Bab 1309: The Darkest Night (3/?)
Having existed for upwards of two-thousand years, most of the prominent Magus families had various means to preserve their legacy, even in the fact of imminent destruction. All they really had to do was protect their Magic Crest and any important heritage artifacts, an easy feat considering they could be fused together with the Ego of a person, making them virtually undetectable to even the most powerful Magi.
Had they considered for a moment that they would have lost, even the Barthomeloi family would have been able to avoid ultimate destruction at the hands of the Empire by passing on their Legacy to a suitable heir, one which would be groomed in absolute secrecy until the time of their inevitable rise to prominence. After all, a Magic Crest could contain thousands of years of knowledge and, in some extreme cases, fragments of the previous inheritor's will.
With so much information existing within their mind from a young age, even a newborn would be able to quickly establish themselves within society. They could simply pretend to be a prodigy or, if the situation makes such a status unviable, lay low in the shadows of society. Having the ability to literally brainwash and mind control people was a powerful tool among normal citizens so, while it was not the most glorious lifestyle, the relative peace of the world made it very easy to survive with just the most diminutive knowledge of Magecraft, much less thousands of years of said knowledge.
Unfortunately for the Nobles that had conspired against the Empire, Da Vinci's research of Magic Crests resulted in the development of a device that allows them to be detected with relative ease. Thus, with Scáthach being able to track people using Strings of Fate, courtesy of Vahn and Alaya, it was only a matter of time until their Legacy was exposed, secured, and potentially even destroyed. The only way to circumvent this outcome was to have no fate whatsoever which, generally speaking, meant you were already dead.
Using the knowledge provided to her by her [Wisdom of the Haunted Ground], Alaya's Strings of Fate, and the data provided by Sherlock, it only took a few minutes for Scáthach to track down the secret underground shelter where Alexander and Allard were hiding. They were holed up more than 500m beneath the surface of the earth on a small volcanic island in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
If Vahn hadn't tasked her with bringing them back to be judged, Scáthach would have sunk the entire island, burying the brothers and their servants alike. Now, she had to use a more roundabout method as, despite the depravity of the two brothers, not everyone in the shelter would be labeled as evil in the eyes of Vahn. This was one of the things that often troubled her as, while it may not be the most humane course of action, Scáthach knew it was better to purge those related to vile and wicked people to avoid future troubles. Her knowledge of the future used to allow her to determine what kind of people such individuals would grow up to be but, ever since Vahn entered the world, it became a lot harder to peer into the fates of others.
Releasing a rare sigh, Scáthach muttered, "That man has affected me too much..." before returning to her cold and detached persona. Then, despite the powerful Bounded Field and complex barriers that even prevented satellites from viewing the island, Scáthach tore through the void itself to invade the compound directly. This caused a high-pitched alarm to sound out but, despite their best efforts, the inhabitants of the underground facility quickly discovered there was no way to escape the infamous Executor of the Emperor's Will.
Prior to entering the Bounded Field, Scáthach alerted Vahn to its location while creating a massive barrier that surrounded the already existing one. This completely sealed off the surrounding space so, unless they had the Spiritron Transporter Da Vinci was working on, there was little hope they could escape. They would need to have mastery over space comparable to Zelretch as, with her EX-Rank [Primordial Rune]s, there was very little her opponents could do to circumvent them.
With Strings of Fate and one of the most powerful forms of Clairvoyance in the world, Scáthach made short work of nearly every combatant within the underground shelter. Most didn't even know what had happened before darkness claimed their vision as, even without the ability to freely move through space, Scáthach's speed alone wasn't something that most people could grasp. She could move several thousand kilometers per hour without even disturbing the surrounding wind or making a single sound so the Magi within could only fire blindly in the hopes of landing a lucky hit on what many believed to be an invisible enemy.
The only people to truly grasp her movements were Alexander and Allard but, within the limited confines of the underground bunker, there wasn't much they could do. Scáthach had A-Rank [Magic Resistance], A-Rank [Curse Nullification], and B-Rank [Magic Reflection] active by default whenever she was fighting against a Magi so, unless they intended to bury themselves, the brothers had very limited options as far as spells were concerned. It didn't help that they had expected to be hunted down so, rather than keep their legacy items all in one location, they had already spread them all over the world, hiding them away until their heir could claim them in the distant future.
This knowledge made the men bolder than they otherwise would have been so, after Scáthach used her spear to pin Allard to a wall, Alexander used the 'opportunity' to reverse the flow of his mana, feeding it into a gemstone embedded into his heart. He was prepared to take the entire island out with him but, before the spell could fully activate, Scáthach appeared right in front of him, her hand piercing his chest to pull out the still-beating heart within.
While this wouldn't have made much of a difference under normal circumstances, Scáthach had considerable mastery over Space and Time Laws which, combined with her connection to the Land of Shadows, meant such tactics were ultimately pointless. She simply tossed Alexander's heart into a void where time itself didn't exist, sealing it in forevermore at the moment prior to its exploding. In the same motion, she jammed an [Effigy of the Hero] into Alexander's chest, coldly stating, "A gift to celebrate our meeting..."
A powerful enough Magus could easily survive decapitation or having their heart pierced, at least for a short period of time, so Alexander hadn't immediately died from the intense shock. Rather, he was so determined to see Scáthach's end that he resisted blacking out, only to feel at a complete loss as the woman easily undermined his efforts. Then, just as darkness began to encroach upon him, a fire began to burn in his chest as he was forcibly healed while the [Effigy of the Hero], graciously gifted to him by Scáthach, was still inside his body.
Scáthach made sure the burning idol wouldn't kill Alexander while restraining his movement using reddish-black chains that functioned similarly to [Enkidu]. Like this, she managed to capture both brothers before pulling out a communication device that looked like a palm-sized rainbow quartz. This was the physical form of Spiritrons and, while it couldn't do much alone, Scáthach was able to use it as an anchor to communicate with Avalon, even while inside an isolated Bounded Field.
After a momentary delay, a projection appeared from within the Spiritron Crystal. It took on the form of the Ark System's Avatar, a small blue figure constructed of light that vaguely resembled a human.
Without waiting for its inquiry, Scáthach explained, "Send an extraction and cleanup team to these coordinates. There are twenty-three people requiring extraction and fifty-nine casualties."
As this wasn't 'his' first time interacting with Scáthach, Ark gave a polite bow before quickly setting to the task he had been assigned. Then, moments later, a massive gateway was opened within the room as a black metallic box, covered in glimmering golden runes, was transferred from Da Vinci's Fourth Laboratory, a factory set up in coordination with the Atlas Temple. There, weapons systems and golems were researched as, since its founding, the Alchemists of the Atlas Temple had been more focused on the production of Artificial Humans and weapons than anything else.
When the black box had fully emerged, the gate behind it collapsed in on itself rather violently as a result of the still-developing tech. This was the main reason behind the massive metallic box as, if it were a normal person, being transferred through Imaginary Number Space using Spiritron Tunneling would rip them apart. You would have to be a Tier 5 entity to have any hopes of surviving since you weren't actually moving through space, but a void of non-existence where the Laws that allowed for the actuality of matter simply didn't exist.
This was her first time seeing the prototype in action so Scáthach couldn't help but watch on, her interest piqued, albeit only slightly. Her Caster self had helped conceptualize the prototype so, while minuscule, a small feeling of pride filled Scáthach's chest as the box opened to reveal its contents. It was packed to the brim with a procession of ten Companions, each having a jackal template, and the Artificial Humans that had been assigned to them. This was one of the Cleaning Teams that had been put together, their sole purpose being the actualization of Vahn's will when he was unable to carry it out personally.
At the center of the group, a youth with white hair and red eyes stepped forward and gave a small salute as he said, "Captain Vali Argo reporting with Unit Alpha-001. Please advise, Lady Scáthach."
With a curt nod, Scáthach created a three-dimensional layout of the compound using her mana while explaining the team's task. They needed to cremate the corpses of the deceased, treat the wounded, and transport those that had been marked as 'innocent' to the mainland once the rest of the team arrived. This advanced group was primarily responsible for securing the facility and making sure nobody escaped, a task Scáthach couldn't be bothered with as she had other places to be and very little time.
Their mission assigned, the team led by Captain Argo quickly set out to secure the facility as their Companions analyzed every nook and cranny to make sure there were no hidden dangers. At the same time, Scáthach teleported away with Alexander and Allard after removing the spatial lock she had placed around the island. In the future, the underground facility would be converted into one of the Empire's many outposts as Da Vinci's micrograms would quickly modify and expand the interior to make it suitable for research on geothermal energy and artificial leylines.
That, however, was none of Scáthach's concern so, after depositing Alexander within a secure facility, she flew around with the restrained Allard, using his own Strings of Fate to find the location of their heir and other affiliates. The brutish man who had ruined the lives of thousands of people couldn't do anything about the situation at all. Even death was denied him as the chains restraining his body made it impossible to muster up any of his magical power while the mask Scáthach had forced on him robbed all of his senses while preventing him from biting his tongue.
Allard had enjoyed playing with and tormenting others his entire life but now, after a single botched assassination attempt, his life had become a waking nightmare with no hope of escape. All he could do was curse Vahn, his family, the Empire, and the demonic woman that had captured him.
Unfortunately, despite Allard's best efforts, all of his curses came out as nothing more than muffled grunts and whining as Scáthach dragged him through the air at hypersonic speeds, his cries only reaching the root cause of all his suffering, himself...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'When Shishou's on the prowl, you're already fucked','Leave it to Da Vinci to find a way to transfer matter through a plane where it can't exist xD...','RIP pig-boi, squeal all you like')
(A/N: Two-Part chapter coming this afternoon.)
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Bab 1310: Diatribe : Vision
With their penultimate scheme failing, the corrupt Nobles within the Mage's Association began a very rapid dispersion of forces. At this point, they realized contending directly against the Empire was a death wish so, while they couldn't confront Vahn openly, they could still bide time and take by hiding amongst the very same commoners they had always looked down on.
While this mass exodus was occurring behind the scenes, the various Lords and family Heads had gathered together their forces within their Manors, some willing to face the consequences of their actions while others intended to go out fighting. Those in the latter category believed that, if they could at least deal a small blow to the Empire, those that remained would be able to band together to usurp the 'tyrannical' Emperor that was systematically seizing power.
When it came to dealing with these families, Vahn sent the trio of Kenshin, Jeanne, and Okita to deal with the weaker families. Kenshin had her forces surround the estates while she and Okita ventured inside to issue Vahn's ultimatum, 'accept responsibility or be forced to'. Those that surrendered and were willing to be judged would ultimately receive lighter sentences while those who resisted until the bitter end would have their legacy seized and sealed away to prevent the Demons sealed within the oldest Magic Crests from escaping.
Jeanne's purpose in the group was to serve as a guardian protector for the Homunculi while, at the same time, using her [Pure Eyes] to determine whether or not the target was 'evil'. Those that had committed heinous deeds throughout their life would be given no quarter as, in the end, only one member of each family needed to represent them before the Tribunal consisting of Vahn, Scáthach, and Paracelsus. The ultimate decision would always fall to Vahn while Scáthach and Paracelsus were there to provide 'truth' and 'compassion' respectively...
While Kenshin, Okita, and Jeanne were executing his will, Vahn was back within the Hanging Gardens except, now, he had Solon, Zelretch, Merlin and, of all people, Aoko Aozaki present. The latter had seen the news feed on television so, believing something serious had happened, she rushed over to provide assistance. It was fortunate that Merlin had intercepted her as Aoko had intended to invade the Hanging Gardens forcibly prior to understanding the situation.
Now, Vahn was seated around a circular table with two True Mages, the inheritor of Yggdrasil, and one of the most powerful and infamous Wizards in history. Despite this assortment of living legends, the one with the greatest presence in the room was still Vahn as, while they would normally be kept secret, Alaya, ORT, and Tiamat were all currently manifested in some form around him.
Alaya had her usual form, appearing as a diminutive Companion with blue skin, dark blue hair, violet eyes, cat-like ears, and a tail. As for ORT, it took on the form of a tarantula-sized spider while Tiamat, bound to her current form, looked like a tiny doll as she floated silently behind Vahn's right shoulder.
A stark contrast to her usual vibrant and confident self, Aoko currently had a complicated expression on her face as she just learned about the current situation. She empathized with Vahn's plight, as any decent parent would be incensed if their children were in danger, but she still felt that he was going too far, too quickly. The world was not ready to know about the existence of Magic and, if he made it public knowledge, absolute chaos would become the norm.
Before she was able to spew platitudes to try and convince him of a different course, however, Vahn had preempted her attempt, stating in a firm tone, "I am well aware of the consequences my actions have on the world, Aoko. Measures have already been taken to protect as many people as possible. Also, if not for the complacency and corruption of those in power, my hand would not be forced like this. You can't expect me to sit idle as people continually conspire to break my bottom line, all while the planet continues to suffer at the hands of ignorant and wasteful humans. Tiamat's emergence is the final straw in the matter and, for the survival of all species, not just humans, the Empire will seize control of the entire world."
Normally, Aoko would refute such claims on principle alone but, with the presence of Alaya, Tiamat, and ORT, even she was cowed. Vahn's words also contributed to her loss for words as, while extreme, there was an inherent truth and an undeniable logic behind them. The current world wasn't the most pleasant place to live as, if you weren't born into power, you were fated to struggle within a system that, by design, prevented any kind of success without acquiescence to a higher power. She had also seen how wasteful and destructive humanity could be so, while a large part of her wanted to argue against Vahn's words, Aoko ultimately remained silent.
With even the hot-blooded red-head given pause, Zelretch and Solon didn't have much room to make any counterarguments of their own. They both understood Vahn's reasoning and, at least in Solon's case, the latter didn't particularly mind a world with a greater influx of mana and a system that promoted the advancement of all species. This wasn't something they would openly admit but, after 'giving up' on trying to resist the Empire, they had a lot of time to think about the future Vahn sought...
Seeing that trio remain silent, Vahn gave a small nod before relaxing back into his chair, eyes closed as he began explaining his wish and how the Empire would function in the future. Ultimately, ruling over humanity wasn't even in his top ten list of priorities so it didn't matter if, in the interim, existing governments kept some semblance of power.
When everything was said and done, the Empire would have centralized strongholds on all seven continents, each governed by a capable Heroic Spirit that had been summoned through the Throne of Heroes. They would serve as the executors of his will within their respective regions and, while it would take a considerable amount of time to lay the foundation for future infrastructure, such was always the case.
In the future, humanity would not be the so-called masters of the planet as, rather than be at the top of the food chain, they weren't even in the middle. Their only advantages were their intelligence and their willingness to go to any extreme to seize what was never theirs, by right, to claim. This type of behavior would spell, not just their end, but the end of all life on the planet, the planet itself, and any world that was unfortunate to be claimed in their pursuit of immortality as a species.
Vahn had history books from various timelines and, while there were periods of peace and moments of species-wide reflection, nearly every tale of humanity ended the same way. They would spread out like locusts throughout the galaxy, harvesting planets of their resources while engaging in an endless cycle of war. Then, as their Civilization continued to spread, the systems designed to keep them from spreading throughout the entire Universe would step in, annihilating entire worlds to purge the last remnants of humanity from the galaxy.
In order to avoid this outcome, Vahn would change, not just humanity, but every species of Gaia at their very foundation. He would change the perception humans had of other races and, rather than take over planets and continue feeding a self-destructive cycle, he would negotiate with the planets themselves to create environments suitable for life. They were living creatures so they deserved to be treated with due respect. If humanity couldn't sustain itself without the endless slaughter of other sapient species, then they were the problem, not the crises they created for themselves.
Famine, disease, water shortages, energy requirements, global warming, pollution, and war, were all constructs created by humans as part of a grand scheme to elevate a few individuals at the expense of everyone else. They were a few egotistical humans vain attempts to play the part of gods among members of their own species as, from the very beginning, the only thing separating them from their kin were the conditions they were born into.
Had those in power sought to elevate their entire species, not just themselves, all of the crises that had plagued humanity for millennia would have been dealt with early on. The existence of mana and the knowledge of how to use it made the production of food relatively simple. Clean water was so easily obtained that, merely using the proper sequences of runes, you could enchant virtually any container to produce a functionally infinite supply of the 'precious' resource. As for disease, even the current governments had cures for nearly everything but, for the sake of profit, they pretended the research was ongoing while silencing those like Paracelsus who wanted to treat everyone, not just those who could pay exorbitant fees.
In the end, humanity was the root cause for all their problems and, now that Vahn was aware of the greater truths of the world, he would not allow their ignorance to serve as an excuse. Now, humanity as a whole would be held accountable for their own existence and, if they could not survive without harming themselves and other species, they could only resist until the bitter end as, with the Surface and Reverse Side moving ever closer to a transition period, they were all but fated to die.
---
After hearing Vahn's long diatribe about humanity, Zelretch and Aoko were both a little taken aback but, considering his wish, they knew he wasn't as heartless as his words made him sound. Rather, the biggest weakness of Vahn seemed to be that he cared too much about things, especially if they were an exploited party. What humanity had done to Gaia was a sin all humans had inherited since a time long before recorded history. Until they began making proactive changes to protect the planet and improve their civilization for the better, even a newborn infant carried the sins of the past due to the rampant fundamentalism that restrained their path and kept them obedient to the system.
In Vahn's vision of the future, wealth was based entirely on merit and everyone, regardless of where they were born, had the same opportunities for success. So long as you worked hard, becoming the Captain of an interstellar ship was a feat anyone could achieve. The only limiting factor was the effort people wanted to put into their future as, without inherited wealth, status, and authority, rising to the top without being qualified for the position was impossible.
The biggest selling point of Vahn's argument was the fact that the Empire would not directly rule over the people. Vahn fundamentally believed that people were incapable of ruling over others so, in order to avoid becoming the very thing he hated, creating the closest thing to an objective system of government was necessary. This was where the trinity of Da Vinci's systems came into play as, with Ark, Mother, and Shadow working in conjunction with each other, they could observe, analyze, and regulate all of humanity simultaneously.
Some people would argue that this was an invasion of their privacy but, when broken down at its most basic level, the very concept of privacy was something that had never really existed. It was a notion derived from an instinctual desire to protect secrets and prevent people that coveted what you had from taking advantage of you.
Realizing this, those that sought to elevate themselves above others did everything they could to convince 'laymen' that the illusion of privacy was a real thing. They did everything in their power to monitor the people through one form of another. Now, in the modern era, only those born with an extreme amount of wealth and power had any real privacy as, with innovations in telecommunication technology, satellites, the internet, and a comprehensive network of hidden surveillance cameras, it was virtually impossible to avoid detection. It didn't matter if you were a hermit living in the woods or a homeless person living under a bridge as, by the mere act of living, you were under constant surveillance, be it your parent government or Alaya herself.
Ultimately, Vahn's vision of the future was simply more transparent as, no matter who was in charge, those in power kept tabs on those they were charged to rule over. If they didn't know what was going on with their people, they wouldn't exactly be capable leaders. Thus, Vahn would introduce an objective system, preventing most crimes from occurring and promoting a social structure with no upper limits to a person's growth. It would even be possible to become immortal, obtain godhood, or, if such pursuits were not to your liking, you could exist within a virtual world as an avatar in any fictional world you found interesting. There were no limits, so long as your aspiration wasn't to be the world's greatest serial murderer or terrorist...
(A/N: I managed to write this one without much of a cliff so I'm releasing it early. Also, I know some people don't like hearing these negative sentiments mentioned so much so rest easy knowing that it won't be long before the story shifts to an entirely new focus. I trust that, if you read until this point, you know that Vahn has a preference for non-human/exotic species as, despite having overcome his past trauma, humans were still the ones who contributed to his own suffering. Just remember how he treated the Dwarves and Elves, however, and you'll notice he isn't specifically targetting humans. Rather, he dislikes anyone that tries to exploit others all so that they can elevate themselves for one arbitrary reason or another.)
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