes, he might have been able to get new, talented people in the territory.
After all, if they were to find out that they had been tricked and manipulated ever since they were young, they would start hating the organization and the leader, but that was just wishful thinking right now as Reign and Wolf had slaughtered every single one of them.
Tord's memories coming back to him meant that he now realized everything that had been happening.
How he was trained by the leader ever since he was young, and how the hatred toward monsters and other organizations was placed inside of him, allowing it to fester and grow as he became more and more fanatical toward the organization and the leader.
He was even ready to give up his life for them, and even allowing the leader to take over his body was something that he was willing to do previously. All of it was because of how his memories were manipulated and how he had been controlled by the leader without ever realizing it.
"Yo, you good?" Reign asked Tord who was staring at the ceiling with a hazy look in his eyes.
His eyes were unfocused, and Reign worried a bit, after all, he hadn't gone through such trouble to remove the seals just for Tord to suddenly break mentally.
The entire thing lasted for over an hour, and Reign had spent quite some mana, but the worst was the fact that the mental exhaustion was immense and even Reign was near the limit after removing the memory-suppressing and altering seals.
"Haaa." Reign sighed before suddenly pulling his right hand back and delivering a fierce slap that not only forced Tord's face to turn but actually lifted his body from the ground and sent him flying to the side.
Tord, however, managed to flip through the air and land on the ground before staring at Reign. The entire left side of his face was numb and hurt like hell. It was as red as a tomato and Reign simply stared at his face with great interest and nodded his head in amazement.
"Damn, you got some sensitive skin, huh?"
"What the hell was that fcking hell man, that hurts!" Tord shouted at Reign before holding his face with a painful expression on his face.
"Ow, damn it." Tord continued cursing at Reign as his face showed no signs of returning to normal.
"Well, at least you're no longer staring at the ceiling with that annoying expression on your face"
"For a moment there, I thought you were going to try and kill yourself, and there is no way I would let you do that after I spent so much time, busting my ass, spending my mana, manipulating my soul, in order to get your memories back!"
"So get up, stand tall, and let's go back, I'm still quite interested in your powers." Reign said with a smirk on his face as Tord stared at him with interest before looking to the side.
"Alright, ready?" Reign asked Tord who stared at him before opening his mouth.
"Go back where?"
"Ah, right, for you, this is your base." Reign said as he realized why Tord was confused.
"Back to the territory, our territory." Reign said before snapping his fingers.
In an instant, Tord and the rest were outside the storage area. Seeing the beautiful forest around him, hearing the birds chirping and how the leaves rustled thanks to the wind made Tord a bit emotional.
Even though he was the direct disciple of the leader, and was considered to be highly influential inside the organization, each and every move had been controlled by the leader.
He couldn't just go out in order to take a walk, or to go and hunt monsters by himself, no, he needed to report to the leader before doing anything and had to have the leader's permission before proceeding with the said action.
It wasn't a normal life, but with his altered memories, Tord never realized it. He never thought that anything weird was going on, he never thought that perhaps the way he was being treated in the organization was not entirely good.
Those kinds of thoughts were simply not present.
Tord fell down to his knees and stared around himself. The green grass and leaves of the tall trees slightly moved thanks to the wind that made his hair dance a bit as well.
The sounds of animals and insects inside the forest made Tord's emotions settle down a bit before he took a deep breath and stood up.
"Lead the way," Tord said to Reign who smirked at him before flicking his finger and hitting the young man's forehead.
"Don't get too cocky, follow me." Reign said as Tord held his forehead in pain whilst following after Reign who was walking toward Doncaster.
It didn't take them long, Doncaster was right next to the area they were in as there was no need for them to go too far away from Doncaster in order to use the base. They were doing this because the Saint had arrived, but Reign knew that even if he were to use the base in front of the man, he wouldn't do anything to him.
After all, the Saint knew their identities, and even if he didn't know that Reign was a Nephilim, it didn't matter as his other identity, a bearer of Zeus's mark, was terrifying enough.
Upon entering Doncaster, Tord was surprised. He never expected to see such a large territory present here. The tall buildings, the giant yellow dome that covered the territory for protection, and the hundreds of people present on the streets were very different compared to what the organization once had.
'We actually tried to take over this place, damn.' Tord thought as he stared around, marveling at the incredible sights. As they went through the yellow dome, Tord was able to see everything.
The many buildings that had slowly been repaired and put into use, the new buildings and houses some people had made, the giant trees that seemed completely out of place in a town, the ice field that was present to the side, and the people sitting nearby and staring at it, it was all just so unfamiliar to Tord.
The organization had a strict hierarchy, and one had to follow it at all times. Those at the bottom were responsible for bringing in a set amount of meat, water, and sometimes materials. Of course, if a person were to get more, then the amount for the next day would be smaller.
The higher up the hierarchy one was, the more freedom one had to leave the base and explore. But even then, there were multiple rules to be followed, like for example, one was not to leave the base for longer than 4 days, and that was a rule for the elders, if a normal member was to leave and not come back in less than 24 hours, then they would better not come back at all.
The leader was very suspicious of people and didn't trust anyone. Even the elders, the people closest to him, did not know a lot about him.
Perhaps it was because the organization had once been destroyed by others which prompted the leader o to become such a person. Without trusting others, nobody would be able to betray the leader and everything that happened would have been by his own choice.
In the end, that didn't matter. He had bitten off more than he could chew and was defeated, his soul sealed inside a sword, and almost poetically, just like how he had done to Tord and the others, his soul was changed and he did not remember who he was.
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com