Chapter 5: Silverspoon Nobles Taste Terrible
Not wanting to attract more attention than I inevitably already will, I leap off Chiia, doing my best to brush away the leaves in my hair. She's already begun shrinking down to her chicken-sized form, leaping onto my shoulder without any reservations.
"Chiia… I'm never gonna get that shoulder back, am I?"
"Kuku~!"
She nuzzled her face against mine as we bantered, walking towards the distant caravan with nothing but the satchel on my back. To my surprise, there's several knights around the carriage, mounted on horses and wielding bardiches. A few of them have a higher radiation signature, but they're nothing compared to the church's people I ran from. Surprisingly, the strongest signature is coming from within the carriage, as if they're escorting an important person.
I give a friendly wave once we come into view, hoping to convey our harmless intentions. One of the accompanying knights notice us but continues along, so I'll take that to mean we aren't considered a threat, at least. I can't help but crack a smile as I wonder what their faces would be if the knew what Chiia and I really are.
At this moment, a mostly naked, unarmed, muscular man in a loincloth walks up to a knight, and…
No, this isn't the punchline to one of those joke things humans favor, but what I'm doing right this moment.
"Excuse me Sir, I was out hunting in the forest, but got attacked by bandits and left with nothing. Could you point me to the nearest town?"
After I finish, there's a chuckle coming from the curtained carriage, erupting into a full blown guffaw as a well-dressed teenage man pulls the curtain aside, looking over my "sorry state".
"Heh, you're just a hunter, you said? Surely you know your place better than to ask a noble for directions, or even look upon one at all?"
Well, this seems to be degenerating pretty quickly, but let's not say that I didn't give them the benefit of the doubt. Accessing the historical archive, I pull up noble etiquette and address, following it as best I can.
"I can only apologize, my lord, for not knowing my place. If one of your guards would be so kind as to point me in the right direction…"
"Oh, you want my guards to help you now? Haha! Guards! This hunter's lowly appearance dirtied my eyes, and he had the gall to interrupt my meditation. He apologized, so spare his life, but his sin can only be paid for in blood! Take both his legs! And commoner, feel honored that my noble, merciful self allowed you to live!"
… Right. Because a commoner hunter can totally have a chance at survival without his legs. Really, someone needs to teach these humans the definition of "merciful".
But it sure as hell won't be me.
He watches my face with interest as a guard brandishes a large bardiche, swinging towards my thighs. Evidently he's waiting for a face of panic or terror, like this is something he's seen time and time again, such that I'm only fit to amuse him for a minute or two in his noble day.
F.
That's how humans used to grade each other, right? Complete Failure. Contrary to his impression improving how I view humanity, it's made me even more disgusted by them. To torture and kill your own kind for a passing few minutes of amusement? That's no better than the worst primate.
A sigh escapes my lips as the bardiche severs my legs, and I let my torso fall to the ground, legs following moments later. The young noble snorts, disappointed by the lack of a reaction, but his carriage soon resumes its pace.
"Excuse me!"
When they're ten meters or so away, I call out, having pushed myself upward and speaking in a casual tone. They look back in surprise, and once I have their attention, I reach forward, grabbing my detached legs and pressing them against the stumps. There's the sound of shifting flesh and bone, and seconds later both legs are reattached as I stand.
"Now, I'm rather uninformed when it comes to human culture, but I've heard that chopping off another's limbs and leaving them to die is rather rude, no?"
"""..."""
There's no reply to that but their paling faces and a growing expression of terror.
"What… What the hell are you, devil?!?!"
I seem to be getting that a lot lately, huh? I suppose I have the church to blame for this.
"Anyway…" I continue as I walk forward to the stunned knight, "I'm not a noble like you, so please excuse the lack of 'mercy'".
With that, they hurriedly prepare to fight, but they weren't fast enough. I pounce forward towards the nearest knight, striking him with my palm, pushing him off the horse while I steal his bardiche. I meant to only push him to the ground, but his chest plate is collapsed inward, and he's on the ground gasping for air.
Strong!
I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised, seeing as I struck with the strength of a giant bear, but still… Humans really are weak compared to monsters and demons. On that note…
"Hey Chiia, feel free to eat your fill here, just save this knight and the noble kid for me."
With that, my shoulder finally gets lighter, and the comical flapping of a chicken-sized bird turns into the walls of wind produced by a three meter tall Cockatrice. Terrifying, if I do say so myself. I've never seen her fight before, but she seems to petrify her target before smashing it apart with her tail. After that, neatly shattered chunks of human flesh are flying everywhere, but that's not to say I'm idle, either.
With one target incapacitated, I charge the remaining three knights, weaving between them and neatly skewering the leftmost one's heart. For this grade of enemy, I don't even need the Core's combat assistance.
'Initiate partial transformation, werewolf, on right hand'
< Acknowledged. Initiating transformation. Est. Time: 736ms >
With a thought, dark, black hair sprouts from my right arm, and giant claws emerge from my fingers. The remaining knights let out a shout of surprise, seemingly recognizing something.
"C-Ch-Chimera Sect! You have no business in this domain, heathen! If you let us go, we won't tell the Chur- GAURghhhhh…"
"Sorry, but I'm not one to take chances."
Needless to say, I was still attacking while the knight went on his tirade, felling his companion with a slash to the throat. After confirming the Church was involved again, he, too, met the same fate. I wonder how Chiia is doing with the small fries…
"Kukuuu!"
As I turn around, it seems that Chiia is actually struggling against… the young nobleman? He's wielding a staff, pushing out a massive energy barrier that blocks Chiia's petrification. Occasionally, he hurls out fireballs, forcing her to dodge and scorching some of her wing feathers. She's gonna be mad about that, isn't she?
His legs are shaking, evidently new to combat, but he's quite powerful… If I can assimilate him…
He still seems to be unaware of me, so I ready a lethal attack, a single slash to his neck that keeps his body intact. Every muscle in my body tenses up, ready to unleash its animalistic power at a moments notice. Seconds pass, and… he's open! I pounce forward flying through his energy barrier and delivering the slash. Blood flies into the air, but moments later there's the sound of something shattering, the wound instantly closes and he let's out an enraged shout.
"Filthy abomination! You dare sneak attack me?!?! Burn in hell!"
His barrier flickers, becoming more solid. I have no doubt I'll be stopped if I try to charge in again. I spend a moment wondering what it was that saved his life before, but a torrent of fire forces me to retreat, leaving a few burns on my back.
< Barrier analyzed. Detected recurrent energy waves that momentarily superimpose to create matter. Release negative waveform to collapse target? >
Seems like the Scanning Core has been doing its job. I can't manipulate radiation like this humans seems to be able to, but if it's just a momentary surge…
"Chiia! I'll break the barrier, you start to petrify him, and I'll deliver the finisher! And if you petrify me on accident, no more Chimera food for a week!"
"Kweehhhhh~"
The last bit seems to really have hit home, but at least I know she's loyal.
I turn around and charge, dodging fireball after fireball as I close in on the mage. A torrent of fire erupts when I'm a few meters away, but I jump up and evade it, landing in a perfect arc on top of the barrier. My human form seems to melt, glowing a little as it sinks into the barrier. The mage is panicking now, aiming where I landed, but…
The sound of something shattering echoes through the plains, and the barrier collapses inward, injuring the mage. He's coughing up blood from the backlash, and slowly but surely his handsome face turns to stone.
"Alright Chiia, that's enough!"
Without a form, the blob of Chimeric cells at his feet begin to grow upward, covering him like moss on a tree. He slowly turns back to flesh, but by that time, he's fully encased. He struggles, of course, but grows weaker as the seconds pass, finally succumbing to suffocation.
Finally! A perfect, undamaged body of a human, and one with magic at that!
The moment he dies, my cells rush inward, assuming control of his organs and nervous system. Slowly but surely, the cells crawl through his brain, extracting his memories and passing them on to the cores. Within minutes, I know the full life of genius mage Derrin Carlton, 15 year old spoiled young master of the Carlton family. Apparently rather famous.
But all that is unimportant at this moment.
In his body, just beside the heart, there's something similar to my cores, carved with runic inscriptions and radiating energy. This must be how he controlled that magic!
I carefully extract the core into my own body, scanning it as best I can. According to the books I stole from the coventry, there should be multiple layers, one that gathers mana (radiation), another that stores it, and the outer one which channels the energy into a spell. Spells can be "inscribed" onto the outer layer, and there's quite a lot of room left. Nonetheless, having a core with actual spells should make him at least an apprentice mage… And now that power goes to me.
The core slowly integrates into my flesh, extracting energy from blood like any other organ. It seems as if gathering mana is influenced by metabolic activity, and if he could hold his own against Chiia as a human, I wonder what'll happen with a Chimera's metabolism…
< Foreign Core detected, following hidden protocol #56, begin foreign technology interface… >
Wait… my system recognizes it as a Core? How could this protocol be created before "magic" even existed??
I puzzle over these inconsistencies as I assimilate the rest of the guards and raid the carriage, but I just don't have enough information. Did my creator know what would follow nuclear war? But how could he have predicted this…
Regardless, power is power, and as it is now, this foreign world could be quite dangerous, with people wielding powers that defy everything in the Archives.
There's only one thing to do, and that's to adapt to the new world, to evolve or die out.
I stand in the center of the caravan, broken wood and corpses around me. I've taken human form again, and stashed all things of worth to the side. I clear my mind, and…
[Torrential Flame]
The world explodes into flame, hundreds of times larger than Derrin's spell, curling into a massive firestorm that immolates everything around me, but I feel every bit of energy in my body sucked into the core as my mind embraces the darkness of sleep.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone