Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 9 One Man vs Thirty Cowards

"Cut the crap! You’ve got the numbers, I’ll suck it up!"

Magnus waved off the tips of several weapons pointed at him, then strode straight into the group of wary male students, not breaking stride.

"The truck, the supplies - they’re mine. There’s millions worth of goods here. But I’ll only take one Humvee, two crates of water, and a box of instant noodles. The rest’s yours. I’ll walk out right now."

He understood perfectly - having too much in a world like this only made you a target. They wouldn’t have circled him otherwise. So he threw out an offer no one on the other side could resist, just enough to lower their guard - and then...

Suddenly, Magnus spun. Two blades sliced through the air. The two students whose eyes glowed faintly red didn’t even get to react. Their hands flew to their necks, mouths open wide, trying to cry out. Nothing came. They collapsed in silence.

The red eyes meant Awakened. They hadn’t noticed, but Magnus had. He cut them down in an instant. Then he ducked low, dodging a swinging mop handle. In one clean motion, he flipped his machete upwards - piercing the throat of a third boy. A sharp arc, quick and precise, and a fourth had a deep gash torn across his belly.

Less than three seconds. Four down.

The others had been watching him the entire time, wide-eyed. Now they snapped back to life. A dozen of them screamed and charged.

The third kid, the one with the torn throat, dropped straight down in front of Magnus - who was still crouched. Grabbing him by the ankles, Magnus spun once behind him, then let go. The body smashed into the charging group. Four went down hard.

The rest froze at the sudden sight.

That hesitation was all Magnus needed.

He was already rushing in, just a couple of seconds behind the corpse. The blade flashed again and again. Nine more dropped in a blur.

He’d spent nine months living through the apocalypse - fighting, scraping, killing. Every damn day.

If he couldn’t take down thirty panicked students today, then those nine months were a waste.

But if these were students who had also survived these same nine brutal months? Even if they weren’t Awakened? Different story. He’d be lucky to kill five or six. The rest would tear him apart.

Fighting skill, mental toughness - those born from daily life on the edge - created a chasm no amateur could cross.

Thirty kids and two truckers were in the mix. In less than twenty seconds, a third were down. The rest? They hadn’t charged. Their fear held them back. Five or six dropped their weapons, dropped to their knees, begging for their lives.

"You’ve got three seconds to drop your weapons and get on the ground!" Magnus barked. With the air still thick from battle, Magnus roared. The few who still clutched their weapons dropped them in panic, blades clanging to the ground. He didn’t stop - after cutting down four more who were hesitating, the rest of the boys caved. Eighteen of them, now flat on the ground, too scared to move.

The aftermath left over a hundred rescued girls trembling. Some even dropped to their knees, weeping quietly like broken dolls. In their eyes, Magnus was no savior - he was a demon, no different from the monsters roaming outside. Maybe worse. A devil just risen from hell.

"Emily!"

Magnus turned and saw Emily standing still with a group of girls behind her, calm but wary.

"Grab some weapons from the bus," he said.

They froze for a second, then nodded and ran. Moments ago, they thought Magnus had given up, figured he’d take a car and leave them all behind. Despair had already started creeping in. But he flipped the table.

Sixty gutsy girls came back, each holding a watermelon blade. Magnus ordered them - two girls for each guy. Hand the boys back their weapons and shove them out. The rolling garage door was lifted, and one by one, they were driven into the open.

They had the strength to get this far - if they had any brains left, they’d survive somewhere else. If not? Then that was on them. Magnus never planned on taking them along anyway. If they’d cooperated, sure, he might’ve left them a few supplies. Let them sit tight and wait for a rescue team.

In the apocalypse, both men and women can become Awakened. If the baseline for women is "1," awakening elevates them to "2." For men, however, the baseline might be "1.5," and after awakening, they reach "3."

Thus, even among Awakened, women still fall a tier below men. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

In this devastated world, women are regarded as a form of resource - especially female Awakened, who have become highly sought-after commodities.

As for why the Ice Regiment didn’t take men anymore? That was already paid for, in blood.

Last time, there were thirteen male Awakened in the group, Magnus included. Eleven defied Emily’s lead, betrayed the Regiment, and traded forty-two female Awakened to the Emberleaf Legion for safety and food. That betrayal started a war. The Regiment lost over sixty more after that.

Only two men hadn’t joined the betrayal - Magnus and Emily’s younger brother, Kevin. But later, Kevin harassed Sarah. She took her own life soon after.

Watching as the eighteen were thrown out, some stumbling, some running fast as they fought each other out of panic, Magnus closed the rolling gate and finally exhaled. He’d half-expected the girls might lock him out too, like how the boys had tried earlier. If they had, he might’ve taken Sarah and walked out alone, let the rest fend for themselves.

His eyes swept across the underground lot - nearly two hundred girls now looked back at him, wide-eyed and shaken.​

Yeah. It was time to teach them a hard lesson.