Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Merc’s Mask

In the waterfront, there's a café. Kato sits down with Strato, who has a new body. His body was much more human. Much more complex than the previous iteration of his body. He was a man made machine. And yet there’s a strange humanity in him as his soul still lingers inside the last part of him that is still human. Kato arranges himself on the sea. His pale limb leaning on the armchair.

“I heard that you were hospitalized.”

“I was.”

“It seems so. You were signed in as Robert Oswald. And although there are quite interesting folks trying to find out who you are. I was able to make it quiet.”

“Thanks,” Kato said, his voice bland.

“A surprise. I’ve thought you’d be the kind to never break.”

“I ain’t a machine if that’s what you are asking.”

“Whether planned or not. This action of yours has kept you under the radar. Truthfully, I was rather suspicious of the recent rumors regarding your association with the Lady.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Some have started to suspect you two are in cahoots. Though your hospitalization and the uncaring actions of the Lady have made it clear. Then again, she’s the kind that takes years to appear in public.”

Kato looked away. “I guess she’s busy with whatever she wants to do. Is she still gathering an unholy amount of korium?”

“She is. In fact, she doubled on her acquisition of these materials and now there are refineries and supply chains transporting these materials. We also believe they have raised islands in their vicinity, clearly showing their interest by building rockets and spaceships. Their tunneling technology and their gates has been a subject of attention among the community.

“We believe she’s either planning to continue on her work and leave if it goes wrong. A lot of people have started taking their side. The potential of this technology she possessed is something to be desired.”

“I’m surprised you folks have been watching on the sideline.”

“We aren’t,” Strato tapped his silicon coated fingers on the table. “We’ve clashed with her Hellrunners. And disagreements have been made. She has a lot of pull in the congress and her lobbyists have been quite efficient. Truly, what makes her scary is not the weapons and tech she has. It’s her legal team. An army of lawyers and politicians.”

Kato looked up. “Well, she won’t stop. I did try. And I don’t think I could stop her either.”

“Hmm, you are backing down?”

“Perhaps. I don’t know. She’s beyond me. I think she’s unstoppable and in a way… let’s just say she has a weakness that is holding me from acting against her.”

“And yet I don’t feel any resentment in your voice.”

“She does what she does. Her purpose is her choice. I guess one hundred has made her stubborn. Very single-mindedly stubborn to the point that I feel like turning rock into water would fare better.”

“Quite an opinion.”

Kato follows the waves bashing against the sea wall.

“Strato, what do you think of the bug?”

“What do you mean?”

“The one coming again.”

“I heard of it. It is said that it will devour the magic again, this time, crippling it all. There might be traces left, but not enough to make it grand. We’d be living in a mage-free world. There might be a few left, but turning into a Magus would be impossible if that’s the case.”

“Someone told me,” Kato started. “That if this being devours the magic. It will notice the existence of our souls. Souls are valuable to this creature. We will be feasted. Eaten until none is left. This creature will leave the world and move on to the next.”

“Where did you hear this?”

“From a reputable being that has shown me… something else. I can’t tell Val about this, so I thought talking to you about it will suffice more.”

Strato leaned forward. Kato could hear the whimper of the motors and servos in him. A mechanical sound that revealed his machine inside. Kato leaned backward on the chair. Eyes trained on Strato’s mechanical ones.

“There’s a reason why I was able to survive. Do you know of the Outsiders?”

Strato nodded, arms crossed.

“Then you know they are powerful beings who are visitors. When I fought Gia Silva and pulled the superconductors. It was a being that saved me from certain death by pulling the soul of my body; remaking it to a different vessel. The reason I was able to sleep for one hundred years is because of this being as well.”

“What does he need from you?”

“A pawn. A tool. An avatar to inhabit in order to be used. He will take over the controls and face this creature itself. Defending the world and all of that.”

“What about you?”

Kato raised his head at that.

“Were you given a choice?”

“I don’t think so. But it was a price to pay for resurrection and preservation. I wanted nothing more than to escape this, but it had to be done.”

Strato leaned forward. “That's why you broke?”

“Fuck yeah. Imagine that. You get a fucking a chance and then suddenly you are told that your body will be possessed so some asshole from somewhere can save this world from some creature. It’s insane. Can you imagine that? Having no control and just being used as a vessel. No… you do, don’t you?”

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Strato nodded. “I am a machine. I might have control, but I am still connected to the country and they can make a puppet of me as I move automatically by their will. So yeah, I understand the feeling of having no control over your body. I do wonder if I’m even alive. How do I know I’m not a brain in a vat? There are days where I think I’m just a personality module. A sentient artificial intelligence modeled to an operator that died a long time ago.”

“Do you think you are?”

“I don’t think at all. I will break. I do not linger in existential crises for so long. It is unhealthy for machines like me.”

Kato nodded.

Strato opened and closed his silicon limb. Kato guessed that there were three layers of subdermal armor inside that silicon cover.

“So you’d be used. Does this creature have any assurance?

“I haven’t asked. But we’re facing something that devoured the world of magic. I think this creature is strong. Stronger than anything I’ve seen or heard, but there’s no telling if after the fight, this flesh of mine would survive.”

“So it’s a suicide mission?”

“It is. I doubt it can be called that.”

Strato blinked. “So why are you still alive? I saw the report. You tried to, but your skin's hard and bones dense. Being choked doesn’t work well with you. If you wanted to. You could have just died.”

Kato leaned forward. “You met Julie, right?”

“Oh, that bartender. I heard she took care of you?”

“Yeah. I was like a fucking mute. I couldn’t speak properly because I was ashamed of even thinking of doing that. I’m still a mess inside, Sir. A fucking wreck, but knowing that she tried was somewhat enough to convince me that maybe doing so will be fine. There are good people in this world. Better than me. Better than us, Sir. And knowing that these good people might get hurt or ruined because of other’s actions makes me ashamed of being afraid when I at least have a bit of power to change it. Everyone’s so busy about their reasons and powers that they forgot who to protect. It’s always the people who get affected. And the days in the hospital got me thinking that maybe it isn’t so bad being used to defend this world. Magic or not. Technology like the one Gia’s working on might make a fucking mess of this world.”

He understood what she wanted. He’d be happy if he’d see her family again and meet up with them. But at the cost of everyone living here? The consequences are dire. And although Kato understands what it is like. He couldn’t agree with it.

Not when there are good folks living in this world that don’t deserve such fate. They don’t deserve to suffer the fate of a sky burning in orange. They don’t deserve to live in fear against the outside world. Kato’s not moral. He was a goddamn mercenary for god’s sake. And yet he understood very well that there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

His issues aren’t going to be solved. He knows that the fear is still burning his insides. Churning his mind, body, and soul into this fear of what may happen. Nonetheless, he could at least agree that this can’t happen. This mustn't pass even if it means he’d have to stop her from trying again.

He has a feeling that the moment she’ll try again. Is the day the Deadman will take his body and do it.

“I guess you’re on the side of stopping Lady Silva from making this mess.”

“I am. I get where she’s coming from, but sometimes you have to let go. You can’t ask too much from the world unless you want to pay a greater price.”

Strato leaned back. “You are in a tough place, Lores. Perhaps I’ve been blessed as well to have you as an ally. If your words are true, then it means something big will happen in the near future and we have to stop that. We’ll try to stop her while you do what this creature demands you to do.”

Kato nodded. Strato sighed and then looked as if he just recalled something.

“That reminded me. I think some folks want to take the bartender and mindwipe her.”

Kato’s face went deadly cold. “Why?”

“She might have taken a peek at the grimoires and spells you have in your apartment. We have them taken away, but it’s possible she might have gotten a glimpse of the world and the pact demands she must forget what she sees.”

Kato leaned forward, his voice laced with the coldest fury. “Tell them to these guys. She’s under my protection. I don’t care if it’s about the Pact or not. But the moment they even fucking pull a strand of her hair or try anything against her that will harm her mentally or physically.”

Kato paused.

If will is power then the will leaking out of Kato was like a tidal wave. A will that was mixed with fury.

“I will make them not fear the devil, but me. She is my benefactor, a good friend of mine. I don't care if the Nonmagi Pact demands erasure of her knowledge, but if they try. Tell them that I’d kill them all. I’ll tear them apart. I’ll slaughter them and leave them as food for pigs. Can you pass that message to them?”

“I will.”

“You know what I can do. You know how strong I’ve become. I might have been broken, but it doesn’t mean I’d let you touch people I give a shit about.”

“I somewhat know you’d say that. I’d give them a warning. I promise you that not a single strand of her hair’s going to be hurt. Besides, I think Val likes the kiddo. Hard not to like the kid, when we have you seething right now.”

“I owe her and it’s hard to find a good friend in this fucking city.”

“I get you. To think Saint Lucius was once a proud city with such quite a European ambience. And now it’s like a place surrounded by tombstones of steel and concrete.”

Strato closed his eyes for a moment. “I guess you’re going to do something about that gate.”

“I am. I think I’m best fit in disrupting her experiments. If she wins, it’s good either. In the end, I just can’t risk it on something so… vague.”

Kato put on the mask again. “So, I’d appreciate it if you could give me some tools to help me.”

Strato tilted his head to the side and sighed. His artificial eyes refocusing on the mercenary in front of him.

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