Sorry about the long wait I just finished a long distinct move so I can assure you the next update will be soon. Also thank you all for the reviews. They always inspire me to keep focusing on the story.
"Well, I think this should do it," I said to Vetito as she closed herself before floating around me. With a sigh stand up and stretch out mentally preparing myself for what's to come.
"Alright, our fight starts any minute now so let's be on our way," I told Vetito who eagerly did another loop around me. How she received such an energetic personality when I created her is beyond me honestly. Nevertheless, I turn to walk out of the room.
"I'm sure we will crush Sir Lozlock master," She said with much gusto.
"Let us hope so," I said calmly, walking out the door. Once through the doorway, I find myself greeted by one of the many small white machines that seem to roam the place.
"Greeting I am here if you need an escort to the main arena platform." Said the machines as it stood thair in front of me awaiting orders. I gave a slight nod, looking down upon the small machine.
"Lead the way," I commanded as it turned around and lead me down several familiar corridors and security gates leading to the central arena. When I entered I saw through the closed gate Sir Lozlock standing there on the far opposite end of the area with his lance and shield raised, ready for battle. Then the arena master's voice boomed over the intercom.
"Welcome to the private introductory spar between the knight Sir Lozlock and the human librarian Alistair," she said as the metal gate in front of me opened. I stepped out and looked around for those who were invited to attend this event. When I found is quite a surprising group of onlookers standing on the balcony staring down at me. From what I can tell one appears to be one be wearing purple religious garments. Then there is a small stubby one with armor resembling that of a knight covered in foliage. Next caught me off guard because it appears to be a beautiful android with long black hair topped with a red ribbon. Her attire is a red dress stopping right at the knee. below that are black stockings.
Quite an interesting group of machines. Nevertheless, I have a rather large opponent in front of me. So I give a wave to the audience and turn to look at my competitor. Then the mechanical knight spoke. "Test your might against me!" He said as he slammed his lance upon its shield.
I shrugged "I will do my best." I said as I called upon my shields and unimaginatively named long sword then ordered each of them to spin around me with the shields on the bottom protecting me while my sword spins vertically above the shields. Although CO-DEC is an evil, sadistic AI it did develop this particular combat technique. Though this strategy is best-used agents professional non- mechanical combatants, it's seemed to work well against those YoRHa combat units.
While my opponent is most likely looking for a pattern in my movements I believe it's best if I start on the offensive. I command one of my shields to bash into my opponent's right side forcing him to block my attack with its lance. Then my flying longsword went straight for its head. However, despite the size of the machine, it's reaction time and reflex reaction is near perfect as it was easily able to protect its head with the shield attached to its left arm.
Sir Lozlock seems to easily withstand the might Foe Breaker pushing down on its shield. Time to change things up a bit so I call my creation back and have it hover at eye level before gently placing my hand and gently tracing the Fuller of the enchanted weapon. I focused my thoughts, reminding my weapon of the heat from the blazing forge that brought it life. I sent memories of the days I spent in my backyard working to create it, of each strike of my hammer giving it shape. As I did the metal of the sword started to glow red as heat started to build up from within the blade. 'Go now and strike with the heat of which brought you life.' I commanded while pulling back my shield and use it to keep the mechanical knights' lance at bay..
Foe Breaker is once again blocked by the shield of Sir Lozlock. However, after a few seconds, small flames can be seen radiating from my blade as the metal touching Foe Breaker begins to bubble and melt allowing the enchanted weapon to sink deeper into the shield. This forces the metal knight to change tactics as red energy covered its lance and it moved it away from my shield and used it to block Foe Breaker as began to melt through its shield.
This action gave my shield the chance to shift its form a bit, forming spikes and raming into the vulnerable side of my opponent. This seems to not affect the mechanical knight much to my disappointment. I could conjure other weapons but I feel it would be best not to show off everything I'm capable of. Now I can't help but wonder if Sir Lozlock has any tricks up its preverbal sleeves.
After I finished that thought my opponent with great strength pushes Foe Breaker back sending it flying in my direction. However, my creation stopped long before it could endanger me. Then the machine turned the tip of its lance towards the ground as Foe Breaker flew back in his direction. Then the knight slammed the tip on the ground causing an outward explosion of dark red energy. This caused Foe Breaker to once again fly away from it's designated target.
Sir Lozlock quickly took to the offensive and charged at me. I used two of my shields to block his attack with one behind the other reinforcing it. This gives me a chance to retaliate with Foe Breaker while I conjure another weapon. Altho this weapon is perhaps the most vicious in my arsenal and this moment provides an opportunity to see how machines react to it.
I concentrate and call Heart Piercer to me. The evil dagger appeared from thin air a second later. I can feel its desire to kill is quite strong, now all it is waiting for is my command. 'Go and pierce the heart of Sir Lozlock.' I commanded my fiendish creation and it obeyed shooting at Sir Lozlock with amazing speed. It flew over my shields and right into the machine's chest, phasing right through its armor.
My mechanical opponent falls to its knees as it's power fluctuates. Heart Piercer now floats above the machine looking down upon it observing its own work as an artist of sorts.
I turned to glance at my audience and waved at them to see if they had any reaction to my apparent victory but only one of them, the woman in the red dress seemed to have a slight grin as she looked down at me. while the other clapped the mechanical hands and
"A poooowwwerrrrfulll weapponn. Buutttt I sstiill staaannd." crackled the damaged and distorted voice of Sir Lozlock. I quickly turn my head to see the machine standing on one knee trying to pull itself up. Unfortunately for the poor machine, the fact it's not dead at the moment has aggravated Heart Piercer.
I can feel it vibrate with anger. No one has ever lived having their heart or whatever the machine has as a heart pierced by the wicked dagger and live. Despite Heart Piercer not truly being sentient itself, it is however still part of me. I filled it with hate and anger giving the weapon a desire to carve the heart out of anyone that I command it to. Now that if failed the negative emotions are amplified make it much more aggressive. Honestly, with the machine's heart already pierced, I'm curious to see what my weapon will do.
I thought that Heart Piercer would be the perfect weapon to counter an opponent such as Sir Lozlock since the machine is large and does not seem to have any way to counter magical weaponry. Now it appeared my hypothesis is correct though with an unexpected result. I digress now for the matter at hand, I feel now would be a good time to finish this quick preview since my opponent seems to be in critical condition.
I give Heart Piercer the freedom to indulge in its anger. The dagger flys down with great speed and begins slashing through the robotic knight several times with unbridled fury hitting as many vital components as possible. The machine once again feels to its knees except for this time it falls forward dead on the floor.
"WE HAVE A WINNER!" yelled out the arena master as the small crowd gives me applause. Despite the victory, I feel a slight amount of disappointment by the fact I failed to display a few more tricks I had up my sleeve. Then again I could not help but observe the interesting situation involving my heart-piercing blade and the fact my opponent was knocking on death's door.. Then again using my golden ring of Zeus to strike my shield attached to Sir Lozlock would have made an interesting final display. But poor Vetito was looking forward to using her combat abilities yet it appears two of my weapons managed to best the mechanical knight.
I dismiss my weapons and look back towards my audience. But my attention quickly shifted as my current employer hovered down closer to me. "Well done and please feel free to go and rest up in your chamber, soon dinner will be prepared and one of our guests will be joining you." It said before it turns to face the broken knight lying just motionless on the ground. Then the gated opened and out came two machines operating some large suits and made their way toward the fallen knight.
I couldn't help but to watch as they took the corpse of Sir Lozlock away. It's all quite interesting I must say. Anyway, I looked back at my audience then an entertaining thought hit me. I might as well play the part of a showman. "Thank you all for coming, hope you enjoyed the fight," I say before taking a showmen's bow, which seemed to draw a standing ovation.
I feel as though my job is done here so I leave to once more walk through the arena corridors and to my room with Vetito in tow. Once I got to my room I shut the door and walked over to the bed.
"I'm exhausted Vetito, I can't wait to get some sleep," I told my book, who is hovering right over the bed looking down at me.
"I know Master but you must at least stay awake and entertain guests, remember?" She asked and rightly so. I fully intend on staying awake through dinner but after that, I'm hitting the hay
"Yes, Vetito I know full well my guest should be arriving soon," I replied, setting up from the bed. I stretch my arms back and walk to the set at the head of my dining table.
After a good twenty minutes, a knock on the door rang through the room. "Come in," I said shifting up in my chair.
The door opened and revealed the arena master holding a glass of water and a pitcher in the other while leading the woman in red into the room. "Alistair this is Terminal Alpha and Beta. She has claimed victory in the auction and wishes to meet you in physical form."It said moving over to the table and placing the glass and pitcher full of what I assume to be water in front of me.
Meanwhile Terminal Alpha and Beta took a seat at the opposite end of the table. My boss then walked out the door but not without a few parting words "Dinner will be arriving soon, please feel free to notify any machine lifeform in the facility if you need anything." It said.
I gave the boss a nod before it shut the door. Now that I'm alone with my guest I give the machine across from a light smile. "Greetings I am Alastair Moran," I said, greeting my guest who smiled back.
"Hello Alaistair we are Terminal Alpha and Beta, and we have met before though not directly." She said puzzling me since I don't remember meeting anyone like here. Perhaps she saw me from a distance.
"How so, if I may ask?" I replied wondering how things could get any more overwhelming, I mean I just arose yesterday. I was prepared for a bizarre alien-infested future but come on.
The machine across from me gave a slight smirk. "We are the manager of the machine network. We have seen you through the eyes of others connected to us. However such trivial information, though undoubtedly interesting to you, is common knowledge." She explained waving my question off.
"Well, I'm new around here so I still desire any information I can get," I chuckle a little at my own statement while staring at the beautiful machine. She nods her head still with a slight smirk.
"As expected of one in your current predicament. But fear, not all your questions will be answered soon enough…. Hmmm, perhaps we can agree to continue where Adem left off. I get to ask you questions and in turn, you can ask us questions in return. This is an efficient method to quench both our desire to know the other." She offered sounding more than reasonable to me.
"Alright sounds good to me. You can have the first question though." I replied eager to learn more about this world.
She chucked at that "I have quite a few ranging from you to your grimoire. But my first question will pertain to you. What is your purpose? What is it that you accomplished to have yourself so well preserved?" She asked me, forcing me to ponder my answer for a moment.
"You could say I was, am still technically part of an organization, no more like society really. A society of those who seek knowledge that lost their way and became slaves to the very thing we sought after through dark promises and manipulation. We for two years now, well the two that I have been active and free to pursue the true goal of my, let's just call it the organization. The goal is simple duty to both gain and protect knowledge. Since I am one of our youngest members and have combat experience I was selected to be entombed as we call it. As for the exact construction method for the tomb. All I can say is that it is a complex mixture of technology and magic, that's all I know about it." I explained while purposely trying to avoid telling her that the organization was named Scholars of the watchers.
"So your organizations' purpose is to hoard knowledge... interesting, Our scans indicate a structure hidden beneath the library. Is that what you were persevered to protect?"As soon as the machine asked me that I grew a little nervous knowing that they know about the vault. Her next words however eased my worry a bit.
"We have no intentions of excavating as of yet or do so without your permission. So now feel free to ask us anything you desire" She said while leaning back into her chair.
" One thing I have wondered since learning of you machine lifeformes, your creators are any of them still around?" I asked as the machine's expression started to change. She grew a very pleasing expression, yet there is something unsettling about it.
"Extinct...all of them. We wiped out every one of them. They were small pitiful, spiteful, uninteresting creatures. Unlike you humans which leads me to why I'm here." She said leaning forward.
"But first tell me do you know anything about Project Gestalt?" She asked with a hint of eagerness in her voice. This question surprises me greatly but still I will andrew truthfully.
"I read a report on the soul separation procedure and plans to place human souls in replicant bodies. But other than that I'm sorry to say I have little knowledge on the subject." I replied wondering what's she getting at. She then leans back in her chair with a satisfied grin.
"That is correct but you see those very same replicants took on a life of their own and through the efforts of a few, they managed to destroy the whole project dooming humanity to extinction."She told me much to my discomfort. Why would she tell me this?
"Yet it seems they still fight in humanity's name," I replied observing her facial features twist with disgust.
"They are failures and have proven unworthy to hold the fate of humanity in their hands." She said showing her distaste for the androids. Now things are taking an unexpected direction. It appears that there is more than just curiosity at play here.
"Perhaps they are but humanity in its current state has little say in current events." I declare while easing back into my chair. Wondering where this is going.
"Yes but humanity is not dead, in fact, we have been plotting on a way to resurrect your race. But now with you here we have fresh untainted human DNA to work with." She then stood up and walked over to my left side, grasping my hand in a conferring manor. I was stunned at her words and unable to utter a statement as she looked down at me.
"Despite our sentence, we desire a worthy race to serve and protect. Allow us to replace the androids that have failed your kind. I assure you we will not fail humanity." She said proudly. This offer caught me off guard but not as much as it would have if I had not met Adam and Eve just yesterday. Regardless I feel it would be unwise to turn down any possible offer of assistance since I lack both the resources and knowledge to bring humanity back from the brink of total extinction..
"Right now humanity is open to any possible offer of aid. So if your side can prove itself a grater boon to humanity then by all rights you machines will become our saviors." I said hoping to both please and encourage the machine yet not completely giving humanity over to them just yet. After all little competition is never a bad thing so let's see if the androids are still deserving of their self-appointed position as true servants of humanity.
The woman beside me seemed pleased with my statement as I felt a small prickle before she released my hand. "I assure you unlike the androids, we will not fail. Also out apologies about the small puncture wound on your thumb. I have taken a small genetic sample so we might begin our work." She stated and to be honest I'm not bothered by it. Honestly, I expected such an action and I feel it is best to let things play out so long as neither I nor the library are in serious danger.
"It's fine I just hope you can live up to your offer and bring us back from the brink of extinction." Just as I said that I heard a knock at my door.
So I turned my head towards the door. "COME IN." I loudly spoke and the door did indeed open to reveal the robotic chef bringing in yet another metal tray of food. He moved over and placed a plate in front of me.
"I have made medium-rare steak, roasted potatoes, and roasted asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Here I also have for you red wine I've produced after studying Viticulture and winemaking. I will be back soon to hear your thoughts on my culinary piece of art" He stated filling up a large silver chalice of wine.
"Thank you" I thanked the mechanical chef who then left the room leaving me and grimoire alone with my guest once again.
Meanwhile, Commander White sits at her command station with a displeased expression as she examines report after report on the search for the human. So far the only reports to bear any fruit are from twenty hours and six minutes ago were an operator and resistance unit confronted him for the bounty. Then the most recent and disturbing report is from two B units who were scouting the skies and spotted him in the grip of a machine. The region they failed to liberate the human was due to machine reinforcements.
. The very thought of the last known human in the hands of the machines filled her with a sense of dread like no other, causing her to squeeze her riding crop. Yet what's even stranger about the report is that the machines appear not to act aggressively but seem to be guarding him.
'They could be using him as a hostage' Thought the Commander but before that line of thought could go any further she is interrupted by one of the many operators. "Commander we have a transmission for 9B from within the library." At this Commander White looked towards the operator.
"Put her through." She Commanded and the operator complied. 9B then appeared on the large screen for all to see. 9B appeared to be in some old office and a nice one at that. The furniture in the room all appears to be antique. 'The office of an official that once played a significant role there.' thought White.
"Report" Demand White and 9B with a slight smirk gave a nod.
"Commander the library is armed with a powerful security system and I'm sorry to say I am only one to escape it alive. But I assure you my comrades did not die in vain." Explained 9B with little emotion except for perhaps a hint of excitement. The commander listened to her words carefully.
"Did you acquire the black box of any of the units?" Asked White hoping the see for herself what lies beneath the library.
"I'm sorry to say there's nothing left of them to recover their security system was quite meticulous and destroyed everything." 9B stated to her superior.
To say Commander White is more than a little displeased with what's she's hearing would be an understatement but she is no stranger to losing soldiers After all anything that can help them acquire a human is worth any sacrifice. "I will have more units dispatched to the library but first please tell me what you have learned. " Said the commander hoping to gain some insight from all of this.
9B with a small smile " I have learned that the human, Alistair is a librarian placed in charge of protecting the vault containing much of humanity's esoteric knowledge and many other topics. I have also managed to find records of a vary recent transmission. I will send you the coordinance of the general location." 9B explained and began to transmit the necessary information over to the commander.
Commander White felt a small bit of relief knowing that the human might soon be in YoRHa's care. But still, they need access to that vault as soon as possible. "Excellent work report back to the bunker for reassignment and further debriefing," White ordered as she wanted to question 9B further in person in case there is any sensitive information she could not afford released over telecommunications. Commander White then pressed a button on her control panel and cut off the transmission
Alone if the former library director's office 9B looked away from her pod and picked up a picture frame. The words "New York banquet" written on it. The picture itself showed many members of the order just before a great feast. The long table adorns a white table cloth nearly hidden beneath the massive plates of food ready to be served to the many members who sworn their loyalty over to the Scholars of the Watchers. The picture would be heartwarming to most except for one unsettling factor. The eyes of everyone there are unnatural and haunting to most onlookers. Their scleras are black while the inter center of the eyes iris and pupil seems to be a matching bright red and are impossible to distinguish from the other.
"Oh, Ali I promise you the fun has just begun." Said 9B as she let out a wicked laugh.