The SSS Ranked Villain's Return-Chapter 226: The Last Protector

[Protector Lauren's POV]

"It's been so quiet these past few days," Lauren commented with a sigh, glancing at the monitors in front of him.

Since he was the weakest out of all the Protectors, he was stationed in the headquarters, merely crunching numbers—and of course, looking out for disasters.

In this case, there was one very big disaster which they didn't know how to handle.

An invader so strong, he had managed to kill two of the protectors.

The Golden Reaper... Lauren pondered. He's been here for nearly a month by now, and yet we haven't been able to stop his advances... he has already taken over the second continent.

This time, it was much faster than the first, as he managed to do so in around two days.

A flying, exploding army. Rats with formidable strength. And lastly, Protectors, who feared for their lives.

It was impossible for them to survive this, so Lauren had already given up.

But as fate would have it, they had set up a perimeter over the last remaining continent, and when the invaders approached, the Protectors would kill them all.

And today was that day.

<Hey, Lauren, any intel on his location?> a voice rang out through the intercom.

"Not yet, but—" Lauren stopped, his eyes widening as he shot up. "H-He's on the continent! He's in Velara!"

<Velara? Did he go around us? What's the situation there? He just appeared, right?>

"W-Well..." Lauren stammered, looking at the metrics of the city.

However, the moment he looked, he wished he hadn't.

All the trackers they'd placed to monitor vitals had vanished—meaning those people were dead.

A few dozen people were left, but not even that lasted long, as the invader seemed to go one by one, eliminating the remaining people.

"Velara is gone," Lauren announced grimly.

Just as he thought it couldn't get any worse, another city's ping flared.

And of course, in just a few moments, all life signals disappeared from that same city.

"Argos is gone..." Lauren muttered.

<What!? Fuck! How are we supposed to catch him!? Can't we get a satellite on him?>

"It's impossible. One of the invaders has an interference skill that completely masks their presence from our cameras. The only times we were able to see them were when they first appeared almost a month ago," Lauren replied as he sank into his seat, grabbing his face helplessly.

We're dead... we're actually about to be wiped out...

<What about the other cities! Lauren!?>

He didn't even respond anymore, just stared at the monitor as the colors of each city faded rapidly, until finally, there was only a single city left.

It was the same city on the outskirts where the Protectors were gathered, so at the very least, Lauren could rest easy that it would all finally be over now.

"He's near you guys now," Lauren said, his hope reignited. "He's messed with our satellites so much that I can roughly estimate his position if you want me to—"

<Lauren. We see him.> A female voice rang out through the intercom, her tone grave.

<He's all alone. I don't see the two girls anywhere. There isn't a barrier either.>

"No barrier... Right, this might be some sadistic way of his to enjoy our last moments," Lauren chuckled, his eyes narrowing. "It's too bad when our strength is combined, we are the strongest force imaginable—"

His confident remark was cut off when, all of a sudden, a bright red light flashed in front of him before dimming down.

There used to be eight lights in total, but now only five of them remained lit.

"W-What..." Lauren's eyes widened. "What is happening over there!?"

Soon, another light dimmed, and through the rough intercom, he could hear a loud explosion—followed by the communications being cut off fully.

Now, the only thing buzzing in his ear was the annoyingly loud static.

"G-Guys?" Lauren called out, watching as the lights dimmed one by one—until finally, there was only a single light remaining.

His own.

Lauren scrambled for the satellite footage, however, the moment he saw what had happened to the city the Protectors had been in, he froze."

There was one massive crater, spanning from the ocean all the way to the middle part of the continent.

It looked almost as if a world-ending nuke had been detonated.

F-Fuck... What do I do now? Am I the only person left alive? Lauren began hyperventilating as he paced around.

He was S- himself, so maybe—just maybe—he could deal with him somehow.

Or so he thought, until suddenly, he heard a faint ringing sound in the distance, followed by the sound of the elevator descending into the bunker.

Lauren didn't waste any time as he ran up to the kill switch and pressed it.

But to his despair, it didn't work—almost as though there was some outside interference.

He stood frozen, having no choice but to wait for the elevator to arrive—and eventually, it did.

Once the elevator doors swung open, he was greeted with the sight of two attractive women and a strange white-haired man.

His dark purple eyes seemed messed up—almost lifeless—as he looked right at Lauren, making him flinch.

So this is the Golden Reaper...

"So this is the last person alive?" the Golden Reaper spoke, his tone detached as he took a few glances around.

"Neat technology. Liza, could you use it?" the Golden Reaper asked as he turned toward the tall black-haired girl, who merely nodded in response.

"Alright, Fiora, come help me," the tall girl said, and the orange-haired girl nodded before following.

They all ignored Lauren—almost like he didn't exist.

Or that was what he hoped, but the Golden Reaper's gaze soon fell on him.

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"So how does it feel to be the last person alive? Is it thrilling?"

"T-Thrilling?" Lauren stammered. "D-Do you think this is thrilling, you sick bastard!?"

A smile appeared on the Golden Reaper's face as a rapier manifested out of thin air.

"Goodbye," the Golden Reaper said as he swung the rapier horizontally, then calmly sheathed it, leaving Lauren confused.

...Is he sparing me—