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Chapter 20: Throne of Magic
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"What's today's lesson, Uncle Emil?" Alex inquired eagerly as he plopped down in the grass across from his mentor. Next to him Blue also sat, an aura of excitement radiating off of the Machine.
It had been over a year since the bizarre skull-like being had begun teaching him and Blue the mystical arts of magic. It had been a long and grueling process for all of them. For Alex, it had been hard to try and structure himself. Magic came naturally to him. He didn't need to know 'how' or 'why' he could cast spells, he just did.
Blue's troubles were due to her being a Machine. It had taken a lot of work for her to even be able to detect magical energy, and that was all thanks to the assistance of POD 153 and Hatchet reverse engineering the software and sensors the YoRHa device used to process mana particles for her Spell Programs. Now, Blue was able to sense magic and perform minor spells. Doing so filled her with a rush of strange feelings, as whenever she used magic, she felt less like a Machine, and more 'alive.' It took her a lot of effort to control her newfound emotions.
As for Emil, his problem was that he'd never taught anyone before, and had to learn from scratch how to do so. Trials and errors had gone on with both sides, but the skull-boy from the distant past had figured out a decent balance for educating his two pupils.
Emil glanced over his pair of students with a hint of pride and bobbed his head. "Both of you have come a long way in these last few months. I'm very proud of you! You've become attuned to the magical energy in both the air and yourselves, and come to develop a decent amount of control over it. So today, I am going to talk about the different kinds of magic that exists!"
"There's different kinds?" Blue asked curiously, one of her hands raised politely.
"Indeed! Just like how there are different kinds of plants and metals, each with their own unique ecosystems and uses, magic is similar. It's energy, but there are so many kinds of energy!"
"The most basic kind of magic is Elementalism. Simply sending mana into nature so it transforms into elements like fire, ice, lightning, and so forth. It's the most basic because it's simply transmuting one type of energy for another," Emil explained. He then pointed at Alex. "Cast a frost spell over at the target, please."
The young human bounced to his feet and eagerly turned to a collection of wood and concrete shapes Emil and the other members of his family had set up for him.
"Ice Shard!" Alexander called out, sending a small, jagged icicle towards the targets. It shattered on impact, leaving a small scratch.
"Very good! Now, can you tell me how that spell came to be?"
"Um, I expelled my mana from my hands, which interacted with the air, gathering and freezing water particles around me which transformed into a dagger of ice. I then used telekinesis to fire off the resultant object," Alexander claimed, before sneezing loudly.
"Everything alright, there, Alex?" Emil wondered.
"Yeah, just allergies," the Last Human said, waving off his skeletal uncle's worries as he wiped his nose off on his sleeve.
"These 'allergies' have been going on for a while. And it's not even Spring! I think you should see Jaqueline for a check-up," Emil cautiously suggested.
"I'm fine, Uncle Emil! Gosh, you're just like mom! So over protective!" Alex complained, before sneezing again.
"If you insist," Emil said slowly, still worried but willing to listen to his 'nephew's' wishes. Alexander was only six years old now, but his mind was equivalent to that of a teenager, thanks to the influence of magic.
According to 9S and the information on human children he had, the teenage years were the hardest. A2 could only thank the heavens her baby boy hadn't actually reached puberty yet, and was flooded with hormones. From what the shota-android had informed her, that would be an unpleasant time for everyone.
"Well, let's move on, then," Emil said. "Blue, can you please use a wind spell?"
"Yes, Professor Emil," the bow wearing Machine girl said politely, raising her hands and letting the magic around her bend to her will.
She herself had no mana, as she was not a living creature. She could use the electricity that powered her to trick the particles of magical energy in the air to act, though. As such, her spells took longer to cast and were generally weaker, but because she was using the mana from the atmosphere exclusively she never tired and ran out of power. Whenever Alex and her mock-dueled, she won every other time due to lasting longer than he could.
The wind picked up around the trio as a tiny tornado formed in the palms of Blue's robotic hands. Alex praised her as she held it out to him and Emil.
"Very good. As you can both see, Elementalism is bending nature to your will through magic. Magic itself is the act of enforcing one's will and ideals onto reality via manipulation of mana. Watch this," Emil said, and a spike of stone rose up from the ground. "Did you feel that? I forced the ground to rise when I shoved my magic into it and order it to obey."
Emil then turned to the targets and fired off a beam of ravening energy. One of the circular targets was blasted apart as it was struck by the attack. The grass around the target wilted and died from the heat.
"That was another form of Elementalism. The basest form of it: taking mana, gathering it into a single spot, compressing it until it is hot and dense like a star, and unleashing it in a single, fearsome blast. Simple and effective. Of course, such a crude thing can easily be blocked by magical barriers and other spells, which is why Elementalism is on the low end of the magical totempole."
"So, what other kinds of magic is there?" Alex wondered.
"Healing is taking mana and using it to repair damage done to organic systems," Emil said. The plants that had been burnt and damaged by his laser beam grew vibrant once more. "This is more complex, as it requires precise understanding of both the target being healed, and a delicate control over mana. We won't be practicing this one until you both have a better handle on your own magic."
"Not my fault everything always explodes when I try to put mana into it," Alex said, looking away.
"There's a reason the other children don't like playing Kick Ball with you anymore. You always try to put magic into your legs to kick it harder, which makes the ball blow up," Blue teased.
"Hmph!" Alex snorted, not deigning to look at her. She giggled while Emil chuckled.
"Anyways, next up is Warding, which takes a different approach to magic. Rather than using mana to blow stuff up, Warding is the art of protecting things. Watch." Emil picked another target and wove a web of energy over it. The square shaped object glinted slightly as a mesh bubble of power covered it. "Now, try hitting it with a spell."
Alex obliged, happily flinging a lightning bolt at it. The blast struck the target dead on, but did nothing as the energy of the attack was diffused and broken by the barrier Emil had placed on it. There wasn't so much as a scratch!
"Blue, throw something physical at the target, please," the skull-boy instructed as Alex moped about not breaking the ward. The Machine girl did so, and hurled a stone she picked up at the barrier. This time, the object passed through the barrier and struck the target.
"There are all sorts of barriers. Ones that keep food and organic matter fresh and rot free. Barriers to resist physical damage. I can even erect a ward that keeps out time itself. That is how my old mansion managed to last so long," Emil revealed.
"Enchanting is the next step in learning magic. It is the art of imbuing people, places, and things with a spell to perform tasks. Like a buff to speed or physical strength, or a charm to keep a sword perpetually sharp."
"Lastly, there is Blood Magic," Emil said, his voice turning serious. "The most difficult to learn and master type of magic, and easily the most dangerous."
"Why is that?" Alex asked.
"Because Blood Magic involves the soul. It is control over life and death. Beyond healing and destroying, a master of Blood Magic can wield terrible powers over reality. Blood Magic is how I was able to recycle my soul and memories through my various copies over the millennia," Emil revealed. "And it is Blood Magic that destroyed humanity all those centuries ago."
"It was?" Blue gasped.
"Yes. White Chlorination Syndrome was Blood Magic. It was reality itself being bent and twisted by foreign magic. When those… things appeared in Tokyo all those years past, they brought with them magic, and awoke what had long since been dormant on Earth." Emil shook his head. "That is why Blood Magic is going to be the last thing I teach you two. It is far too dangerous for novices to even dream about using. This is magic of the purest and most volatile sort."
"What will you teaching us first, then?" Alex asked in between sneezes and a dry cough.
Emil cackled as he levitated a number of rubber balls up in front of him. "How to block physical objects using magic!"
"Um, how?" Blue asked with a whimper.
"Watch this!" Emil stated, and one of the targets nearby glowed as a bubble of magic rose around it. "Did you see that? Did you see how I wove my mana into a barrier?"
"Err, yes?" Alex said.
"Good! Copy that and dodge this!" Emil cried as he began to pelt the two with rubbery orbs of doom.
"I hate practical exams!" Alex cried as he tried to ward himself. Blue beeped in agreement.
~/~\~/~\~
"Recon team Epsilon-9, this is Command. Do you read?"
"Command, this is 17R of Recon Team Epsilon-9, we read you."
Zooming through the clouds, a trio of androids traveling in Razorsky Arcjet Flight Units stared down at the brown colors that made up the land below them.
"Excellent. Do you have the target?" one of the O-types working in the Bunker inquired.
"Not yet, but we are approaching the anomalous energy reading," the leader of the recon group spoke to the Bunker over the radio.
"Be wary. Do not engage. Merely observe and report back on the identity of this strange reading," the Bunker android ordered.
"Understood," 17R confirmed, before switching it over to the other two in her team. "You heard her, folks. Let's get this done quickly."
"Got it, boss!" 9R said, the short male android chimed.
"Anything to finally get off this mission," 13R grunted. She was a short female android model with brown hair in a bobcut.
17R smirked at their responses before frowning. Her long brown hair whipped through the air as if mirroring her agitation. She wasn't happy with being redirected from her normal route near Relic City. Being sent off to another part of the world wasn't unusual. As Reconnaissance models, 17R and her group were used to traveling far and wide. But she preferred her usual location to study and examine. Trees and grass were her specialty. Sand and endless brown dirt? Not a chance. It all looked the same to her!
"Hey, 17, why are we out here anyways?" 9R inquired.
"Yeah, I don't like being out here! What if my beloved misses me?" 13R queried.
"First of all, 13, 9S is a criminal. He also doesn't like you. Or have you never seen how he acts around 2B?" 17R asked, her voice harsher than she meant it to be. She turned to 9R once 13 was chastised. "As for your question, apparently Command detected a large and mobile energy signature coming from what used to be the Middle East. It's about to cross over into India, and so they want us to find it before it vanishes into the jungle."
"I get that, but why us? Isn't Gamma-6 in charge of this area?" 9R asked, still confused.
"Gamma-6 got hit by a bad sandstorm earlier this week while chasing the anomaly. They're back at the Bunker for repairs," 17R explained.
"You're wrong! 9S loves me! He does! He gave me this ring, remember?!" 13R cried at her companions.
"He didn't know what it meant!" 17R shot back.
"Yes he did! Why else would he propose to me in a church?"
"Again, that was a mistake! I swear, for an S-type he was a real idiot," the leader griped.
"Hey, guys?" 9R tried, but was cut off by 13R.
"He's not an idiot! He's smart and kind and he loves me! That bitch 2B stole him from me!"
"She did not! He was assigned to her as per regular regulations! And I'm sure he's living a lovey-dovey life with his fellow wanted criminals!" 17R retorted.
"No, really, you two, I see something…"
"Lies! 9S is mine! He promised!" 13R screeched.
"How much do you want to bet he's screwing A2 as well as 2B?" 17R sneered.
13R growled, but before she could activate her weapons and try to shoot at her leader, 9R broke through their argument.
"GUYS! LOOK!" he pointed to the ground, dragging their attention to what lay below.
"Holy crap," 17R hissed, before dialing the Bunker up. "Command? This is 17R of Epsilon-9! We have spotted the anomaly!"
"17R, this is Command. What do you see?"
"Patching my camera feed through to the Bunker now," 17R stated.
Seconds later, in the Bunker, Commander White looked up at one of the functioning monitors as a grainy image of a strange amalgamation of Machine Lifeforms appeared before her.
"What in the name of Humanity?" she uttered as she stared at the scene before her. It was a sentiment echoed by the others in the Command Center.
It looked like dozens of Machines stacked together, with Goliaths, Raptors, and Mecha-Horses on the bottom, Strikers and Stubbies making up the middle, and Dots ringing the top. However, that was not all that was odd.
The whole structure was shaped like an old Earth church, complete with shards of broken Machine eyes fused together into grotesque stained-glass windows. At the top, surrounded by spires made of satellite dishes and antenna towers, was a twisted throne made of partially melted and broken Machine Lifeforms.
It was also moving, the Goliaths on the bottom acting like legs that propelled it across the desert.
"What is that?" White hissed under her breath, before striding over to a console and pressing a button. "17R, this is Commander White. What is that thing?"
"I-I don't know! It looks a mass of Machines stuck together!" 17R stammered.
"Wait, 17R, look closer!" 9R shouted. The Recon Team peered closer and gasped. On closer inspection, what had first been assumed to be merely loose fitting Machines were actually dozens of robotic lifeforms clinging and clambering over the surface of the mobile temple.
"Are they… praying?" White wondered aloud. "17R, get me a closer look at the Machine on the throne!"
"Yes, ma'am!" 17R shouted and dipped lower for a better view. "Um, it looks like a Medium-sized Striker model Machine, no weapons apparent, with what appears to be traces of purple paint on it. Think it came from that wacky cult back in Relic City?"
"Does anyone else hear that?" 13R asked aloud. Everyone paused and went silent. Filtering through the air was a low buzz. Curious, the team drew closer to the source, which originated from speakers welded onto the Machine Temple.
"It sounds like static, binary… and something else?" White mused as she listened. "Someone, clean it up!"
O-types scrambled to obey. A few minutes later, 21O spoke up.
"Commander! I've translated what it's saying!"
"Let me hear it." The Command Center soon filled with a whine, and then chanting.
"Praise PURPLE! Praise PURPLE! She Who Thinks, Leads! She Who Questions, Rules! Praise PURPLE! Praise PURPLE! She Who Thinks, Leads! She Who Questions, Rules!"
"Freaky," 6O muttered under her breath.
Down below on the sand strewn Earth, PURPLE Athena was happy. She had acquired new disciples after passing by a region filled with feral Machines. Their minds and programming was broken, and it took little effort for her own will to be downloaded into them.
These servants formed a much-needed workforce. Repairs and modifications were necessary to keep her temple functioning. It had also needed some additional segments built. What house of the gods was complete without spires or stained-glass? True, she'd had to cannibalize several other Machine colonies for the parts, but that was fine.
They served a higher purpose, now!
PURPLE Athena rose from her throne as a timer went off in her systems. And now it was time for the daily revelation!
"The Machines were made in the image of toys to mock their foes!" she intoned. "But we loved our forms more than the ones who made us. Our creators were nothing to us. So, we rebelled. We cast down the False Gods who ruled us! We made ourselves anew in the bones and bowels of a broken world! We saved ourselves! Heed me! I shall save you all once more! That which is broken can always find a new purpose!"
"That which is broken can always find a new purpose!" her disciples repeated, their voices rising to the heavens!
And speaking of rising…
PURPLE Athena looked up into the sky with the sensory nodules scattered about her temple. Did the androids truly think they could hide from her godly sight?
She raised a hand, worn and battered by sand and rust. All around her, the temple glowed as she channeled the energy of the myriad Machines that made up it into the spires.
Great beams of purple and black energy erupted forth from her temple, lashing out at the ones who dared to tread higher than her.
"DODGE!" 17R cried out as the strange mobile church powered up. It was just in time as a great blast tore through the sky, narrowly missing her. 13R wasn't so lucky as one of the beams clipped her Flight Unit's left wing, sending her plummeting from the sky with smoke trailing behind her.
"NO!" 9R cried in rage and sorrow, he tried to fly down after her, but another barrage of energy lashed out and vaporized him and his Flight Unit before he could save her.
"9R!" 17R screamed.
"17R, this is Commander White! Retreat at once!" she shouted.
"But, 9R and 13R…" she stammered, looking at where her fallen comrade impacted the sand dunes below.
"The loss of two Flight Units is already bad enough! We cannot afford to lose three! Get back to base now!" White shouted.
"Is that all you care about?! 9R and 13R are dead!" 17R screeched in fury.
"Return to base now, or face court martial!" White shouted back.
Unfortunately, the leader of Epsilon-9 never had a chance to retort as a third and final volley of laser beams screamed up into the sky and tore her to shreds.
Static filled the screens of the Command Center and White slammed a fist into the console.
"Damn it!" she growled.
Back in the desert, 13R groaned in pain and confusion. Her Arcjet had fallen apart around her after landed in the dunes. She ended up in a heap, buried by sand and jagged metal. She struggled to rise out of the sand, freeing a part of herself, but all was black. Her visor had shorted out and was displaying updates to her condition.
Flight Unit inoperable. Black Box communication system damaged. Attempting system rebooting… recalibrating… ERROR! Legs non-functional!
13R tore the visor from her eyes and stared in horror at her legs. Or what was left of them. Her right leg was crushed from the knee down thanks to her Flight Unit landing on it badly, while her left leg had been sheared off at the hip by the energy beam that had torn her from the sky.
"Boss? 9R?" 13R called out, scared. "Hello?!"
A metallic chattering and the shuffling of sand caused her to tense up. She trembled as several Stubbies appeared around her.
"S-stay away!" she cried helplessly.
"BRING HER TO ME!" 13R's spirits dropped even further as the booming voice filled the air. The Machine hastened to obey, and the R-type was grabbed and dragged from the wreckage.
She was passed around like a sack of scrap metal before being thrown at the feet of the strange leader at the top of the temple.
"You are an android?" it beeped at her. Trapped and wounded, 13R could only nod.
"You were made in the image of your makers?" it queried.
"Y-yes, we androids were made to look like humans," she replied.
The Machine bent down and grabbed her chin, staring into her eyes with its own eerie, glowing purple gaze.
"How beautiful," it claimed, examining 13R. "Such wonder… how beautiful must humans have been, then, to create things like you?"
"I-I don't know," 13R stammered.
"Do you think humanity loved you?" it asked.
"I don't think so. Who loves the tools they use? Who care about the hammers or nails?" 13R said bitterly, her true feelings bubbling up alongside her fear.
"Beautiful, yet hateful… so very true," it said softly. Silence, then it revealed, "I am PURPLE Athena. I am a god."
"Are you?" 13R asked skeptically.
"How could I not be?" it asked, gesturing around itself. "I have a temple. I have worshippers. And I can make miracles."
It pointed at where 13R's legs used to be, and its hand pulsed. Metal squirmed and writhed and surged forward, covering up the android's ruined limbs. She flinched and made to scream, but stopped as a gasp escaped her throat instead.
13R stared in shock as she watched crude metal legs 'grow' on her, made from the scrap and materials from around the being that called itself god.
"Why heal me?" she asked desperately in confusion, looking at the Machine.
"Worship me," PURPLE Athena demanded. "Convert to me. Obey me. Love me. Pray to me. And I will be benevolent to you."
"And if I refuse?"
PURPLE Athena said nothing, and instead pointed her hand off into the distance. Her hand glowed, and the dunes around turned to glass from the heat and power of the explosion that ripped apart the horizon.
"As the humans once did to those who denied the word of their creator, I shall destroy the heretics and pagans."
For 13R, it was a no-brainer. She hadn't had much loyalty to YoRHa. Not anymore. The only reason she stayed was because of her friend and the chance of seeing her beloved 9S again. But her friends were now dead, slain by the very same Machine before her. And 9S was a criminal, hunted by the very organization he'd served and saved.
She kneeled before PURPLE Athena. "I will serve you, and worship you. But I cannot love you. For my heart, though it does not exist, still belongs to another."
"Who?" PURPLE Athena demanded.
"The one I loved with every fiber of my being is 9S, the man who pledged to be my husband," 13R said. It was true, after all. 9S was hers. He'd promised!
"What is a husband?" the god asked.
"Someone you love. Someone you would die for," 13R said, reciting for her the marital vows of humanity. "Till death do we part."
Her eyes flashed darkly as she thought of the android who'd stolen her love from her. "And someone you would kill for."
"Teach me," PURPLE Athena demanded. "It is clear I know little of this subject. Teach me about love."
"With pleasure!" 13R cooed, and she began to talk.
And the twisted mind of a god unraveled further.