"Now Lu'eez, please contain yourself when we see Kevris, alright?"
"Why should I?" Louise growled as she and Shil'ka walked through the massive Scrin base they had been originally intending to be at.
"Because, we being sent to a different Threshold was likely intentional, we must give Kevris a chance to explain to us why he did this."
Louise let out an audible growl. "Can I at least attempt to hit him a few times?"
"Only if you don't value your life, you know how strong he is. The chance of you actually being able to strike him is low."
"I've got freaking Polaron cords!" Louise commented loudly as her cords pulled out of her ponytail and pointed at Shil'ka, the centers of them glowing faintly pink.
"Please don't point those at me, I do not wish to know how it feels to be struck by them." Shil'ka calmly stated.
"Huh, if he did this on purpose to us I swear I don't know what I'll do!" Louise commented as the continued to walk through the base that was filled with dozen of portals and commands structures. As they neared a large open area in the center of the base they both simultaneously saw Kevris waiting in its center, his arms crossed as if he was bored with waiting. As they neared closer, Kevris uncrossed his large arms and readjusted the way he was standing on his five massive legs before speaking.
"It is about time you got here. I was beginning to think you had been killed by that annoying mutation!"
Louise and Shil'ka stopped before him as he finished, and Shil'ka stepped forward a step. "It sounds like you speak of the mutated crustacean we encounter in a cave, how would you know of it?"
"This world's native fauna has been either turned or destroyed, only that mutated creature still stood. It would not leave that cave, and any small drones I sent in were destroyed by it promptly. The cave was too small for me to send in larger armoured drones."
"So you sent us in instead!" Louise said loudly.
Kevris bobbed his large body. "Yes. I redirected the threshold to send you to a different one so that you could deal with that little problem for me. It is good you did so without failing, it would have been problematic if you died doing something so simple!"
Louise's eye twitched as she heard this. "Kevris!" Louise suddenly screamed, her rage at a fever pitch.
Kevris turned to Louise. "What is it, potential Sectlord Lu'eez?"
"Why did you not tell us this before! Or have us destroy it from here?"
"Because I decided not to. What difference does it make?"
"so we had to trudge through the shallows of almost two hundred islands, spelunk through a slick cave and fight an unknown enemy all because you decided not to share information with us!"
"Yes, and as I asked, what difference does it make?"
" . . . . Do you recall when we first met? You tried to kill me on a whim."
"Yes I did. " Kevris said with a laugh. "What is your point?"
"My point is that I'm going to make you suffer for it!"
Before Shil'ka could act Louise ran towards Kevris and closed the distance startlingly fast, coming up to his closest leg and punching it square in the center with her closed fist.
Kevris saw her coming but decide to do nothing. He had already figured this could have happened as the little potential Sectlord had quite the temper. He even figured he would let her get some of her anger out, what harm could it do? What he didn't expect was her punch to break the lower section of his leg right off, the wound spilling ichor laden black liquid all over the ground as he stumbled backwards from the unexpected pain.
As Kevris readjusted his posture, putting as little weight on his now wounded leg, he spied Louise running up the side of a nearby reactor. He had been prepared to give her leeway for being angry. Now he was the one who was angry! He raised both of his massive arms and began firing a barrage of plasma discs toward her position. The discs soared toward her as she jumped off of the reactor and toward Kevris. But instead of the discs exploding and sending her back to the ground, all of them evaporated and a thin bright pink pair of beams appeared from above her and collided with his right arms Barrel, blowing his entire right arm apart in a massive explosion that knocked Kevris to the ground.
As Kevris tried to pull himself up he felt a weight on his body and looked to see Louise standing on his chest, two thin proton beam tendrils coming from her head and pointing at him, their ends glowing pink.
"Proton beam tendrils? Kevris said in confusion.
Louise shook her head. "Polaron Cords. Do you yield?"
"Those are proton tendrils, how?"
"They're not proton beams, they're Polaron cords. They're part of me. I can name them what I like. Do you yield?"
Kevris stared at the small potential Sectlord in amazement. Proton beam technology was powerful, but Polaron technology was still being fiddled with. For her body to have augmented and created working Polaron weaponry was a startling feat. "Very well, I yield."
"Bravo Potential Sectlord Lu'eez. Congratulations, even I am greatly impressed."
Everyone turned to see a hologram of the Overlord floating just in front of them, shaking with laughter. Louise quickly jumped off of Kevris and stood up straight as the Overlord continued to speak.
"I must say your evolution goes well, so well in fact that I think you are ready!"
"Ready for what?"
"For the final test. Ready for returning to your world and attempting to make your own Sect! May I ask a question first, though?"
Louise was unsure what to say and just nodded.
"How did you know where to attack Kevris?"
"When I punched his leg I saw his build in my head, down to a molecular level."
The Overlord stayed silent for many moments before laughing again. "Intriguing. From the sound of it, you are in luck. I give you only two objectives when you return to your world. The first is to obtain a vessel to act as your command ship. There is such a vessel on your planet, a dreadnaught that was outfitted for ichor mutation research. It is deep in a wasteland. The second objective is to work toward the creation of your sect. Do you understand?"
Louise nodded. "When will I know I have completed the second objective?"
"You will not, I will. When you have completed it I shall contact you personally. Other than these objectives you will be free to think up any objective you desire. Shil'ka, please assist her in preparing to leave." The overlord ordered.
Shil'ka nodded and led Louise toward the nearby threshold, leaving Kevris alone with the Overlord."
"Is this what you wanted lord?" Kevris asked as he tried, and failed, to get up.
"Yes, she has evolved fantastically. I see her being a great addition to the Sectlord's.
"If you say so, Lord."
"I do. Now get yourself patched up. The Overlord said just before his hologram vanished completely.
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Southern Tristania Excavations site, evening.
Lady Montmorency slowly closed her logbook and let out a heavy sigh, catching the attention of her maid that was behind her making tea.
"Is something wrong, milady?" The maid asked calmly as she walked over quietly.
Lady Montmorency merely shook her head and happily took the tea cup, taking many sips from it before placing it on the desk before her. "No, nothing is wrong; I merely have confirmed my own findings. The Nightscreamer's corpse is definitely in the wastelands east of the elven lands."
"That is problematic is it not, milady?"
"Yes, the elves would not allow us to move through their lands, not even for peaceful means, and if I told the church my finding they would use it as an excuse to try for another crusade."
"Could we not just skirt around their territory using the southern mountain ranges?"
"Yes, but those ranges are unexplored and likely dangerous. it would nearly triple the amount of time for the expedition as well. A sky ship would be perfect for this, but none of ours are fast enough to not get taken by the elves. And I don't trust Albion so asking them for one is out of the questions."
The maid bowed and pulled a letter out of her pocket. "Then perhaps this may have an answer for you."
Lady Montmorency took the letter and looked it over. "Who is it from?"
"Your daughter. It arrived last week when the ruins were completely uncovered."
"Why did you not bring this to my attention sooner?"
"You had specifically asked me to keep all things away from you so that you might concentrate on the excavation. The letter was old to begin with as it went to your manor before coming here, so it's almost two weeks old I would wager."
Lady Montmorency nodded and waved the maid away as she slipped open the letter and looked it over.
Hello dear mother.
I apologize for not having sent you a letter as of late, things have been hectic here at the Academy since the Familiar summoning ritual yesterday. I myself have acquired a cute little water frog I have named Robin. I expect he will get along with your lizard, Richard, so I cannot wait until I can show him to you.
The familiar show went off without a hitch, everyone leaving a good impression with their familiars. Among them there were snakes, dogs, salamanders and even a dragon that were summoned, it was quite a scene to behold.
The only other thing of interest I can think of telling you is that our teacher Mister Colbert is working on a special project of his again. I know what you're thinking about, how his last project I told you about failed miserably. But unlike that one, this one seems to show promise and some other minor noble students are thinking of trying to get their families to sponsor this work. He's working on both a new type of sky ship and some sort of special machinery that will supposedly propel it at great speed. He is calling it the Ostrand, and has told us he intends for it to be used for exploration across the seas!
Alas, I cannot think of anything more to tell you about, but I hope we can see each other again soon so you can tell me of how your work goes, and so I can tell you personally how my marks in class are faring.
Sincerely with love,
Your daughter, Montmorency.
Lady Montmorency put the letter down and let out a smile as she waved her maid over to her side.
"You called, milady?"
"Yes," Lady Montmorency said with a grin. "Get preparations going. Tomorrow I am heading to the Academy."
"May I ask for what purpose, milady?"
"Yes, we're going to talk to my daughter, and a certain teacher of hers!"
