Chapter 116: Chapter 112

Integrating the new supernatural phenomenons into the Nexus’ everyday operation was trickier than expected. For one thing, robots couldn’t be used for practically any of the rites and wards, so I had to go through a vetting process to recruit and train the Nexus’ very own sanctioned occultists. To ease that burden a bit, I got some eager volunteers transferred from 1st Company to take up some slots and build a loyal foundation.

 

After that, putting what rituals and spells that can and cannot be used into law was another headache. Obviously, outright malicious ones like general hexes, invoking plagues and outright murdering in various ways were banned. Due to the way things worked, divination was banned as well, and its flaws as being utterly unreliable were fully and publicly derided. 

 

Then there were things like altering luck, creating materials, and conversing with the dead, which would be highly regulated. Body alterations, organic and inorganic enhancements, and minor parlor tricks were a lot more loosely watched. Our eldritch detectors worked in picking such readings out, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue enforcing the regulations.

 

For better or for worse, there was no teleportation ritual, or summoning gates that opened into new dimensions. This world would remain as the only existence we knew of for now, but just in case the eyebots would keep an eye out for any surprises.

 

Now, though the laws were set, we weren’t exactly expecting everyone to pick up witchcraft and magic. In fact, from the effort required, we actually needed to train up warlocks and witches rather than worry about occult groups springing up like mushrooms. Turns out, it actually took a lot of coincidences for anyone to accidentally rot the crops or curse someone with nightmares, even for the most naturally gifted people.

 

So, our universities began establishing an extensive curriculum for the occult, and a decent amount of focus put into its research. Of course, applicants were vetted in truth chambers for their intentions and mental stability. Learning the new subjects to talk to your dead parents was fine by me, but if they’re taking the lessons to figure out how to create a love spell or curse their crush who had rejected them? 

 

Denied, and congratulations on the compulsory therapy sessions!

 

No upper limit was set, though the extensive lessons involved in every subject was enough to cull the students down to just over forty potential mages after the first month, down from the initial five hundred or so eager applicants.

 

Who knew that the subtleties of blood types, or the calculations required to maximize the geometry for ritual patterns could be so dry and tedious? 

 

Still, forty plus occultists was a good start. Supposedly, some of the initial rejects and dropouts were making another attempt after reevaluating the reality of the supernatural. I wish them the best of luck. 

 

If I could help it, the Nexus will be ready for the next SCP-grade bullshit that pops up. But for now, baby steps are required, or we might accidentally wake things up.

 

Another issue to deal with was the need for guinea pigs. Human fodder in Blacksite Tleilax was dwindling down to dangerous levels, while super mutants and ghouls made for lousy experiment subjects due to the heavy FEV levels messing up a lot of baseline parameters. So I sent the Companies out to raid for raiders. They had to range out to the ruined states of New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, and boy were there a lot of scum out in the wasteland.

 

Just four trips from each Company and Tleilax was full again with highly expendable humans. The maps were also updated after the sorties to note future sites worth ‘harvesting’. Eva estimates that at a reasonable pace of expenditure, we probably had enough raiders around us to harvest for a couple more years, taking into account the Nexus’ expansion, of course.

 

And expanding we still were. The states of Connecticut and Rhode Island joined Massachusetts in being virtually fully conquered. We were on a short break to let our logistics network reach our frontier regions, and allow the new citizens some time to assimilate into Nexus life. Then the push southwest would resume, and by maybe three months time I would see the Capital Wasteland claimed under my Nexus Severalty.

 

Hm. Maybe I’ll change the name after we bag a few more states. 

 

Nexus Empire sounds weird.

 

United Nexus…nah. Nexus…Nexus…

 

Ah fuck it, a problem for another time.

 

For now, the eyebots had already recorded a few minor supernatural emissions, and it was time to put the Tiberium weapons to the test.

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*****

 

The new tech had a barely noticeable effect for everyone, but like pretty much everyone participating in the Nexus military, Sarah Lyons was sure that the upgrades would eventually serve Sev’s army well. While he was prone to building superweapons (the Warlords and Kirov come to mind), the man didn’t build stuff that didn’t do anything.

 

Considering how it took the Faceless flesh-changing to spur the breakthrough of the crystal rifles, Sarah guessed that the new stuff wouldn’t see their full potential until another otherworldly outbreak occurred. And with any luck, today’s trips wouldn’t see that outbreak.

 

Sarah much preferred getting stuffed with Sev’s cock than spending time on deployments.

 

But Sev had ordered, and so Lyons obeyed. Along with eight lottery winners from 1st Company, the ten of them disembarked from the Quetzal into a newly constructed and populated residential zone. The civvies were mildly apprehensive at the personal appearance of the Nexus’ ruler along with his heavy armed guards, but they nonetheless greeted Sev with nods and waves and wary smiles.

 

Sev replied distractedly, no doubt following Cabal’s instructions for locating the source of the exotic energy readings. A polite knock on the door, and a worried couple welcomed them into their new home, where Sev then took out a device that blipped noisily as he swept it across the house’ interior.

 

Edward (because of course he was here) and the other troopers kept their new toys at ease and pointed downwards, though the hexagon-barrelled gauss weapons hummed softly from their fully activated modes.

 

“Have either of you felt anything weird recently?” Sev inquired the couple as he slowly walked into a hallway. He gave a thoughtful noise at their worried head-shaking and negatives, and then gave a frown at a room where the handheld scanner faced and blipped furiously. “Someone keep the homeowners at a safe distance please, then the rest of you, get ready.”

 

Sarah took up Sev’s left, ready to cover him as soon as he got the door open. Edward and the others took up their positions as well, almost buzzing with apprehension as they readied themselves to face the supernatural. Sev 

 

The door opened silently, and Sarah slipped into the room right behind her beloved master. It turned out to be a small barren room, meant as a closet or storeroom. Except in here, there was only a small wooden table (Sarah felt that she might know the artisans who made it) set against the wall taking up any sort of space. On it were neatly-arranged bowls with half-burnt candles in them, all arrayed before pictures stuck to the walls.

 

Pictures of Sev, in various official photo-ops.

 

Sarah took a closer look as Sev stood staring blankly at the table, and she found trinkets piled up between the pictures and the candle bowls. Pristine paper notes, maybe no more than ten Nexus Credits’ worth. An empty bowl and a presumably empty canteen, the same kinds given to immigrants in the processing center. A bundle of…clothes? Oh, they were from the generic migrant welcoming package.

 

Sarah blinked as the pieces of the scene fell together in her head.

 

“A shrine? It’s a shrine to you, Sev.”

 

“Fuck.”

 

The troopers shuffled in behind her and had a look, and all of them agreed with Sarah’s assessment and amusement. She couldn’t help it, she had to say it. “So, you really are an eldritch monster, Sev?”

 

“And that’s two weeks of chastity from you, Lyons.”

 

Fuck.

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