Chapter 111: Child of The Infinite

  Northern Raid Squad [Diamante, R0N1N, Mirage, Topaz, Quartz and Stonewall]

  Diamante scoffed, his body once more cooling down under the watchful gaze of Mirage and Quartz… he was down to 18% of his vital Energy Capacity. Any lower, and he was at risk to damage himself with Warp Burns. Such was the way with a Fire Tendency.

  He couldn’t risk it, his body was taking more damage than he expected and at this rate he’d be at a loss from what R0N1N was offering, that was including the Shard depository he raided.

  Looking at his ammunition, it wasn’t faring any better, which in turn was forcing him to rely more on his Energy weapons. A gruesome cycle that only festered his impatience. “Mirage! Give me the Amalgalm Engine!”

  “Are you crazy?” Her voice blew up in his ears, but Midnight spoke next. “That thing’s still not stable!”

  Diamante found his body light again, and began to charge his weapons up again. “Doesn’t matter, we’re barely denting that thing!”

  R0N1N skid through a wall and exploded dust next to Diamante, his body riddled with cracks and dents. The Iron Devil wasn’t having it today. “We need to leave! Missy already confirmed that Goliath isn’t here, no one cares if Yuzhou’s robot is controlling that Wardrone, we need to get out! Now!”

  R0N1N only adressed him with two words. “How much to capture her?”

  Diamante glared… “Twelve Million.”

  “It’s a deal.” R0N1N’s blades glew gold once again, and vanished in a blink. Diamante hated himself sometimes, but at least now it was little less. With renewed fervor, he pushed through the rubble barricade and sent forth a legion of rockets that clung through the tough exterior of the Hydra Wardrone.

  They each latched on tight, mechanical grippers sticking to the metal and began to vibrate like buzzing bees. In moments, that vibration quivered through the entire room, as the alloy armor of the Wardrone was suddenly sucked outwards to crumple over each rockethead.

  With that barrage, at least a sixth of it’s plating had been torn off. R0N1N sent a festering message to Diamante’s earpiece. “You couldn’t have done that sooner?”

  “Those rockets cost half a million each!” Diamante explained, before joining into the dance himself.

  ———

  5:53 AM

  Diamante wasn’t sure who was in a worse state, the Wardrone or the R0N1N… then again, even if his armor looked relatively fine aside from scratches and dents, it was his heart that was about to give out.

  3%…

  R0N1N’s million-Shardyne joints were close to giving up, every scrap of his body held on by a neurowiring thread. The Wardrone had lost it’s flying capabilities, sitting half-crushed under it’s own weight but with more than enough cannons to tear through an entire army of gang grunts in a second.

  They needed to find it’s central processor, Himiko had made a vital mistake loading herself onto a drone without a port leading outside. Mirage’s destruction of their subnet had ensured that. Now was the time for him to get a hostage worth billions, one that Yuzhou’s competitors would gladly pay for.

  R0N1N steeled himself, and summoned the true power from Tomurau, his blade of severance and mourning. One crafted by The Hammersmith, it was even more fearsome than The Iron Devil suit he wore. Ryoho flew out from his hands, taking care of the remaining stragglers who were brave enough to continue in this assault on them.

  They were truly brave, for that he would remedy them with a quick death.

  Staring at the walls, platforms and other points to jump across, R0N1N’s mind burned under the culmination of Wind and Spark Tendencies… their qualities multiplied within his mind as a Tempest to calculate his path. With no choice other than to move, R0N1N did so with Tomurau drawn proudly in both hands.

  As he moved and weaved around the Wardrone, the air was painted with a golden brush-stroke — as thing as a string — wherever his blade moved. Each touch had to be precise, exactly perfect to his calculations for perfection to be brought to fruition.

  He enscribed a killing presence into the air, the micrometer width trials glowing fiercely with each passing millisecond. To almost everyone else in the room, it would be appear as though R0N1N had disappeared, and in one second drawn a golden cage upon the Wardrone, but to him it was a series of meticulous and thorough articulations using his severely damaged body.

  Not to mention, this would hurt.

  R0N1N stopped behind the Wardrone with a thread of Gold extending from his sword connected the cage of Gold, the he commanded it all to flow back to him. The cage squeezed, discordant if not for the way he’d woven it, as the threads all flew back into his sword like a bolt of lightning, leaving the Wardrone’s huge body seared with strands of molten metal where the threads touched.

  As the blade-like threads finally collapsed back into Tomurau, the blade ejected a bright streak of gold up R0N1N’s arm. And the limb fell into pieces. Diamante caught the valuable blade before it touched the ground, his eyes burning into R0N1N. “You could have done that this entire time?”

  “Not… exactly.” R0N1N slumped against The Iron Devil’s shoulder. “Collect the… central…”

  The ground shook as a tall metallic tube lifted through the broken and melted alloy, light beamed in it’s center, a final attack from the fading drone. Diamante picked up the broken Gold Mercenary, but in the few milliseconds before the Wardone fired he knew it wouldn’t be possible to get to safety.

  White and black sparks flowed over the limb, Mirage’s eyes glowing fiercely as she thrust Warpcode through the dying Wardrone… then it’s tentacle-like cannon collapsed. She fell as well, her face pale and body trembling.

  Diamante… refused to believe it. There was no way Mirage could overpower Ms. Himiko in a duel of code. “How in the hell did you do that?”

  “Overheated…” Mirage said in between sharp gasps for breath. “Overheated it’s central unit, burned it’s physical component rather than taking her on…”

  R0N1N tried to move despite his fractured body. “You what? I left her central unit intact to extract her!”

  Red eyes grew on Mirage’s face, Midnight retalliating. “We weren’t even here for that in the first place!”

  Diamante clicked his tongue, hoisting The R0N1N more firmly on his weight to shut him up with a groan. Mirage… she had a habit of being in the right place, doing the right things at the right time. It had been that way ever since she joined them… she’d never made a mistake.

  Except, the one time she couldn’t open up a Silver Pandora. Ripley happened… Or short circuiting the storage of one highly-valued AI.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Diamante nodded at her, initiating to pull out of the facility as Mirage handed him the Amalgalm Core. A network of various tubes and generators all hooked up to a Silver Warp Converter…

  But his thoughts were firmly on the Silver Data Delver. Her connection to Mikail, her casual intrusion into Missy’s clutches, the very fact that she didn’t even need them.

  No one here was an idiot — except for Ripley. Mirage, or at least one of her Personas, was working with Mr. Skeleton. Had been ever since she practically handed Little Requiem to him on a platter.

  But that was the only reason why Missy let her in at all.

  ———

  Ripley and Amaterasu

  The Infinite, the source of my Implant’s unique abilities… or maybe, the source of the MALignant that had given rise to my Implant.

  Himiko seemingly took pleasure as my brain digested this information, but it all meant nothing, well not entirely but what really troubled me was- “Then how did The Uncaged even get a Source-Touched MALseed?! Why did you want it? To push Yuzhou to the top of the corporate hierarchy?”

  “No… Ripley, to tear the corpoaration down… you see, The Infinite’s nature of The Source has a… let’s call it antagonism with a power my Founder posseses. The opportunity to study a MAL like that would open up doorways to overcoming Xiaomang’s unwavering might. You see, even I am caged.”

  “Then what is it that you want?” I pushed forward.

  Ms. Himiko chuckled. “I already discussed that with your counterpart, you can discuss it with her once she’s… less indisposed.”

  Right… Grazhe’s grandson had said that Soul Killer took Diana. And I blew off saving her to prepare for this heist. But still, I wanted to know. “Is she safe?”

  “I wouldn’t know, we had an arrangement, but Soul Killer is finicky with any deal they orchestrate. I wasn’t too shocked to see them turn their back on me, but regardless, I am still in control of the situation regarding your Implants.”

  “Even when everything has gone wrong, every step of the way?” I laughed, hoping it would spite her.

  “I told you, Ripley. I wanted to observe and learn from the fragment of Source contained within the MAL… and the only thing more destructive than a Source-Touched MAL, is a Source-Touched Adapter. The R0N1N is a prime example, as is Missy.”

  “So what, you’re just going to observe us and somehow that’ll let you topple a Founder?” That didn’t make any sense, it was better to have a weapon in your hands.

  “Of course not…” Himiko covered her mouth as though to stop her from laughing. “One day, whether it be through a MAL, or you and Diana — you will kill a Founder. I will make sure of it.”

  I stifled my breath, the Founder’s were older than the new world itself. They were ancient bastions of power and order, sure, I didn’t particularly like either of them save for Mazhyr… but kill them? “You don’t understand a thing, I’m not involving myself in anything that grand. Once my mother is healthy and none of The Uncaged can get to me, then I’ll happily forget about all of this and open up my own Shard Op’ center — I’ll run to a whole new city if I have to.”

  “Is that your dream? Truly?” Her words dug at my heart. “You got intertwined in this from the moment you warned Shaun of the police. Besides, we both know it’s in your nature to be in conflict, if not with others — with yourself.”

  “What do you know of that?!” I didn’t like how she acted like she knew everything about me, least of all because I didn’t doubt it.

  “I know more than you do, that’s for sure… even now I can visibly see the threads of another weaving through you. All stemming from a foolish mistake.”

  “Well I’m turning the damn Personality Editor off soon enough!”

  “I’m not talking about that, but it’s not unrelated.” She tapped her chin, a smile resting above it.

  “Then what are you-“ Before I could finish, I felt the vision of the office around me quiver, like an earthquake of light.

  “Oh, that was quicker than I expected… it seems our time is being cut short.” Himiko suddenly stood up, and that same eerie pressure of hers came back, the flame goddess within her eroding at my brain’s barriers.

  She strode over to me, her concealed eyes staring down at me. “Remember Ripley, don’t you think it’s strange how there’s only five MALtitans where there are six Founders?”

  “What?”

  “That’s because it is strange, and The Uncaged is at the heart of it all. They’re the result of The Sin of the Founders… but you know him as Mr. R.” She lifted her fingers and a wave of nausea permeated every cell of my body as a pearl flame concentrated up to her index fingernail. It was so tiny, yet somehow, it shrunk even more until it might as well have been smaller than a snowflake.

  Yet it was all I could see.

  Platinum Warp Energy. “That’s… The Founder’s…”

  “Oh, another misguided lie like many others.” Himiko’s entire body began to dissolve against the fairy light of blinding white. “There are more than just six tiers… there are grades above Platinum… there are worse threats than the MALtitans… and they lurk among us…”

  She tapped her finger against my forehead, a blinding pain of white slipping through every nerve cell of my body. “This is but a trillionth of their power, savor it, for one day I’ll expect you to ascend even beyond it.”

  Only another voice brought me back, Twilight’s violet creeping into my wholly white agony. “Give. My. Boyfriend. Back! You bitch!”

  I coughed out, empty sparks of gold flaking from my mouth as I returned to the floating passage above the sea of flame, Twilight’s voice running in my ears.

  “I didn’t know she was there, Ripley! I’m so sorry!… Ripley?” My eyes stared at the currents of Gold beneath me, somewhere in my soul, I felt connected to it… like it was mine in the first place.

  Suddenly, the flaming sea agreed, it’s currents breaking apart as they erupted upwards like a volcanic eruption. All of that fury and pain concentrated into one needle-width lance that bore right into where Himiko had touched my forehead.

  It didn’t hurt, but it was overwhelming in all the right ways, it strengthened me… called for me… shielded me. I heard Twilight scream and I wished I could have done something to protect her, I felt her code dissolving as the heat bared it’s fangs only to her.

  No… not like Daylight…

  I spilled rivers of Warp Energy back into her, hoping to shield her from the onslaught. Then, in some twist of fate, I felt her violet presence sink deeper into me as though to take refuge like the Golden flame had.

  My physical eyes opened as my conciousness yanked back to the waking world, I adjusted to the light where… everything felt so much more bright.

  “Ri..ey…” Twilight sounded weak, her voice muffled behind static. “Wh…t h..pen.. I fe.. dif..rent.”

  ”Twilight?” I tried to search for her in my own Warpcode, the intense heat still flowing and surging through my body in waves, seeding deep into my Implant.

  “I’m… okay…” Twilight’s voice came clearer as her digital presence in my head brightened. “But I feel like I was torn apart and put back together again.”

  “You sure everything is okay?” I asked, prodding at her digital boundaries.

  “Yeah just… might need a few weeks to recover.” Twilight sounded sleepy in my head, but through sheer will she continued talking. “Open the box, Ripley.”

  Right… I-

  Grade is now Gold VI

  Tendency (Water) is now Bronze V

  Source-Fragment Identified… Source-Fragment has been digested…

  Database V.1.00 has updated to V.4.00

  Update Summary is currently being processed…

  Database had… 15… 20… 25… A total of 60 updates? It was now my most highest developed Feature despite the fact that I only got it barely half an hour ago. The Gold Warpcode I’d just absorbed was… it wasn’t quantitavely alot, persay, maybe a few Silver Shards worth. It was, however, dense, way more dense than my own Warpcode had ever been.

  Or at least… was. Gold VI was my Grade, I was now just five more developments away from Titanium. Then I would… no, that’s too far into the future, Grade Advancing required millions of investment. This was good luck, yes, but it was just luck.

  Nothing more, nothing less.

  Goliath, on the other hand… I sent a signal of authority towards the Pandora, and it opened. It wasn’t the normal kind of opening you expected from a teasure chest, there were no hinges or partitions like the Silver Grade. Instead, the metal seemingly vanished into thin air as motes of light rippled out from it’s center. If there was any noticable material left, I probably would have tried to retrieve it… but as it stood…

  There was a vial left over, a thin vial no larger than my finger with a sharp needle extending out from it. A name was scrawled over the glass in thick block letters.

  ‘GOLIATH’

  I shuddered out my breath, we’d done it. We’d found what we came here for, and as my hands grapsed the tiny vial, I felt perfect holding it.

  No, not perfect enough.

  Before my brain had even registered it, my hand ripped some armor off my chest so the needle could pierce my braciocephalic vein by my own hand. When I looked at the vial I’d plucked out of my flesh, it was completely devoid of any and all liquid.

  And conseuqentially, the nanites within it.

  “What… the fuck… did you just do, Ripley?” Twilight whispered in stupor.

  “I…” My breath failed to come. “I don’t know! My hand moved on it’s own! I think… I think it was Himiko?”

  Link Establishing… Yuzhou [Shandian] Experimental Bio-Integrational Nanoswarm: GOLIATH

  1%- Error: Hostile effect on Adapter registered… initiating rejection-

  Error: Nanoswarm Authority identified… in Feature: Database.

  Reinitiating Link…

  Missy’s voice radiated in my head, she must have felt me come back online in our comms. “Ripley? Did you get Goliath…?”

  I spoke slowly, my words not registering to my head. “Do you want the good news… or the bad news?”

  “As much as I love your wit… fuck it! I need something hopeful after all of this shit! Good news!”

  “We got Goliath.”

  “Great… then what’s the bad news?”

  “…”

  “It’s in my body.”