Chapter 213: Chapter 211 ~ Who I Want To Be

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“So, we just keep the mana cycling throughout our bodies?” Gemma asks, Patrick having a similar conversation with Berty at my side. “It’ll make us stronger and healthier?”

“It will.” I say confidently. “It’s why everyone in the wider universe is so much more powerful.”

“Well, I suppose I’ll get used to it.” She says smiling up at me. “You have made room in your schedule for a conversation?”

“So that you can fix this genocidal maniac?” I ask, shrugging. “Sure. There’s time when we leave Earth.”

“There’s no fixing people in our profession. You’re not broken, no one is.” She replies, patting at my arm. “You need to ask yourself who you want to be, and all I can do, is give you some advice to help you get there.”

“What if someone wants to be a more efficient maniac?” I ask. “Clearing away their doubts and trauma’s so that they can focus on their ultimate goal of killing more people.”

“Then I’d be running the other direction as fast as these old legs can take me.” She says, chuckling softly. “I can give you some advice to help you change yourself, but I will never be so ignorant as to try and change you myself. I believe that you’re a better person than you want to think.”

She’s much easier to talk to than I thought she’d be, but I’d honestly just prefer to spend that time with my lovers instead. I’ll just talk to her a few times and let her know that I’m fine, that I’m in control, and I’ll get back to my normal life.

We talk a little more, focusing on this and that before they leave, preparing to leave their earthly lives behind. Today our employees had a few more questions about Skills and magic, but I’m not confident that any of them are at the point where I could consider teaching any of them practical magic. I have kept Matt, our head scientist, behind to have a small conversation now that the rest have left.

“So, you want to give animals from Earth proper sentience?” he asks me, staring at the ground as he whispers to himself. “Do you know the ethical consequences if you succeed.”

“All too well.” I reply. “And I’m fairly certain that it will either succeed, or they’ll all die.”

“Ah… yes. I’ll gather what I can, fertilized eggs, smaller insects, kittens, puppies, a few other things that should be able to come with us.” He says, and I leave him to it, walking out the door and checking on the senses of those who have already left.

My paranoia is returning, or really, it never actually left. I just know that something is going to go wrong. I watch carefully turning some mana around in my guts, spinning it about almost into a spell, but not quite.

I’m not smart enough to know how to handle politics and spy work. I don’t know what I can do to save us any trouble or prevent anyone from messing with us. All I can do is show any potential enemies what I can do to make them suffer.

If a hammer is all that I have, then what can I do but ruthlessly smash my way through all my problems.

“We’ll be heading home soon.” Vii says, looking up at me. “Is there anything you want to do before we leave?”

“Nothing comes to mind.” I say, looking up into the blue sky. Far beyond what I can see are countless stars, shining with warmth and life. “I might come back with a fleet of my own when I finally get one built. If there is any life out there in the rest of the galaxy, and the universe beyond, it’d be interesting to find it. Might be nice to recruit a few aliens from out there in this mana-less expanse.”

“That might be fun.” Vii says, nodding her head. “It’d be interesting to see what the worlds are like here where there’s so little mana, everything is different to what I’m used to.”

“A nice fun adventure, without all the blood and war.” I say, smiling up at the vast skies above.

Closing my eyes, I see the world through Patrick’s gaze as a large man approaches him and his wife.

“You should come with us.” The man insists grabbing Patrick by the arm as other people come along to take care of Gemma. They don’t fight, but it’s clear as the man pulls them into a van what this is about.

“Vii, we need to go recover some of our people.” I say, checking on all the rest of my personnel. Thankfully, all my tags are still working, and I can confirm that none of them are encountering the same issue.

“Yep.” She says, taking off her cloak. “How are we doing this?”

“It doesn’t look like they’re hurting them right now.” I say, “Let’s follow and get them when they stop. I’ll talk to Berty about finding those responsible, maybe his friend can help us find their boss.”

“You’re going to kill them and their families?” Vii asks, sounding hesitant at the idea.

“I… they’ll die.” I say, “I’ll make sure that the world knows the consequences of messing with me.”

“Okay.” Vii says, nodding her head, though she seems a little sad as she meets my eyes.

Patrick and Gemma have black bags thrown over their heads, but thankfully they aren’t knocked out, or injected with anything. I’m sure they’re being checked for mundane forms of trackers and microphones.

“Berty!” I call to my older brother. “There’s been an incident.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Vii glides us through the air above the dark city. The van was driving in circles, occasionally swapping out with other vehicles and teams, never staying still for long enough that we can catch them without some unreasonable risk. Killing the drivers while their moving could easily leave my therapists dead in the crash that comes after.

It’s only as night falls that they finally stop at a quiet corner of the town, bringing their hostages into a warehouse, and if I’m to guess some other room inside it. With our Skills in effect it’s easy enough to find them no matter the efforts they take to hide.

Rather than any Hollywood style stealth operation, I’ve been advised by my brother and his friend, that simple intimidation is best. So, in other words I have to pretend that I’m the terminator; unfeeling, unfearing, and invincible.

Vii’s abilities are unknown to them, and I’d rather not bring her into this too much more than she already is. She’s still not a big fan of fights and violence. I’m sure Eshya would be eager to come along if she was here with us, even if there’s no real fight to be found here, but alas she’s in class right about now.

Walking down the dark road, the pavement cracks beneath me. If I’m going to be taking bullets, then I can’t take any risks. There’s no reason to hold back my power anymore.

Walking up to the side door of the warehouse, I knock loudly.

“Open up!” I shout, “I understand that you’ve taken something of mine.”

There’s only silence as a response. If I had any doubts about their presence here this would be a little embarrassing to do, but there’s nothing here that could interfere with my current Skills. I know just how many metres away from my target I currently am.

“Well, aren’t you rather rude.” I say, cracking open the door with a liberal use of annihilation on the hinges. It barely takes any mana at all. “If you surrender, this will all end nice and easily.”

Pushing through the door, I enter a dark room which, at first glance seems to just be an empty warehouse of some sort. Again, they’re pretty damn good at hiding, but we’re not on an even playing field today.

“Seriously? You’re still going to pretend that I can’t see you?” I ask, kicking at the ground where the marker is leading me. The hidden door crashes under the force of my kick. Even reinforced steel, delicate to my mana reinforced flesh.

“Stop right there!” The shout comes from the bottom of the stairs. A young man wearing dark clothes and pointing a submachine gun at me. He certainly fits the part of a secret agent.

I take my first step down towards him.

Really, it should be human nature to feel something in this situation. Guns are dangerous things, and that’s been reinforced in media over and again, but right now, I feel like he’s pointing a water gun at me. My usual delusion of invincibility is only supported by my general understanding of the situation.

The muzzle flashes, and the gun releases a loud barking sound, the silencer only doing so much to help.

The bullets hit my chest, but there’s not even enough force behind them to stir up any motion. The most damage it does is to my dignity, leaving behind holes in my clothes.

“How about you put that toy down, young man.” I say, stepping up to him as he continues to fire in controlled bursts. The bullets deflect off of me or just fall down flat after impact.

The man doesn’t retreat, courageous as he is stupid. I take the gun by the barrel and squeeze it in my fist. The metal and plastic cracks and splits, squeezing out of my fist like playdough in a toddler’s hands. The young man doesn’t give up, however, pulling a knife and stabbing at me.

“I don’t really care about these clothes, but I’m not fond of the idea of going naked, you know.” I say, catching his arm. “Now please, just settle down for a bit.”

I snap his arm, careful not to tear the whole thing off, then I crack his knees with a casual kick followed by another. When I drop him to the ground, he can’t catch himself in time and hits face first, cracking his jawbone.

I leave him to nurse his injuries and head further inside.

There’s only a small room down here that the man was protecting, and inside I finally get sight of my two employees, held hostage by a pair of black clothed agents. I still don’t know who they’re working for, but hopefully someone can figure that out for me.

Pistols are placed firmly on the older couples bagged heads, as the agents stare at me in confusion and terror. This situation really is unfair, they’re better trained, better equipped, and probably more skilled at all of this, but through simple acquisition of power, I can stomp all over them.

“Stop, or we’ll shoot them.” The first to speak, a young woman. Her voice is firm for all her uncertainty.

“You won’t.” I say firmly. “You see, I’m not great at hostage situations, but I am pretty good at getting revenge. Now if you let them go, and tell me where to find your boss, we can forget that this whole thing happened.”

“You know that’s not going to happen.” She says, the man beside her is talking into a radio of some sort, probably calling in backup, or at least reporting in. I could destroy it, but I don’t want to give away my spell casting just yet, and I don’t want them flinching and blasting out the brains of my therapists before my first session even starts.

“Well then, the alternative is that I eat your souls and then find your boss on my own time, but that’s a lot of bother.” I say. “Or I guess if I just go around killing each and every important leader around the world, I’ll get to your boss eventually. It’d probably be easier than hunting him down the proper way…”

I consider the idea for a few moments, and it doesn’t inspire as much hesitation as I thought it would. They’re mostly corrupt assholes anyway, so it’s not much of a loss if killed them all. The only problem would come from the social issues that come about afterwards, due to lack of leadership.

“Or maybe… I mean, Earth isn’t really all that great.” I say, extending the thought, as I meet the eyes of the two agents. The rage inside me, at having my people taken, is slowly dying away and in its place I feel an unsettling nothingness.

“I mean, a few billion people is a bit much to handle. I could evacuate just my family then throw this stupid rock into the sun.” I say, thinking. “Well, that might be difficult, but I reckon I could probably fuck up the crust of the planet. A few spells deep into the crust in the right places. It’d be easy for a few dormant super volcanoes to burst, but would that be enough?

“Maybe I could get a friend to haul over an asteroid or something. Actually, this is sounding kind of fun.” I say, leaning on the door frame.

“Hey, do you two have any ideas you want to add?” I ask the two agents. “I mean, I can take a hit from a nuke so that’s not really a problem. In fact, why don’t I just start a nuclear war.”

“Have you completely lost your mind?” The agent asks, glaring at me from behind her mask. “Are you even human anymore?”

“Don’t know, and I don’t really care either.” I reply with a shrug. “You didn’t give your opinion. How would you crack this particular nut open? I was thinking about splitting the world evenly in two, but would that even do anything?”

“It would likely do something.” Patrick mumbles under the black bag that covers his head. “If you’re talking about a thin split, then it’s possible that it wouldn’t cause very much trouble, I guess. Maybe you should talk with an expert before you try anything.”

“Oh, what’s your thought then?” I ask. “Maybe I could just pluck out a big-ass crater and expose the mantle. That should cause some trouble.”

“Why is your solution to our kidnapping, the total destruction of the planet?” Gemma asks, shaking her head even under the bag. “Don’t you think there’d be considerable innocent suffering because of your actions?”

“Sure, but I’d get my guy, wouldn’t I?” I ask. “I can’t think of any method more assured than this one. Crushing this whole fucking, stupid rock would guarantee that whoever the fuck is behind this, dies properly.”

“The collateral?” Patrick asks.

“I’ll try to find a better solution.” I say with a long sigh, “But I’m not lying about being tempted. There’s just something infuriating about letting an asshole like this get away.”

“Is that really so important?” Patrick asks. “Are our lives really that important compared to the whole of the Earth?”

“Yes, because you’re mine.” I answer, spitting the answer with a measure more venom than I intended.

“Now, it’s getting late, and I still want to go and get a nice dinner out. So, what’s your choice?” I ask the two agents. “Isn’t there someone in this world you want to live? Kids, siblings, lovers? Do you want me to go fetch them? I could tear them apart right here and now if that serves as better inspiration for you?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” The woman whispers, there’s a slight tremble in her gun hand but she steadies it quickly.

“You kidnapped my people.” I say simply. I understand that talking could help make this easier, than just killing them. I’m not sure my spells will be fast enough to stop their trigger fingers.

I could call in for support. Hell, I could call the police if I wanted to…

“Actually, that sounds like fun.” I say, pulling out the phone that my brother gave me to stay in contact with him. Unfortunately, the screen crushes a little in my hand, but at least I can manage to get it to make a call.

“Hello? The speaker still working on this thing?” I ask, “Yes, I have a hostage situation to report. It’s out in this warehouse. The address?”

“Are you fucking serious?” The woman shouts, trembling slightly. “You’re bulletproof and you’re calling the cops?”

“Well, would you rather I call the media?” I ask. “I’ve been told that I’m not very good at talking things out, and I mean there are police trained at this sort of thing.”

She’s breathing heavy, and her eyes are wide.

“You know what, don’t mind. I’ve got this.” I say, hanging up. This just isn’t as fun as I thought it might be. The sight of my people held like this is just too aggravating to be able to enjoy this stupid situation properly.

“So would you like to make a deal or not?” I ask, balling together a pair of spells, I have to regulate the power carefully so that they don’t cause too much damage.

“What sort of deal?”

“Well, I was hoping for you to give up your arms, and I can walk away with my therapists.” I say, relaxing casually as I let my magic built up. It’s interesting that a talent is still able to summon mana even here, but it’s still not as effective as in the other worlds I’ve been to.

“We’re not going to do that.” She says, just as the wounded man I left outside crawls into the room with his one working arm and a pistol in hand. I release my magic as everyone’s attention turns to him.

In the darkness of this small room, there’s not much to see of my small annihilation bolts. They float in the air and flow out into the weapons of the two agents holding my therapists. The magic works fast, the guns falling apart into scrap while their arms follow soon after.

My arms itch at the gruesome but familiar sight, but I can’t spare a moment on it. I stomp the man on the ground, finishing him off before he can get a shot off with his pistol, and I rush in with burst movement and grab Patrick and Gemma. Without hesitation I walk them out of the room and up into the street, throwing them into a waiting car to be taken back home.

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Berty gives me a small wave from the drivers seat before speeding off into the distance.

“What did you do to them?” Vii asks, fluttering down from above. “Are there any still alive? We have some interrogation Skills that might be able to pull memories out of their brains if we need them.”

“No, it could be dangerous since we haven’t practiced the Skills. I’ll leave this to the experts.” I say, “Let’s grab them before they cause more trouble.”

Heading down into the basement, I grab the woman, taking what’s left of her arm and tying it up to stop the bleeding.

“You said, ‘give up your arms’…” She whispers in a desperate husky voice, turning to meet my eyes. “It was a fucking pun, wasn’t it…?”

“Yep.” I reply picking her up and heading outside while she laughs in desperation. It’s a maddened sound, someone realizing that they never actually stood a chance. That there was nothing they could ever do to change the outcome.

Vii doesn’t show as much care with her ward, kicking the man out the door rather than carrying him.

“Are you really going to go after our families?” The woman asks, shivering in my arms, as she meets my eyes.

“I haven’t decided yet.” I reply. It’s… concerningly easy to imagine. The cold rage has given way to a dull apathy, but the thought still seems somehow satisfying, and really, humans aren’t all that different to gremlins, and I’ve killed plenty of them.

She doesn’t say anything more, it almost seems like she’s just… given up as she stares up into the sky.

Following her gaze, I see a bright light drawing closer. Borrowing Vii’s improved eyes I can see it much more clearly, a streaking light in the sky coming straight for us.

“A missile?” I ask, a little surprised.

With a shrug I throw together a spell, one more powerful than anything I’ve used since coming here. I gather a good thousand mana and focus it on the missile, concentrating it into a finer and finer web of annihilation before letting loose.

Without even snapping my fingers, I snuff out the light in the sky. Whatever scrap isn’t reduced to ash by my magic falls harmlessly down to the world below.

“Really, using things like that in a city like this. Madness.” I say, heading over to Vii and pulling out my smashed phone to call up Steven. Hopefully this guy can help us figure this mess out so that we can find the mastermind behind this before too much time is wasted.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

I will never say anything bad about Steven ever again. The maniac actually figured out who was behind all this in one night. Apparently, he was already looking into these guys before this incident so it isn’t as if he just pulled the answer from thin air, but it certainly feels like it.

I’d give him a raise if I was paying him.

“So, here we are.” I say, sitting across from the old man responsible. He actually has a house worthy of being called a mansion, and for the first time I feel like I’ve slipped into a proper spy thriller.

The man doesn’t reply, glaring at me from his end of the table. True to my promise I have the camera set up to face him, and the video is going across live through social media. I know I’m breaking the terms of service by murdering him on stream, but I mean, that’s the least of the ethical issues involved in this.

“So, anything to say for yourself?” I ask. “You ordered a missile strike on your own country. That’s a pretty impressive thing, I mean, you were also kidnapping people and getting up to all sorts of other illegal and immoral stuff no doubt.”

He still doesn’t say anything.

Behind him, his wife stands as if frozen, two young children stand with her but she holds them close covering their faces. It’s a little surprising, and maybe something I should bring up with the therapists I saved, but they look just like apes would. I can well imagine some of the more intelligent chimps holding their kids just like this, after having thrown their shit at an angry lion. It’s all just natures wrath in the end.

Is this really what I wanted?

“Nothing to say?” I ask. “Well then, I guess I’ll explain for the audience. This man tried to kidnap two people that are under my protection, quite illegally at that. Then he ordered a missile strike to try and kill me when I tried to recover them, all in our own city no less. I dealt with that just fine, so you won’t see it on the morning news, but if you’re in the right area you might find some of the scraps from it”

“You’re fucking crazy.” The man says.

“No.” I say. “I’m powerful. You get that don’t you? You thought that you could get away with anything because you are powerful too. You just picked off more than you could chew this time, and I think you know as well as I do the natural conclusion.”

I let go of the magic stirring in my chest, watching as it eats into the man, destruction flows in spirals through his flesh, the ash not enough to hold him together. The meaty chunks fall as a slush to the ground, the wet sound of it enough to unsettle my stomach. It’s a rather awful sight. Traumatising, but I’ve already seen it plenty before.

I turn my gaze to the rest of the man’s family.

The woman is pale as she can get while her jaw works to find words that simply don’t appear. Her eyes are locked onto the remains of her husband.

“Please… no.” She croaks out eventually.

Looking down at her kids… I feel nothing. I really feel nothing.

“Work towards who you want to be…” I mutter, taking a slow measured breath. I turn to the mother, but I speak for the camera. “Please don’t do anything that would force me to come back here.”

I walk out the door where Vii is waiting to take me away and I don’t look back.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Stats and Skills

 

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 28,451 / 60,892 units

Current mana volume: 14,141 / 30,266 shards

 

Mana volume at crystallisation density (Max. mana volume):

Kyra: 30,266 shards

Kyra’s armour: 20,777 shards

Kyra’s throne: 1,109,298 shards

 

~Forms

Mana Canon

-Annihilation Heart (Adapted)

-Blood Fuel (20,000 mana shards)

-Bone Magic Storage (40,000 mana shards)

-Nail Shifters (50,000 mana shards)

 

Dancer

-Flash Nerves (8,000 mana shards)

-Quick Perception Mind (Adapted)

-Burst Reflex Muscles (35,000 mana shards)

-Layered space Muscles (80,000 mana shards)

 

Turtle

-Rebinding Tissue (Adapted)

-Catalyst Sweat Glands (140,000 mana shards)

-Repulsive Skin (80,000 mana shards)

-Prehensile hair (10,000 mana shards)

-Fatty Tissue Blood Storage (100,000 mana shards)

 

Investigator

-Wide eyes (5,000 mana shards)

-Wide ears (5,000 mana shards)

-Sharp nose (5,000 mana shards)

 

Misc.

-Clean bowels (Adapted)

 

 

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Stealth

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net

-Eyes of an Empire

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

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