Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 19 – The integrity of the human spirit

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

"Who... what are you?"

Sipher asked as he gazed into the vastness of the unfathomable boy’s deep green eyes. Eyes that were extremely reminiscent to that of his dear princess’ yet at the same not truly so; they were similar in only shape and color but for everything they were like night and day. Este’s eyes were filled usually with a sense of innocence and steadfast clarity, while boy’s eyes were filled with nothing but malignant and overwhelming confidence. It was almost frightening for Sipher to even contemplate about just what kind of adult this boy would eventually become should he continue to see the world through such lenses.

Despite possessing such cruel eyes, the boy in front of him did not appear to have any intentions of becoming an enemy. Even though everything, from his purported carefree postures to his callously soothing smile laden with obvious hidden intentions, told him to be cautious, Sipher could do nothing but be mesmerized by his presence. The boy was dangerous for sure, if nothing else the fact that he could stop Sipher’s sword was a testament to whatever unknown powers he possessed behind that carefree façade. However for now all Sipher could do was continue to be ‘cautious’ as his guts told him that it was better to not turn the boy into an ‘enemy’.

Still lodged impossibly tightly between the boy’s two fingers the sword refused to move an inch no matter how much strength Sipher tried to put into it. Once more he tried to contest the boy’s malicious green eyes just to see what he was playing at only to be returned by a devious and mocking chuckle, ‘fufufu~’. An invisible tug of war was taking place with the battle tilting to the direction of a seven year old boy against a heavily experienced knight. Eventually the boy conceded and let go of the sword but as he did Sipher was pushed back a few steps due to the momentum. Regaining his footing and posture it was now almost necessary, for Sipher’s own sanity, to understand this mysterious boy’s true identity.

“What-”

Just as he was about to repeat the question about the boy’s identity he was cut off by an answer, though not quite what he was looking for.

“Who or what I am isn’t important right now; what is important are the origin of these creatures.”

Shifting his gaze from Sipher the boy pointed to one of the unmoving goblins. They continued to idly stand there like a statue, unmoving now that they no longer possessed a brain to do so. Unable to die, unable to move and unable to even think, only experience; it was a fate that denied even the sweat embrace of death. It was obvious now that what kept the goblins sustained were the yellow crystals embedded onto their bodies, however nothing greater than that could be surmised from mere observation. What the true intentions of this were and the how they had operated were all shrouded in as much mystery as the boy.

“Not important? I disagree, you seem to possess similar abilities to avoid detection as these goblins do. You can’t be expecting me to believe that you truly have nothing to do with them. If you really do not wish to answer…”

Sipher drew his sword knowing full well that his attacks were already stopped once. This was less an act of caution or threat but more of a show of principle, that Sipher would not accept such nonsensical replies from a mere child. Yet even as the sword danced about him the boy’s smile did not slip from his face, in fact he grew even more annoyingly arrogant as he saw through Sipher’s ploy. He did not care and simply continued on with his own pace.

It wasn’t as though the boy’s movements were particularly experienced, in fact the opposite could be argued. That the boy’s posture and movements were filled nothing but openings and vulnerabilities, however that was precisely the point that made Sipher doubt. Those points were too clean and obvious, almost as though there were a trap and once he moved in for them there would be no way out if they were indeed so. The worst part was that it almost felt as though the boy understood this and used this fear of the unknown growing within Sipher’s mind to exploit it.

Sipher clicked his tongue towards this unfathomable ‘foe’; he truly was ‘dangerous’.

“My technique to avoid detection is solely my own and has nothing to do with those goblins. Whether you wish to believe that or not is, of course, entirely up to your discretion.”

Belittling Sipher’s conviction the boy started to pace about the frozen goblins in an academic manner; studying them and recording all the observation to his mind. He whispered to himself such phrases as ‘hmm~’, ‘Ah’, ‘So then…’ but never truly giving an opportunity for either Sipher or Este to join in.

“Even though the brain is removed they continue to cling onto life. Their tenacity is nothing short of disgusting…”

The boy commented as he reached out to one of the goblins and touched directly with the protruding yellow crystal. He made more observations aligned with ‘doesn’t particularly feel alive…’ or ‘how does this work?’ However no matter how much he studied it with his eyes there was no way he could come to any sort of immediate and detailed conclusion, thus there was only one course of action left. With the monstrous strength demonstrated to Sipher through the sword tug of war the boy ripped one of the crystals out of the goblins body.

The goblin screamed for a good few seconds before falling down onto the ground as yellow ooze leaked out of their wounds. After struggling a bit more it had expired on the spot now that nothing was sustaining it.

“So they can still feel pain without a brain? Perhaps the crystal acts as a second brain and is connected to the nerve endings? No wait, do undead even feel pain in the first place? Hmmm… [Analyze]… so it’s called a ‘Monolith Shard’.”

Even after taking a closer examination of the crystal the boy concluded that no real results could be conjured out of just staring at it. Sipher and Este continued to watch as the boy whispered some incoherent words in a tongue that couldn’t be understood by either of them. Once he chanted those magical foreign words the yellow crystal in his hands had disintegrated into oblivion, leaving not even a minute trace.

“[Monolith Shard, Matter deconstruction].”

“Eh? Huh?!”

Este who had remained silent up until now shouted in surprise as no trace of the crystal was left in the boy’s hands. It wasn't just this that had surprised her about him, since the very beginning there was just something about this cryptic boy’s presence that had resonated deeply within her. She had stayed silent up until now to understand what exactly it was that she was feeling but no matter how hard she tried she could not discern its true nature.

On one hand it was as though she was looking into a mirror, the boy shared many suspect similarities to her but on the other hand they were all wrong. Perhaps it was a mirror, but it was a horribly corrupted and distorted mirror if that was the case, oozing an air of foreboding and magnificence, she wondered what his incomprehensible endgame was. When she made sudden eye contact with him she had just as quickly averted her gaze feeling as though it would pull her into his pace and she would lose sense of herself.

“Your name… can you at least tell us your name?”

Este asked still trying to not look directly at him. Finally he shook his head as he answered with a somewhat distant and sad tone.

“[Wir Alle Haben Geheimnisse], I cannot; even you have some things you’d like to keep to yourself, right? Este Fallon.”

As he called her out by name it finally dawned on them the exceedingly apparent disparity in the information they had in each other. While it wasn’t as though Este’s identity was particularly a secret, they had tried to limit the number of people who actually knew her status. All they could do now was adopt a more defensive strategy and try to limit the information leak as much as possible.

Sipher had even walked up and physically covered Este just in case.

“The difference in our understanding of each other… isn’t it a little unfair?”

Este asked while hiding behind Sipher’s large frame, yet to that question Morgant could only let out a small, amused scoff.

“Information is everything… ‘princess’; having it or not could be the difference between life and death. That being said, in this particularly situation I don’t have any opposition to sharing what I know, unfortunately I do also see a lot of benefits in not telling you. So between those two choices I’ve opted to let you figure out everything on your own time.”

To his answer neither Este nor Sipher could respond; they couldn’t really fault his logic nor force him to speak. After all, since he had technically ‘saved’ Este’s life at the beginning they were on the losing side of the discussion. Knowing this the boy flashed an arrogant smirk as he casually tried to leave. Perhaps he had finished whatever he wanted to accomplish or he simply ran out of things to gloat over.

It was a strange feeling that Sipher felt as he saw the small back starting to walk away. It was as though a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders but at the same time he couldn’t help but feel that watching him leave now would be a wasted opportunity. He knew that once the boy was out of his sight it was possible that they’ll never even meet again, especially with his ability to avoid detection from even powerful and trained warriors.

“Wait, boy.”

Sipher called out, but as he did he found himself strangely out of things he wanted to ask. No, rather, it was that he had too much he wanted to ask but he was sure that the boy would not give him any real answers; he couldn’t ask.

The boy coldly turned back and stared with an almost death inviting glare.

“Hmm? Did you have anything left to say?”

Far from charisma, the boy’s underdeveloped and slightly high pitched voice did not evoke any sense of a real threat. It wasn’t his voice however, it was his words and the way he spoke those words that actually brought on a very real sense of danger and foreboding. Enough to make a fully grown man, a decorated knight at that, to feel 'fear'.

“Are you sure you know nothing about these goblins?”

The boy took a deep breath as he pondered on that question for a brief moment. It wasn’t a smile, but an irritated frown that was next etched on his face. This only served to enhance the atmosphere of peril about him.

“I may… have a few guesses… I- ugh!”

The boy dropped to the floor as he placed his hands on his forehead. A powerful seeming headache attacking him from out of the blue. It was a strange sight, the sight of such a formidable being now on his knees. Este’s first instinct was to call out and see if something was wrong but Sipher had stopped her just in case it was something dangerous. One could never be any more careful with a being that could project so much insecurity in the Grand Praetorian Knight.

“That… noise.”

After that the boy, still on his knees stopped moving.

…

[2082 C.E]

“Welcome back to the [Nexus], Director Callahad.”

A computerized voice echoed through the small room Sovereign had just entered. It was a VIP room that could literally oversee all operations in the facility known as the ‘Nexus’. Pieces of electronic and monitors plastered over every wall, with scientists, engineers and soldiers alike all busily going about their day from below.

Feeling constrained by his clothing Sovereign loosened up his tie a little as he fell down powerlessly onto a comfortable looking burgundy sofa. He let out a long sigh trying to catch his breath. He closed his eyes to absorb the happenings of the day and what other trials and tribulations would no doubt come for him tomorrow. There was no doubt he was feeling overwhelmed by the path he had chosen to walk but it was one that someone had to. Resigned to his fate he turned to his left and on the small table was a cup of whiskey.

Gently picking up the small clear cup he slowly felt the soothing ooze of the cold brown alcohol run down his throat. He was so fatigued he couldn’t even feel the taste but at the very least now his mouth wasn’t dry. Feeling a bit of life coming back into him he asked the computerized voice.

“Machina, anything to report?”

“Nothing too unusual to report Director, only another small rebellion had broken out in the US, Italy and Central China, but that has since been swiftly dealt with.”

The voice spoke out in an indifferent manner.

“Yes… that’s usually what tends to happen when you take people’s freedom and privacy away from them.”

Another voice spoke as it entered the small VIP room. An elderly man in the top of his physique adorned over by a pure white lab coat. His once black hair was now being invaded by several strands of white causing a unique mix of white and black.

“Edmund.”

“Aran.”

The two greeted simply by calling out their first names. They were the administration’s number one and two; the two being who held the greatest amount of power and resources in the entire world… and they were the closest of confidantes.

“What happened to Nemesis?”

Sovereign asked as he glanced at Edmund’s direction. ‘Nemesis’ being the first true success of the Kinesis Enhancement Project and thus the first super soldier, was tasked solely with being Sovereign’s bodyguard. However at times he had lent her out to Edmund to aid in missions or experiments. This time was no exception but whereas usually she would accompany him back to Sovereign’s side she was nowhere to be seen.

“She went to suppress the local rebellion population we ran into on our way back. But I have to say, that girl is amazing; did you know she had already unlocked [Level 5 Psychokinesis]?”

Edmund responded in a gleeful tone.

“Already? Our estimated projections theorized that it would take her at least seven years; it’s hardly been three.”

“That’s why I’m saying that she’s amazing.”

“I suppose it could do with the fact that she’s a phase one psychokinetic… only once the operations hit phases two and three does synthesis come into play. Phase two and three subjects will likely have considerably less psychic power but in exchange they will have more support from tech to help them master various situations and environments, while phase one subjects don’t have that leisure since they have less tech but they do get more psychokinesis at their disposal.”

“Well yes, the entire point was bio/tech synthesis. Still, raw psychokinetic power is especially a spectacle once you see it up close.”

In a manner reminiscent to a small child talking about their favorite toy truck, Professor Edmund Weisner spoke of Nemesis in the same regard.

“I don’t doubt you. Still, these upcoming rebellions are a pain. Though I suppose once we get ‘Gungnir’ active that will all be a thing of the past.”

Sovereign spoke as he changed topics.

“It is a little worrisome that we’ll have to divert a lot of resources into quelling those rebels; it could delay our plans a little further than expected at this rate.”

Changing his tone Edmund also commented with a grimace on his face. Walking up to the large open window of the VIP room he stared down at all the people hard at work to bring about the ‘future’ of mankind. It was for these people and the entirety of human future that both Sovereign and Edmund worked tirelessly to achieve their goals.

“I apologize for the interruption, Director. However on that point I do have a small suggestion.”

Machina spoke through the room’s intercom system.

“Hoh? Speak, I’ll allow it.”

Sovereign responded.

“I propose we remodel your [Subdermal Nanite Armor] technology and introduce a small ‘virus’ to the rebel populations. This virus will enter their bodies and once their brain shuts down their bodies will become an autonomous soldier fighting on our side.”

“Zombie soldiers is it? Hah, this computer is more devious than you; are you sure it was the correct choice in creating such an AI?”

Edmund asked Sovereign.

“On the contrary ‘Professor’ Weisner, compared to you or I who can wipe out other humans without batting an eye, Machina is far more human. However, this time I will be declining its proposal. The one thing I don’t need is an apathetic zombie slave army; human spirit is never to be trifled with or insulted in such a manner.”