Thank you all who reviewed! Anyway, onto the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Ocean.
Chapter 10: The mystery deepens
"This is part of the staff that developed the Eternal Sphere," said Blair as we walked into the office. Everyone in the office stood up as we got closer.
"So you said you wanted to help them right? What do you got in mind?" I asked.
"This," said one of the developers as they handed me a small laptop.
"An uninstaller? Nice."
"What does this thing do?" Asked Sophia.
"It will allow you to delete all of the Executioners instantly," said another one of the developers.
"Really?" Asked Dr. Leingod.
"Yes, that is correct."
"If you have such a handy tool why haven't you used it yet?" Asked Cliff.
"Because of it's limitations. The uninstaller can only be used in the Eternal Sphere. But the Milky Way Galaxy is locked," said Blair.
"So you want us to take this uninstaller back to our galaxy," concluded Maria.
"That is correct."
"So why are you helping us?" Asked Nel.
"We believe that the Executioners are a needlessly violent solution to the problem of symbological genetics being used in the Milky Way," said one of the Developers.
"We have tried to convince the others to stop this but they wouldn't listen," said Blair. I looked down at the ground.
"Yeah, we got all arrogant. We really believed that the Executioners were the right choice." I sighed. "We were a bunch of fools, weren't we?"
"So you have had a change of heart?" Asked one of the developers.
"Yeah, after that incident."
"What incident?" Asked Maria.
"The incident that lead to me meeting you guys," I said as I looked over at Maria.
"So what happened?" I explained what happened, about the job Luther assigned me and how things went wrong.
"If that incident had never occurred I would still be supporting the Executioners. It's safe to say that I am grateful that incident happened." I looked over at Blair. "Now that we have that taken care of, can you show me the data on Omega?"
"Hold on, let me load it up," said Blair. She accessed the data and a screen popped up of Omega's regular programming. "This is what it looked like before Omega's change in behavior." Blair typed something in. The data changed from symbological symbols to hexadecimal coding. "This is after."
"What the hell?" I rushed towards the screen and took a closer look at it. "Impossible! Who could convert symbology into a hexadecimal variables? The Eternal Sphere doesn't support that kind of coding!" I looked over at Blair. "How could this have happened?"
"I have no idea. We have scanned the data a lot of times and we didn't find anything."
"But who would do something like that? And why?" Asked Maria.
"Sure wish I knew the answer to that myself," I said with a shrug. This news really bothered me but I realized there were more important things right now. "But more importantly we have to get that uninstaller to the Eternal Sphere."
"You're right, let's go back to the terminal in Gemity," said Fayt.
"That won't work, the Sphere Company is now in lock down so you can't leave here," said Blair.
"So what should we do?" Asked Peppita.
"There is a terminal in this building, but there is one problem."
"What's that?" Asked Cliff.
"It's location."
"It's located on the top floor, that's Luther's office," I said.
"That's a problem how? That will kill two birds with one stone," said Albel.
"Luther has all the cards against us in this situation. If he were to get wind of what we were planning he would make a counter plan in a matter of seconds. Luther isn't dumb, he has amazingly high IQ. Not only that he could just slip into one of his protected domains in the Eternal Sphere and we wouldn't be able to follow him easily," I said gravely.
"This guy sounds pretty dangerous," said Sophia.
"This is nothing compared to once he is in the Eternal Sphere."
"Anyway, down the hallway to the right is the elevator that will take us to the top floor. I will take you there," said Blair. She grinned. "Though I won't be of much use in a fight."
"Least not in the real world..." I said in my thoughts. We walked down the hallway towards the elevator. The door closed and we looked up at the large shaft. Suddenly it turned off.
"What the?" Exclaimed Blair.
"Very disappointing Blair. I knew that we had somewhat different ideals but I never could have anticipated that you would betray me," said a voice. Blair and I gasped as we heard the voice.
"Owner!"
"Luther!" I exclaimed.
"And who could have thought? My own best friend, someone I call a brother. Why of all people did you betray me, Alex?" Asked Luther emotionlessly.
"Listen to me! It's not what you think it is!"
"Listen to us!" Exclaimed Blair.
"I'd hate to lose both of you but there is no avoiding that now. If that which is contaminated is not deleted it will infect anything that isn't corrupted. That infection is too dangerous, it must be destroyed. If both of you insist on standing in the way then you must be deleted too."
"Luther! Just talk to us! I can explain everything!" I exclaimed. There was no reply. "Luther!" I looked down at the ground.
"So he was one step ahead of us," said Dr. Leingod.
"Yeah..." Suddenly there was a crashing sound from behind the door.
"What was that?" Exclaimed Sophia as she looked over at the door. I turned around in the same direction. The door burst open and Berial and Belzeber walked in.
"Well, well, if it isn't Belzeber and Berial," I said.
"Look at this, it's Alex and Blair. I must say that you two have been very reckless," said Belzeber. He looked over at me. "You betrayed the owner." Belzeber looked over at Blair. "And you also betrayed the owner."
"What were you thinking? Don't you realize what risks are involved in this?" Asked Berial.
"I am very well aware of the risks, but regardless I will stop the Executioners no matter what it takes," I said. Belzeber smirked.
"Well aren't you determined?" Taunted Belzeber. He pulled out his communicator. "Owner, we will take care of these pests. You go and take a nap or whatever." There was no reply. "Owner?" Still no reply. "Owner?" Belzeber looked over at Berial with a look of confusion. "He's not responding."
"I will try to contact him," said Berial as he pulled out his communicator. "Owner, is everything all right? Owner."
"Would you just shut up already?" Asked a voice.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"I have no idea, I've never heard that voice before," said Belzeber with a tone of worry. Okay, for Belzeber to be worried than that means this is not a good situation.
"Just ignore them," said a voice that I recognized.
"That's..." Started Fayt.
"Vox!" Exclaimed Nel.
"How did he get out of the Eternal Sphere?" Asked Peppita.
"This is just getting weirder by the second," said Maria.
"Vox is right. Let's continue our discussion," said Luther. Then I heard nothing but static come from the communicator.
"Damn, they must have destroyed the communicator," said Berial.
"This is very bad!" Exclaimed Blair.
"Blair is right, I believe that these people might be trying to take over the Sphere Company," said Belzeber. He looked over at me. "At this point who gives a damn about those anomalies? We have a bigger problem at the moment!"
"Your right, let's go up to the top level," I said. I looked over at Fayt and the others. "Come on you guys! We need to hurry!"
"Your right, we should go and see what is going on up there," said Fayt.
"I've got a very bad feeling about this," said Maria.
"My thoughts exactly," said Cliff. We rushed to the other elevators located around the center of this floor and we transported up to the 211th floor. We rushed in just in time to see Luther walking towards a spinning portal full of dark energy.
"Luther, wait!" I exclaimed. Luther turned around and looked at me. The look in his eyes gave me chills. No longer did he have the kind look in his eyes but the look of a lunatic.
"This is where it begins, Alex," said Luther. Luther grinned evilly. "Follow me if you dare." Luther walked through the portal and disappeared.
"Damn, he got away," I said.
"But where is he going?" Asked Sophia.
"Who knows?" Said Belzeber with a shrug. I looked around at the office trying to find any trace of Vox and that other person who were here. On Luther's desk was the destroyed communicator. Berial picked up the remains.
"Any ideas on how this thing could have been destroyed?" Asked Berial.
"I have no idea," I said.
"May I have a look at it?" Asked Dr. Leingod.
"Here," I said as I handed him the communicator. Dr. Leingod took a closer look at it, after a few seconds he looked back up.
"It was destroyed by some sort of energy that took the shape of a kunai."
"I see, I know for a fact that Luther wouldn't be able to use an attack like that in this universe."
"Vox doesn't know how to use an attack like the one Dr. Leingod described," said Albel.
"That leaves one person," said Maria.
"Yeah, whoever it was they were responsible for that attack," said Nel.
"Before we start worrying about what in the hell is going on here, we have to take care of something else first," said Cliff.
"That's right, we have to get rid of the Executioners," said Fayt. I looked over at Berial and Belzeber.
"Are you two okay with that?" I asked.
"I really could not care less," said Belzeber with a shrug.
"The Executioners are insignificant at the moment," said Berial.
"According to the data on this terminal it seems like Luther has gone to his private lab in the Eternal Sphere. Once you have taken care of the Executioners we will discuss what to do next," said Blair.
"Okay," I said.
"Alex, you must get to the bottom of this. I want to know what is really going on here," said Berial.
"Will do." I walked into the transporter.
"Blair thanks for everything. We will save the Eternal Sphere, don't you worry," said Maria. Maria walked into the Teleporter.
"I don't know what's really going on but thank you," said Peppita. Peppita walked into the Teleporter.
"Thank you for your help, we will take it from here," said Dr. Leingod. Dr. Leingod walked into the teleporter.
"Thank you for all you have done to help us," said Sophia. Sophia walked into the teleporter.
"You really helped us out, thanks Blair," said Cliff. Cliff walked into the teleporter.
"We won't forget your kindness," said Nel. Nel walked into the teleporter.
"We owe you one," said Albel. Albel walked into the teleporter.
"Blair, thank you," said Fayt as he shook her hand.
"You are the only ones who can save your galaxy now. Give it your best shot," said Blair. Fayt walked into the teleporter. Blair walked over to the terminal and activated it. Within a few seconds we were teleported to Styx. As we arrived we were greeted by two Executioners.
"Great welcoming party, huh?" I asked.
"Some how I saw this coming," said Maria. Sophia pulled out the uninstaller.
"I'll activate the uninstaller," said Sophia.
"Alright, we will cover you," said Fayt.
"I'll stay back and help Sophia," I said.
"Good idea since you are familiar with this technology," said Cliff. Sophia opened up the uninstaller and various data charts popped up. They showed statistics like how many Executioners we currently in the galaxy and what power level they were set at.
"What do I do now?" Asked Sophia.
"Access that table and then combine the symbols," I said. Sophia did what I told her to do and then looked back up at me.
"What now?"
"Delete that set of symbols, combine that set, and then split it."
"Then you reverse the two sets right?" I nodded.
"Yeah that's right."
"Alright I think I can take it from here. Thanks for the help," said Sophia.
"Don't mention it. Just trying to help." I looked up to watch the battle. Nel healed Cliff who had gotten a nasty cut from the Enforcer. Fayt stabbed into one of the Enforcer's wings causing it to roar out in pain. Maria rolled underneath the enforcer and shot several blasts into the lower parts of it's face. Not to far from the others, Albel and Peppita were fighting the Proclaimer. Peppita whacked the Proclaimer on the head with on of her oversized beads and then Albel cut off the Proclaimer's head.
"There! Done!" Exclaimed Sophia. I turned around to see the screen of the uninstaller flashing. Suddenly the Enforcer started glowing and it exploded. Out in the distance you could hear similar explosions. We walked around to see if there were anymore Executioners, there were none.
"Is it over?" Asked Fayt.
"Yes, it seems like it," said Dr. Leingod.
"We did it!" Exclaimed Sophia.
"At last, it's over," said Maria with a sigh of relief.
"Now it's time to celebrate!" Exclaimed Cliff. I smiled.
"You guys have fun, I still have some work to do. Got to clean up the mess Luther left and get some answers," I said.
"Ah, well come to our party on the Diplo when your done!" Said Cliff.
"Since when was there going to be a party on the Diplo?" Asked Maria.
"Simple, Lancar and I arranged it. Steeg and Lieber had a hand in it too," said Cliff.
"And you didn't even tell me? I could have helped out..." Said Maria.
"You? Help organize a party? I thought you were all business and no fun," I said with a grin.
"How dare you?" Asked Maria in mock hurt.
"Well it's the truth." Maria punched me in the arm lightly.
"That wasn't very nice."
"I know." My grin disappeared. "Well, now's not the time for celebrating for me. You guys go and party, I will join you later."
"Alright, see you later Alex," said Fayt.
"Be careful, Alex," said Maria. I nodded and started walking towards the Time Gate. Suddenly the ground started shaking violently.
"What's happening?" Asked Fayt. I looked up as a dark circle appeared in the sky. As I sensed the energy I gasped.
"It can't be!" I exclaimed.
"What is it?" Asked Cliff.
"This isn't over yet! Here comes the other type of Executioner, the Convictor!" I exclaimed. The Convictor popped it's head out of the circle and then it landed on the ground. "What is Luther thinking? Those things are too dangerous to use in the Eternal Sphere!"
"It's stronger than any other Executioner we have ever fought before," said Maria as she pulled out her gun. We pulled out our weapons and got ready to fight the Convictor. We charged towards our target. I got there first and I slashed the Convictor with one of the blades of my swallow. I ducked as Maria opened fire on the Convictor. Next up was Cliff who unleashed a fury of punches on the Convictor. Fayt and Albel rushed in at the same time and slashed at the Convictor. Sophia struck the Convictor with lightning bolt and Peppita delivered a kick to the Convictor's face. The Convictor brought it's arm around and knocked Cliff, Maria, and I down to the ground. The others covered us while we got back up. As we were about to launch another assault on the Convictor it threw it's arms forward sending a wave of energy blasts at us. The force of the attack send us all back flying to the ground.
I was able to get up first and I charged towards the Convictor. I slashed several times at the Convictor but each hit missed.
"Die!" Exclaimed the Convictor as it aimed it's hand at me. I looked down to see wind starting to pick up under my feet.
"You've got to be kidding!" I exclaimed as I realized I had fallen right into the Convictor's attack. The dark brown cyclone appeared and I was sent flying up into the air. The force of the air created various cuts all over my body. I fell to the ground and I wasn't able to get back up. I saw the others charge in and start fighting the Convictor. This was not good, we were having a lot of trouble fighting this thing. Though I did notice one thing, it seems like Fayt and Maria were starting to get a grasp on their powers. With just a little training they could learn how to use their powers perfectly and effectively. I looked up to see Peppita get caught in one of the Convictor's tornadoes, she was thrown down to the ground really hard. After that the Convictor had brought it's arm down at her. Peppita tried to get out of the way and almost did... but unfortunately she hadn't gotten away completely. The Convictor's attack and broken both of her legs, preventing her from getting up. I started to get up. The Convictor was about to release another attack. I quickly pressed the emergency power up function on my debugging tool.
I felt the surge of power come into me and I saw the bolts of energy start crackling around me. I rushed forward with blinding speed.
"SLASH STORM!" I yelled. I slashed my swallow through the Convictor, I slid behind it and then slashed it again. I unleashed a fury of stabs with several more slashes. I jumped up into the air. "GLIDING STRIKE!" I zoomed down towards the Convictor and I slashed my swallow through it. I landed in front of the Convictor and I took several steps away from it. The Convictor fell to the ground and it didn't get back up. We were all breathing heavily from that tough battle.
"That was close," said Maria.
"It's smaller but so much more powerful," said Cliff. I walked over to where Peppita was.
"This doesn't look good, she's not going to be able to walk with her legs in that condition," I said. The attack had rendered Peppita unconscious and based on what I now about the Convictor's attacks, there was more damage than just broken bones.
"She isn't going to die is she?" Asked Dr. Leingod.
"If it were just the bones in her legs that broke than this wouldn't be that big of a problem."
"If it were just the bones? What do you mean?" Asked Sophia.
"That attack the Convictor used was made to disable the opponent completely, make it easier for the Convictor to kill them. Upon impact not only does it break the bone but it also destroys everything surrounding the bone."
"What? Then that means..." Started Fayt.
"Yes, the muscle in her legs were almost destroyed, the blood vessels were badly damaged, and to all of you who know human anatomy then you know there is more damage than that in this case. But she was smart to try to get out of the way. If that had hit anywhere that had a vital organ she would be dead right now."
"Can runology or symbology heal any of the damage?" Asked Nel.
"A little bit, but not enough for a full recovery," I said.
"Then I will at least heal some of the damage." Nel walked over to Peppita. She put her hands on the damaged parts of Peppita's legs and her hands started glowing and Peppita was covered in a wave of yellow light. After a minute or two had passed Nel's hands stopped glowing and the yellow light disappeared. "That should help a little bit."
"Everyone! Can you hear me?" Asked a voice from the Time Gate. We all turned around to see Blair standing in the middle of the Time Gate.
"Blair! What in the hell happened?" I asked.
"The uninstaller! It didn't work!" Exclaimed Sophia.
"That's the problem... we were tricked," said Blair.
"Tricked? How so?" Asked Fayt.
"It seems that the Owner anticipated the use of an uninstaller. He prepared a security program that wouldn't activate unless the uninstaller was used."
"Based on what that security program did... I must say that Luther is out of his mind," I said as I looked over at the corpse of the Convictor.
"Yes, I can't believe he decided to use those things. They weren't put into the Eternal Sphere for a reason."
"So what do we do now?" Asked Maria.
"It's simple, we have to find Luther and make him uninstall the security program," I said.
"Sounds like a plan, but how do we find him?" Asked Albel.
"As you know, he is now in his private lab inside of the Eternal Sphere. We need a special ID to get in there," said Blair.
"Special ID? What's that?" Asked Dr. Leingod.
"A Special ID is a debugging tool left in the Eternal Sphere. Only those who understand what they are can use them. I believe you call them Out of Place Artifacts."
"So that's what all of those O.P.A.s really were? Who would have thought?" Asked Cliff.
"Now all we have to do is get an O.P.A. which should be pretty simple," said Maria.
"Yeah, I know where one is," I said.
"The one you made, right? The Sacred Orb, isn't that what you named it?" Asked Blair as she looked over at me.
"Yeah, that's the one."
"You made the Sacred Orb?" Asked Nel with a look of shock on her face.
"Yup, sure did."
"Okay, go get the Sacred Orb. Once you have obtained it contact me. I will try to find the entrance to Luther's private lab," said Blair.
"But Blair, what about opening the entrance to Luther's Private Lab? I am a system Moderator, not an administrator. I can use the Sacred Orb to talk to you but I can't use it to open the path," I said.
"Sophia will take care of that for you."
"I will?" Asked Sophia.
"You seem to have the power to connect to things and bypass any restrictions that exist, which gives you the same access privileges as Luther."
"Really? Good, that takes care of that problem," I said.
"Best of luck to all of you," said Blair. Blair disappeared. Cliff picked Peppita up and we started walking back towards our shuttle. As we left the nearby area we immediately noticed one thing.
"What the hell?" Asked Cliff.
"It must have been the Earthquake," said Maria.
"Let's just hope the Shuttle is okay," said Fayt. We started crossing the newly formed terrain but due to how much it had changed it took awhile to finally reach the area where our shuttle was. Unfortunately the shuttle had been destroyed and it was sitting in a pile of rocks.
"Damn it," I said.
"This is a problem," said Nel. Fayt looked over at Maria.
"Any transmissions?" Asked Fayt.
"Hold on a second, let me check," said Maria as she turned on her communicator. There was nothing but static.
"This sucks," said Albel.
"Wait a moment, I hear something." Among the static I could make out a voice in the background.
"Marietta!" Said Maria. The static cleared out.
"Hey everyone! I got Maria on the communicator!" Exclaimed Marietta.
"I see you guys are okay, what a relief," said Mirage.
"Yeah when we lost contact with the Aquaelie we didn't know what to think," added Marietta.
"Yeah we have been kind of busy," said Maria.
"Same here, we had a hard time getting away from the Executioners but we managed," said Mirage.
"Can you come pick us up?"
"Huh? What happened to the shuttle you took there?" Asked Marietta.
"It was destroyed during an incident on this planet."
"Roger, we will be there to pick you up soon," said Mirage.
"Alright, see you then," said Maria. Maria turned off her communicator. Almost two hours later Maria's communicator started beeping and we were all transported up. The first thing we did was get Peppita to the sick bay. Based on what they said it would take awhile but they would be able to heal Peppita. Maria told Mirage to set a course for Elicoor II and soon we zoomed off into gravitic space.
I was starting to feel a bit annoyed. There were so many questions I had and yet few of them are getting answers. New questions and mystery popping up were starting to become a daily routine. I knew that our journey was almost over and at the time I believed that all of the questions would be answered at the final destination of our journey: Luther's private lab. But little did I know how wrong I was.
So their journey is starting to draw to a close. But what awaits our heroes? What is going on with Luther? Where does Vox come into any of this? Those answers are coming soon. Though I do have one thing I want to say about the next chapter. There is going to be a very slight cross over in the next chapter. What is this cross over going to be? Find out in the next chapter. Anyway, please review.