Satoru grabbed another disc, after removing the last one, and placed it on the DVD player. Fortunately, he recognized the Latin Numerals on the discs and figured that, since the first one he'd plucked had the symbol for the number "6" on it, the others should be similarly labeled. Hopefully, whoever recorded these things bothered to actually organize their stuff, because it'd be very annoying if a disc that was labeled with the number "10" turned out to be the fifth log or something.
The disc he grabbed was labeled with the Latin Numeral for the number "7". The last one had been the sixth log and the man in the video admitted that nothing much had happened. So, watching the previous five logs didn't seem like it'd be a worthwhile endeavor, which meant the logs that came afterwards would yield more results.
The screen let out a brief static, before another video played. This time, the same man had the camera panned closer to the woman, bound on the same chair. She was bleeding from numerous parts of her body. Her fingernails had been ripped right out and it looked as though she was missing a few teeth. Pretty much every inch of her body had a wound of some kind, away from vital areas, of course, but likely inflicted in such a way as to cause immense amounts of pain, without causing any permanent damage. Her left eye was bruised and closed. Her right eye, however, remained defiant.
"Was that the best you can do, Inquisitor? I've had worse in a bar fight." She spat blood and grinned as the man seethed, turning to the camera.
"Log #7," He said, gritting his teeth. "Physical torture has not yielded significant results. The woman remains defiant. My contacts tell me they're closing in on the cultists, but that it'd be a while before they can truly identify the members themselves. Emperor guide me, I am frustrated. But, I will persevere. For the sake of humanity... for the sake of the Imperium, I must succeed."
The man walked forward, leading the camera away from the woman. "What my spies have uncovered is that this cult is planning to summon a powerful Daemon of Tzeentch. Such a thing would be disastrous if it came to pass; billions will die. If all else fails, then I will have to trust in the power of the Wolves of Fenris. The Emperor protects."
The Daemon, Satoru surmised, was probably his latest buddy, Kairos.
Weird.
He was powerful and dangerous, but the two-headed bird seemed like a pretty chill guy with absolute no mental issues and likely had a healthy credit score.
Okay, that thing was an absolute menace. And it seemed like he, Satoru himself, was the only reason it hadn't bothered ripping through the metaphysical chains he'd created to hold most of its power in place and just walking right out of that portal and going full gorilla on the entire world. Even Satoru wasn't sure if he could stop the big blue bird if it went on a rampage. Hollow Technique: Purple would be able to hurt it, he knew, but Satoru also knew that it'd take a lot more than that to actually kill it, since its essence was tied to the realm of its origin, that ghastly spiritual plane of existence it seemed to pop out of during the ritual, that fucking realm that was seemed as though it was made entirely of Cursed Energy.
As long as Kairos was connected to it, then the big blue bird essentially had an infinite supply of Cursed Energy, allowing it to regenerate itself again and again and again. That sort of enemy would be a bitch to fight against, not to mention the fact that Kairos likely had a very power Cursed Technique to go along its ridiculous regeneration. Yeah, no; unless Satoru could somehow access that strange realm and harness some of its Cursed Energy for himself, a fight between them would only end badly for him.
So... that sorcerer girl must've been a member of this 'cult'. He surmised, seeing as she was terribly desperate to get the ritual going and summoning the big bird to do... stuff.
Huh... why'd they even want to summon Kairos? Through their very brief interaction, it didn't seem like the two-headed super demon had any interest in the planet itself or the few survivors.
Shaking his head, Satoru removed the disc and took another one from the collection. This time, he plucked the tenth disc, out of twenty. Surely, this Inquisitor fellow would've had at least some manner of success or progress by then. Watching him moan and complain about his inability to get a woman to start making the right sounds was becoming tedious. There must've been more effective methods to make her talk aside from torture. But, whatever, it wasn't his problem. And, if nothing else, it didn't seem like the Inquisitor discovered anything of value since the Wolves of Fenris were here anyway.
Frowning, Satoru shrugged and placed the tenth disc down and, instead, grabbed the twentieth, which he then placed on the sci-fi DVD player.
When the video played, it was no longer the Inquisitor fellow before the camera, but the woman, bruised and bloodied, but grinning with victory and vindication. She also looked wacky, since she was missing a lot of her teeth, but most of what she felt was captured by her eyes. Behind her, the Inquisitor screamed and babbled incoherently, bound to the very same chair she'd once been on. The man was naked, stripped of all his clothes. He too, was covered in cuts and bruises, portions of his skin flayed off, revealing the crimson muscles underneath. "What log is this? Ah... probably number 20. Anyway, my sisters should've finished laying the foundations for the rebellion by now. It's only a matter of time before the wolves come and perform the sacrificial rites for us. Once most of the population has been culled, then we shall summon the Fateweaver and this entire system will be consumed."
The woman laughed as she turned to the Inquisitor, whose eyes widened with pure rage. The man struggled hard against his binds, but he'd have to break apart his own bones and tear through his own skin to even get a sliver of a chance of breaking out of there. The woman laughed. "Oh, pardon me, did I just accidentally spill my plans to you, right as I'm about to kill you? Oh, silly me."
Who was she? Satoru wondered. She didn't have the same face as the woman who was burned to ashes by Kairos. She mentioned a cult, though, which meant she wasn't alone. Satoru raised a brow. Was she dead, then? It was entirely possible that the recently barbecued sorcerer-girl had been the last member of their cult and that ritual circle she created had been her last attempt at summoning the big blue bird.
"And that concludes everything." The woman finished, turning back to the camera. Already, Satoru noted, she was beginning to heal herself with Reverse Cursed Energy. Her bruises and cuts were slowly disappearing or fading away. Though, why she was taking her sweet time doing so eluded him. The sorcerer woman took a single step forward and whispered into the camera. "Humanity will fall. The Imperium will break and Chaos shall reign. This galaxy will burn. Death to the Corpse-Emperor!"
The screen faded.
And Satoru stood there, wide-eyed. That was... mildly concerning. So, fully extrapolating from what very little context he had available, this planet was and likely still is under the control of something called the Imperium, probably the dominant human faction or something, which had an Emperor, who was probably both an administrative and a religious figure, based entirely on how the Inquisitor man spoke of him with such zeal and how the sorcerer woman mentioned him with disdain. The Imperium also apparently was a super-duper large sci-fi empire that spanned... the entire galaxy? Sheesh, that was a tough nut to swallow.
The most damning thing, however, was the fact that the sorcerer woman was apparently in-league with a faction that was known as Chaos. And, based entirely on her words, which may or may not be totally accurate, it seemed like Chaos wanted to destroy the whole galaxy or something. And it had been their intention to have the whole planet torched. In that case, it was then a distinct possibility that this cult was the instigator for the planetary rebellion, which – no doubt – drew the attention of the Astartes, leading to a massacre of the entire world.
Double shit.
And he just signed himself up with Kairos Fateweaver, apparently a big honcho demon lord.
Oh boy. This shit was becoming complicated. "Am I... working for the bad guys, here?"
If the sorcerer woman's words were, in any way, factual, rigging the planet's population to be some form of sacrifice to fuel the summoning of Kairos, then... Satoru had no idea who to support. At the very least, it seemed like he'd thrown his lot in with the villains, but things were never black and white. For instance, the populace's aversion to the sorcerer girl told him that this Imperium was rather intolerant of his kind, perhaps even persecuting them outright like a bunch of witch hunters from the medieval period. That didn't sit right with him. Sorcerers were superior to humans – plain and simple. It was like a comparison between, well, a human and a monkey, which was why Geto often referred to them as such – lesser evolved, weaker. But, despite that thought, Satoru could not quite condone the mass-slaughter of humans, either. He wasn't a heartless automaton. Things were never black and white, after all. There were good and bad human beings, just as there were good and bad sorcerers.
Gritting his teeth, Satoru walked right back out of the room and onto the rooftop, where he surveyed the surrounding buildings and roads. The Astartes were still far away. He was sure they'd be looking for him, but they were doing a terrible job of it. Perhaps, their bio-scanner thing – if it existed at all – was relatively short-ranged? Who knows. Satoru certainly didn't care.
Caw!
Satoru's eyes narrowed at the... ravens that were perched upon the railings, each of them seemingly staring at him, each of them holding a tiny flicker of Cursed Energy. Mei Mei definitely wasn't here, but it seemed like someone had a similar ability to hers.
And that someone already knew he was here.
Six-Eyes, however, revealed that no one was approaching him quite yet. Or, at least, no one was approaching him with any substantial amount of speed.
He went back into the room and sat, cross-legged, on the floor.
Sleeping outright was a good way to get bombed by whoever controlled the creepy ravens outside. Instead, he'd meditate, constantly stirring and cultivating his Cursed Energy till they filled up once more. It should take him less than an hour to do that, he figured, maybe only thirty minutes at best. Afterwards, he could think about finding a more permanent place, after dealing with the sorcerer who was definitely coming for him. Satoru breathed in and closed his eyes. He turned his attention inwards, into the very core of his being, where his Cursed Energies swirled and rumbled like a sea beneath a raging storm.
Cursed Energy, in its usable form, at least, came from within a sorcerer, generated from the negative emotions that abounded, the dark and terrible things that permeated the Earth. The more talented sorcerers, like himself, could feel the ebb and flow of it in the wind itself, because – ultimately – Cursed Energy, in its primal state, was everywhere. Sorcerers passively absorbed the raw form of Cursed Energy into themselves and subconsciously altered the stuff to better suit their Cursed Techniques. For instance, Satoru himself possessed Cursed Energy that was more attuned to the ebb and flow of space-time; other sorcerers often perceived Satoru's Cursed Energy as that of infinity itself, the universe given perception and identity, unlimited power. Lesser sorcerers often fled or froze at the mere sight of him. This process was automatic, something that no one could control or otherwise tamper with, kind of like Black Flash, actually. Satoru could circumvent it, in a way, by using Reverse Cursed Energy to replenish his Cursed Energy, but it wasn't quite the same as taking the Cursed Energy from the world itself and using that to bolster his own.
But, what if it didn't have to be that way?
As far as Satoru was aware, absorbing ambient Cursed Energy manually was simply not possible. No one could do it. But, that was back on the Earth that he knew. Maybe, no one else had done it properly. Kairos, however, showed him the blueprint – or, at the very least, the big blue bird showed him that it was possible. After all, Kairos was absorbing energy directly from that fiery hellscape made entirely of Cursed Energy. If a bird could do it, then Gojo Satoru definitely could.
