Chapter 186: Chapter 157- Weak and Cornered

The bottom layer of the tower was eerily quiet. There were no Clockworks, no signs of the Forgeheart, just rows upon rows of tanks. Something felt off, and Mori could see that VII sensed that too, “Mori,” VII said, “Be careful. If he’s got so many steam tanks, then he still has something up his sleeve.”

Mori looked around the room, but did not see a way forward. She looked behind her, noting that her escort had followed her orders. The only one of her undead that followed her was Idle. And Unio, but he was always around, hidden somewhere in her pseudo armor. Whatever the case, it was just the four of them there. “VII, where’s the stairs?” Mori asked. She was half expecting the Forgeheart to suddenly pop out and reveal some trap or other, but nothing came.

VII looked around, then shrugged, “We’ll probably need to blast our way through the ceiling-”

“That will not be necessary,” a thin, breezy voice said from the very walls. Mori immediately noticed that a blue shield suddenly appeared on the walls, and on the sole exit, “I am surprised you fell for this,” the voice continued, “You were supposed to be smarter than this, madam.” Mori could almost feel the hatred in that word. All of a sudden, a hole opened up in the ceiling and a large, bulky arm tipped with a core lowered itself down. Mori immediately used her soulsight to confirm that the Forgeheart’s soul was within the core, which it was. VII did not seem to spare the same thoughts for such things, and let loose a bolt of mana. Mori could not place what it was, but just before it hit home, a blue shield appeared and blocked the bolt, “There is nothing you can do, warden. You are trapped in here, and I will take great pleasure in ridding you from existence.”

Mori looked between the core and VII’s frustrated face, “Okay, I think I’m missing something here. Why do you hate her so much? Because you’re willing to literally rebel against gods to do this, so…”

“Hate?” the core asked, “No, I have no hate for anything. I am merely doing this world and every other a service. By erasing the gods and their creations from existence, it will be possible to create a reality where everything is perfect, where everything is a machine that will continue on for time immemorial.”

Mori was far from impressed, “Seriously? That’s it? An egomaniacal insistence that you’re the only way for reality to be perfect?” she asked, “You did all of this… for that?” That was the moment Mori realized that she had no time for the Forgeheart, and began to shift her S. energy subtly, trying to probe at the shield surrounding the Forgeheart.

“Of course,” the Clockwork maniac replied, “Though you call it ‘egomaniacal,’ it is nothing of the sort. Resources are wasted on a massive scale by the gods on a daily basis. And for what? They do not even remember why they fight anymore. If that is not ‘egomania,’ then I cannot determine what is.”

VII grit her teeth, “Who are you to say what is right and wrong here. Sure, they have fought for a millenium, but what are you planning? To fight them forever-”

“You have no right to speak here, madam,” the Forgeheart cut in, “But to answer your question, it will be easy to combat the gods. As soon as I have subsumed this world, creating the base of an all-spanning empire, I can move on and subsume more worlds. It will take time, but it is inevitable.”

Mori was not having any luck in finding a way around the shield around the Forgeheart, but she had a feeling that she could puncture through it just enough to be able to get at the core’s soul. “And you’re saying that us being here is part of your ‘inevitable plan?’” Mori shot back, “I mean, we’re right here, at most a few floors away from you, and you have nowhere to run. You’ve lost. Even if you somehow manage to stop us, there’s something in the region of a hundred thousand people of various makes with the sole goal of kicking your ass. You’re surrounded, trapped, and about to die.”

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The core looked to Mori, but she could almost feel the sneer coming from it, “It would look like that to you, would it not?” he asked. “You have such a limited view of everything around you, lich. Or should I say archlich? Whatever the case, your soul will be mine anyway. I have been working to make it, but I have finally completed the soul adaptor. Now, I can infect other souls with it and control them. Just like I did with your former clockwork units, madam.””

Mori could tell where the conversation was going, and hastened her soul movements, “So you’re just going to control everyone, then? Not even going to try to bring people around to your way of thinking? Just infect them with some threads and be done with it? Gods, you’re pathetic.”

The core stopped glaring a hole through the angry VII and turned to Mori, fury in his eye, “What?” he asked, “You just called me… pathetic?”

Mori crossed her arms, “Yes, I did! The only reason you’re fighting VII and her mom is because you didn’t get treated right, right?” Mori asked. The Forgeheart did not reply, but Mori continued on regardless, “And now you decide to make the same mistakes they made, but a hundred times worse! If just putting some light controls on a Forgeheart made you, then what’s going to happen when you put a ball and chain on something similar?” At that moment, Mori’s little tendril of S. energy made it through the Forgeheart’s shield, and she had a straight shot at the Forgeheart’s soul.

He never saw it coming. Mori wrapped the soul up and yanked on it. She was normally opposed to using her psychic powers in such a… violent way, but he had gotten on her nerves to the point that ripping him from his body was barely a consideration in Mori’s mind. What was a consideration to her was the fact that touching him burned like the fires of hell.

Mori hissed and assessed the damage in her soul. It was… underwhelming. More like superficial wounds than being really hurt. The Forgeheart was thrashing around, trying to do as much damage as he could. But he was pathetic. It was like a goldfish piloting a tank. He was so small in soul that Mori thought that he was weaker than a normal person. All she had to do was smother him in her own soul and he was soon trapped.

After a few moments of the core not responding, Idle turned to Mori, “Mistress, did you happen to defeat him?” she asked.

“She did,” VII confirmed, “We can talk about that later. For now, let’s just get out of here.” At that moment, a bayonet was shoved through both the clocksteel door  and the shield surrounding the room, popping it like a bubble, “I guess that solves that,” VII said.

Pandoran shoved his way through the door and shield and looked between the three of them for a moment, “Did you win?” he asked after another moment.

Mori chuckled, “Yes, we did. I’ve got that one safely contained. Now then, all that’s left is the clean up. You guys can go nuts with that, by the way.” Though he could not smile, Mori swore that Pandoran was grinning like mad internally. He nodded quickly, and shimmered away. “Kids,” Mori chuckled, “Come on, we’re done here.” Mori led them out, but VII took one last look at the core, some anger simmering in her eyes, “Hey, calm down. We’ve got plenty of time, now.” VII nodded, and followed Mori out.