Code Geass: Rivalz of the Rebellion [Celestial Forge/Insert]
By: Xavier843766
[NSFW] - Code Geass: Rivalz of the Rebellion [Celestial Forge/Insert] by Xavier843766
Status: ongoing
Published: 2023-05-26
Updated: 2023-07-22
Words: 94783
Chapters: 42
Original source: https/forum./threads/22532
Exported with the assistance of
Code Geass: Rivalz of the Rebellion [Celestial Forge/Insert]
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2: Day One
Chapter 3: Day 2
Chapter 4: Day Three To Six
Interlude: Lelouch I
Interlude II: Cornelia
Chapter 5: I'm a Knight, and I meet my Father In Law
Interlude IV: Charles
Interlude IV: Euphemia
Interlewd: Nunnally
Chapter 6: I ended up in a Harem Anime Pt. 1
Chapter 7: I ended up in a Harem Anime Pt. 2
Chapter 8: Upon This Island, I Build My Cyber-Nation!
Chapter 9: Politics, Being Knighted, Lots of Sex
Chapter 10: Course Corrections [Interludes V and VI]
Chapter 11: Sexual Advances, Euphie and Cornelia.
Chapter 12: A Call with Charles, A Private Discussion With Nunnally, and Cybernetic Suits.
Chapter 13: The Price of War
Chapter 14: Fallout, Pt. 1.
Chapter 15: Fallout, Pt. 2
Chapter 16: A New Era Dawns
Chapter 17: Recognition [Interludes VII]
Chapter 18: Regret [Interlude VIII]
Chapter 19: The Failure of Chess [Interlude IX]
Chapter 20: Delegation
Chapter 21: Administration
Chapter 22: Rimuru Tempest [Interlude X]
Chapter 23: Intervention [Rimuru]
Chapter 24: To The Moon [Nina Interlude]
Chapter 25: Neural Reconnection [Charles Interlude]
Chapter 26: The Subjugation of the EU Pt. 1.
Chapter 27: Subjugation of the EU Pt. 2.
Chapter 28: The Fall of the EU
Chapter 29: Arrival at Pendragon
Chapter 30: The World of C
Chapter 31: A Certain Scientific Accelerator
Chapter 32: The Galactic Empire Rises
Chapter 33: Aftershock
Interlude: Out There, Somewhere, Our God Rises
Chapter 34: Adrift Among the Solar Wind, Two Lone Stars Meet
Chapter 35: Beyond the Glass
Chapter 36: The One Sided War
Chapter 1
You know, it wasn't uncommon for some poor sucker to be stuck in Lelouch's body in some fics, likely having to deal with becoming a revolutionary on top of the antics of C.C. and trying to not get impaled on Suzaku's sword.
Ugh, sounded better in my head. My last life's name is not important. My real life's name is-
"Rivalz? Yoohoo? You slacking like Lelouch?" Milly Ashford's voice cut my thought process off, as I shook my head.
"Sorry." I said with a self-deprecating grin on my face. The memories of Rivalz had been a strangely seamless experience to handle, though time would tell if I could even maintain the man's happy-go-lucky attitude. I had been more of an introspective person by default. I still laughed and made jokes, but I was also more bitingly sarcastic.
"Just, thinking." I said quietly after a moment, looking down at the paperwork I was finishing up. It was honestly not all that difficult, merely tedious checking on the numbers of the budget, though the Ashford's still had plenty of their remaining wealth even after having been kicked off the mainland and disavowed for being known supporters of the Vi Britannia family.
"Abooout?" Milly asked curiously, her eyes glinting. Sadly for Milly, the crush Rivalz had on her had died a silent death. Milly Ashford was attractive, but I couldn't stand the endless amount of her antics she pulled in the show, and I hadn't even been apart of them personally! Our personalities just didn't mesh well.
Even Lelouch had stopped writing now, looking at me with what seemed concern as I hadn't spoken or looked embarrassed as Rivalz often had when caught daydreaming by Milly.
"About what the future holds." I said quietly. "Lelouch had dropped the call from Shirley, and then the news of what happened in Shingeku Ghetto, I was worried that the terrorists had captured him, or that he had gotten hurt in the crossfire. The idea that my friend could've died, has me rethinking things. I don't want to die with regrets."
"Shinjuku." Lelouch corrected quietly, looking very concerned now. His purple eyes seemed to gaze through me, it was a very chilling sensation to be analyzed by my 'friend'. "I'm perfectly fine, it's okay, Rivalz." Lelouch seemed to try and reassure me, his voice firm and gentle.
Memories of Lelouch in the show, his regrets eating at the man until he chose to commit suicide via Suzaku for his deeds and screw ups, burned through my mind, and my emotions boiled over as I snarled aloud.
"No, it's not okay. If you died because of my actions, or because I wasn't there in time, I wouldn't have forgiven myself. If you died because I had taken you to that chess game, and then you went to be Noble to help a random person in need, while I just stood there and did nothing, I would've had to be jailed for committing heinous acts of destruction on every son of a bitch that ever laid a hand on you! Even if it had been the Emperor himself!"
My hands were shaking with absolute fury, and my voice had barely kept below shouting level as I felt my emotions boiling in my veins. Milly looked absolutely shocked, and Lelouch looked stunned speechless. Shirley looked terrified. I sat back and took a deep breath, calming myself for a moment, closing my eyes to think.
Eventually I opened my eyes to see Lelouch looking at me with a different set of eyes. Less concern, and more, recognition. Like he was seeing Rivalz for the first time. Milly looked a little lost and concerned, her gaze turning to look outside the window in case anyone had heard my outburst.
I sighed. "Look, Lelouch, you're my best friend. I care about you as I would a brother, though I'm an only child. Frankly, this idea that I have to pretend to be happy, pretend to be okay as if everything is fine in the world, is just pretending to be someone I'm not. I won't. I can't. So of course I'm re-evaluating everything. I've been burying my head in the sand for so long that it became a reflex action, something I did about everything. Even when I should've realized the corruption must be bad if you're able to win so much money to take care of yourself and Nunnally over chess with Nobles. Even if I ultimately can't do anything on my own, doesn't mean I can't take a good hard look at the world around me to reassess my options. 'If the King doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow', right? Well, I'm done following Kings who won't lead, and if there's no one to lead, than someone has to step up."
I breathed, feeling my chest was lighter, able to breath better as an epiphany struck me, a slight wry grin on my face as Lelouch continued to analyze me, his shocked face hiding his eyes that seemed to reading in between the lines.
"Even a Pawn can become a King, provided he can make his way across the Board." Lelouch looked shocked at the fact that I had made a chess metaphor, something that Rivalz just wasn't known for.
Milly bit her lip, but looked like she was looking at me differently. "Rivalz," she finally stated, "I understand that everything that happened was a lot to deal with, but did you really think of all of that in just so little time?" She asked me, her eyes looking at me with concern.
I shrugged. "Life is easier as a Britannian, sure, but I've been hanging out with Lelouch for so long and watching him beat Nobles for money in minutes, that I had to pick up some stuff. I'm not as tactically intelligent as Lelouch, I'm not as socially savvy as you, Milly, and I'm definitely not the scientific genius that Nina is. What I am is persistant, and observant. It comes with the job of making sure my best friend doesn't burn himself out trying to save up all that money in hopes of curing Nunnally's legs."
Lelouch jerked, his face turning pale as he looked at me. "You thought I was doing what?" He said, his eyes wide as saucers.
I shrugged.
"You practically live in the Ashford Academy," I pointed out, "and no doubt Milly would raise hell on her family or anyone trying to hold board and food over your head, especially with how much everyone adores Nunnally. I figured you had to be saving the money for something big. Experimental treatment for giving Nunnally her legs back was what I figured, especially when you mentioned that the doctors couldn't figure out why Nunnally is blind." I said matter-of-factly.
Lelouch nodded slowly, his face pensive as he sighed. "Yeah, I just, didn't want to explain to Nunnally in case the treatment didn't work." He looked away, his face looking ashamed.
Yeah, right. You were saving up money for the Revolution you were planning on financially backing. You're just feeling guilty that the same money could've been used for Nunnally's legs and hadn't thought about it. Tactical genius, one track mind.
I stiffened, something was watching me, and then I felt something hit me .
I knew what this was. This was the Celestial Forge. The power to create or unmake anything at my fingertips provided I survive long enough to do so. This changes everything. No longer was I relegated to a side character, no, I could change things, change outcomes.
"Rivalz?" Milly asked, concerned as I shook my head.
"Sorry, it's just been a very long day, and frankly the sooner I finish this paperwork, the sooner I can focus on things that I can control, Milly." I said firmly. Milly nodded, looking a little sad as Lelouch still looked a little ashamed at the fact that he had, in fact, not been saving up money for an experimental surgery for his sister's legs.
The Celestial Forge had given me a Perk, I had felt the energy hit me like a bolt of lightning, but it felt ephemeral, just out of my mind's reach, and that was a very frustrating thing to realize. That the Celestial Forge couldn't give me access to the Perks I earned, though the reasoning of how the Celestial Forge worked was lost on me, as if I had once known that knowledge but had no longer possessed it.
Whatever. I had things to do. Eventually I finished my paperwork and went home, with Milly and Lelouch being fairly quiet after my outburst. The heavy atmosphere hung like a miasma, especially after the announcement of Clovis' death and the subsequent arrest of Suzaku by the Purist Faction.
It was a fairly long day, in my opinion, and my mood soured further as I just realized that I didn't get the Key that was supposed to lead to my personal workshop. Great. I went to bed and dreamed of being in a cyberpunk wasteland.
Fun times.
Perks So Far:
Medicine (GUNNM) (100CP)
You have the skills of a surgeon, first-responder and pharmacist, all roughly bundled together with a lot of hands-on experience with the worst injuries the wasteland has to offer. Your hands are steady, your focus unperturbed by the sight and stench of gore and viscera, and you have the precise and quick reflexes necessary to swat a fly with a scalpel. You also have a fair bit of experience with slightly inhuman and mutated physiology, and are very quick to pick up on new techniques and tools.
AN: So, this is my second attempt at the Celestial Forge, this time relying on some new tools, and the differences is much easier to work with. The idea of trying again had been rummaging around in my head for a while until I realized that there was a pretty good contender of a side character to be in the running for the Celestial Forge that had pretty little screen time in the show; Rivalz. While Lelouch is realizing that his friends are, in fact, not unaware that things are going to change, and with Milly concerned that Rivalz is having a mental breakdown, it's a pretty interesting change of pace. I also went for a bit of a Self-Insert since Rivalz is really not much a tinker guy on his own merits and entire chapters dedicating to the woes of an unrelenting one-sided crush just isn't appealing.
The Personal Key is in the rolls, but he has to roll for the Personal Workshop first, so it's up to the dice gods.
Oh, and Milly is definitely still in the running, it's just that the person the show was presented as fairly exuberant and outgoing to an extreme degree, which put me off quite a bit. I've probably made a lot of spelling mistakes and grammar errors, but I really should head to bed. Let me know what you guys think so far.
Chapter 2: Day One
Waking up, the memories of a past life of being the surgeon/first responder in a cyberpunk dystopia had washed away in moments, though the skills, experience, and knowledge of such a thing had not. Did that mean I only got the Perks as I slept? Or did that mean I needed to be in a safe area for me to get the Perks first?
That would require some testing, but I started getting ready for school. My parents, though in hindsight they were little more than gene donors, were often absent, with my mother back in California, and my father working as a minor noble among the Britannians that had moved here after Britannia successfully invaded and conquered Japan, turning it into Area Eleven.
I was of no importance. Though I went to Ashford Academy, it was simply because the Ashford's and the Cardemonde's had once been allies in the courts of Nobility in the main land. Therefor, I didn't have to pay the outrageous tuition fees and food payments often demanded by most lower Nobles of the same rank as my family's. As it was in real life, politics meant everything, even in an empire were some men were just born better than others, which was a laughably stupid way of looking at Darwin's Theory. Darwin's Theory were all about survival of the last man, not necessarily the strongest or the fittest, just to survive long enough to pass on the genes to the next generation.
Foolishness. If it was truly so easy, then anyone should be able to challenge incompetent Nobles and take their position, even become the Emperor, if the Emperor truly believed in that pathetic doctrine. He didn't, it was all posing and posturing by an old man trying to come up with a reason that the public can accept to conquer enough countries to create the weapon he would use to try and create a World of Memories.
In a way, the old Emperor was just a weaker, far more pathetic, version of Madara Uchiha. I snorted at the idea of Madara Uchiha seeing this waste of a fool being compared to him. The empire would've been destroyed in seconds under Madara's might, such was his hatred for weakness.
I shook my head. My first Perk, surprisingly, had a lot of value even for one not about actually making anything. The perk had effectively made me a world class surgeon and a first responder, meaning that I could very well drop out of the Academy and focus on being a Britannian Noble Aid, this world's equivalent of a doctor on call for higher class Nobles. I could even work my way up into being a Noble Aid for the Royal Family by the time Lelouch became the Demon Emperor if I truly wanted to pursue that route, but I wouldn't. First, I'd probably be caught in the middle of an assassination attempt or three, it was not uncommon, and second, such a route would immediately put suspicion on how and where I got said training, putting me at risk of being visited by the Britannian Secret Service.
No, I'd be better off continuing to school and slowly figuring out ways to help Lelouch, keep Nina from creating or at least selling the FLIEJA to Britannia, and deal with threats. Though, 'helping' Lelouch is fairly relative.
He's my best friend, but dude is absolutely a one-track mind that lacks anything that isn't focusing on 'Destroy Britannia!'. Even before becoming Zero, the man acted like he had nothing and no one to live for outside of Nunnally, and a part of me wondered if Nunnally was the only reason Lelouch hadn't offed himself back when Britannia invaded Japan. For all the dude's hate, he really didn't act until he had a supernatural power of his own in order to move up his timetables by multiple decades. Lelouch, unknowingly, would've failed as Charles would've enacted his World of Memories by that time, and the man would've never realized he was in a World of Memories because Lelouch practically already lived in one. Lelouch had focused so much on the past that he would never truly see the future until his mother revealed herself to him, and Charles outlined their plan.
It wouldn't surprise me if Lelouch had rejected them less because of Nunnally and more so out of pure spite. The dude truly did live up to the idea of spite being his main motivator in life.
The energy that flowed through me tried to reach to a star, and missed.
Damn, I missed a Perk, ah well, it just means more reach for the next one. Plus, the more reach I had, the bigger the Perks I could use. Ready to go, I got out the door and onto my motorbike, driving the way to school. Though, I mused quietly as my new reflexes allowed me to move away from the car that had nearly hit me, Milly would be for a surprise if she tried to fluster and bully me into going on with her antics. Milly Ashford had known for Rivalz' crush for a while and had been quite the tease, though since she hadn't truly seen him as anything other than a friend, she was likely just enjoying the positive attention.
After all, unlike all the other Nobles, I didn't presume myself worthy of her attention, nor did I try to force a marriage on her, nor treat her like livestock rather than a person worth giving attention to. That didn't mean I appreciated realizing that Rivalz had just no social understanding on just how much Milly was using his affection for her to push her antics as far as she could without reprisal.
That was the issue with my current friend group.
Nina was so phobic toward foreigners that she alone kept any Honorary Britannians from being on the Council, and was rarely interested in talking unless about her work. Milly was an extreme extrovert who used her antics to distract the school body, and I suspect mostly Lelouch, from the issues of the wars that Britannia was waging on top of the Social Darwinism everyone practiced.
Shirley was hyperfocused on her studies, being a lower ranked Noble that truly could only afford the tuition by the scholarships of the Ashford family, and her crush with Lelouch blinding her from the fact that she didn't truly know him at all.
Lelouch, unknowingly or not, often blinded himself to the fact that his friends were worried about his mental health, hah, what mental health?, and the fact that Lelouch was really only going through the motions of living for his sister's sake.
Rivalz, I, didn't have a group of friends aside from the Council, and truly just acted as carefree as he had simply because what choice was there when you had no talents to speak of?
That changed now, and I could feel the paradigm had shifted as I just couldn't pretend to be as I had been before.
Let's see. With Clovis' death announced, and with Suzaku having been recently arrested, I put it at about three days until Lelouch announced himself as Zero. I debated wondering if I wanted to get in on the ground floor of the Black Knights.
After all, the Black Knights went on to do many battles, and I felt an almost hungry desire to know what I could do between the Celestial Forge and the Knightmare Frames.
Though, the Black Knights did eventually get hit hard with the idiot ball on Lelouch's Geass. Really, why would they fear him brainwashing them to be loyal when they clearly wouldn't have been able to think of betraying him in the first place if he had.
No. I had my own reasoning. I think the Black Knights only said they turned on Lelouch because of his Geass and not stated out loud that it was actually because they were afraid of facing Prince Schniezal and the Britannian Forces. The Black Knights had proven to be cowards and traitors all, aside from Kallen.
Hmm. Would my being on the ground floor help them or cause issues in the long run? Not that the Black Knights weren't inherently racist and biased against Britannians, though it was warranted. I pondered as I parked the motorcycle and locked it in place.
The issue was that one man alone was not an army. A Genius means nothing if alone without resources or supplies to use. I could try and get an in with the Britannian Military, but Loyd Asplund only got as far as he did because of Schniezal's involvement, his eccentricities didn't help him in the slightest.
Though the idea of showing both him and Chawla up in the Knightmare department was extremely tempting. Especially having Chawla bend over her work desk while I have her make natural babies.
The sensation of the reach doubling back in on itself, and then lashing out twice as far as before felt like being supercharged with the energy of stars.
The feeling of two Perks sliding into my chest nearly had me fall over on my way to the front door of the Academy. One of the Perks was not ephemeral, instead expanding to cover my body briefly as it seemed to permeate my body like a warm blanket, and the repercussions of the Perk hit me like a truck.
I'm immune to Lelouch's Geass. The Geass of Absolute Obedience was a part of mind control, which couldn't hit me. Hell, C.C. couldn't use her Code to hit me with painful memories, as I was now immune to trauma and mental fatigue.
So many Geass in the show relied on either subverting a person's mind or by reading them. And now at least half of those Geass would not apply to me.
The other Perk was yet again outside my reach, but I found myself with a wide grin on my face as I relished that the ever present concern of Lelouch using his Geass on me for my own safety was never going to be a problem ever again!
I suppose the next thing I should do is actually confront the man, I mused. Without Lelouch's Geass in play, I could admit up front in private that I knew he was Lelouch vi Britannia. It would be an interesting gamble, especially to a man like Lelouch who simply couldn't stand not having complete control over a situation; there was a reason Lelouch got the Geass of Absolute Obedience.
I entered the building and decided to sit next to Lelouch, who looked at me with some unease, his face set in a frown. I had to withhold the urge to laugh. Lelouch was, at the end of the day, much like Tattletale from Worm. He had to be the smartest guy in the room, and the idea of a variable that should be something he could take into account suddenly changing on it's own, shook the man to the point that he was revaluating his priorities on how to handle me.
"Lelouch, after school, can we meet up in private? We need to talk." I said seriously, with Lelouch actually paling slightly before he nodded, closing his eyes as he did so. I snorted. No good news ever came from the words of 'We need to talk.', and I didn't even have a girlfriend in this life. Still, Lelouch would try and wiggle his way out of things if I didn't confront him at the earliest opportunity.
Damn. Guess I am throwing my lot in with the Black Knights. Definitely gotta add override commands and loyalty procedures to anything I built to make sure the Black Knights couldn't just use them on me for being a filthy Britannian. I snorted again, a slight smile at the idea of the red headed man, I honestly forgot his name, trying to use a machine gun on me only for it to shoot nothing out. It would be amusing.
The day moved forward in the usual manner, with the boredom of being a guy who just wasn't pretty enough to contend with Lelouch's looks, nor a guy with the social/political standing to be of any use to any of the others here. Fairly boring and fairly quiet.
It was actually kind of nice, being able to finish up everything without needing to do much, I mused. No doubt I'd miss the simplicity once I started my campaign against the Britannian Empire, and the Chinese Confederation, and probably the Black Knights once they suddenly think that Lelouch and I are of no use to them. It's a little disheartening to think that there's no real faction out there for those that actually want to make things right, at least not enough to really make things matter, but hey, with the Celestial Forge, I could always build my own army and friends. I had to laugh a little bitterly at that thought. The laughter had made Lelouch look even more concerned at me for a moment.
The reach, much smaller than before, tried to reach out for yet another star. The small star struck back, slamming into me as it filled my being.
The Perk itself was also out of my reach, but I could feel it doing something to me, something that I couldn't detect or understand. I shook my head as Lelouch eventually went into a private part of the Ashford Academy, the wing where he and his sister stayed and waited for me to follow. He closed the door quietly and then turned to look at me slowly, his eyes unwilling to look at me in the face as he looked down.
"What did you want to talk about, Rivalz?" He asked quietly.
"I know your real name is Lelouch vi Britannia." I said simply.
Lelouch's head jerked up, his left eye glowing with a crimson crane, the symbol of Geass activating as he looked at me with a stern glare. "Forget that." He commanded.
I snorted. "No." He froze solid. "Wait, how are-. You will believe I'm Lelouch Lamperouge." He commanded again.
I sighed. "Look, I've known for years. You weren't being subtle. You and Nunnally share the exact same first name as the vi Britannia Prince and Princess, your mothers' maiden name was Lamperouge, and frankly," I looked at him coldly. "trying to brainwash a friend whose trying to help you is something only your father would do."
I think Lelouch would've looked less indignant than if I had actually slapped the man.
"No, I haven't told anyone else, no, I don't plan to, and yes, I think you have a huge issue on learning to realize that people aren't stupid. Or, rather, at least not all of them." Lelouch's mouth moved wordlessly for a moment, his face slowly regained color as he looked away, looking ashamed with himself. "I'm sorry, Rivalz, I overreacted." He apologized quietly.
"No shit." I said bluntly. "The problem with you being a genius is that you have a one-track mind, and dude, you have serious control issues. Get laid or find some hobby that'll let you relax a little or you are going to shatter long before you kill that man." Lelouch looked at me, slightly affronted that I had been so crass with him, but eventually nodded silently in acknowledgement. Hey, dude can learn, I'm impressed!
"Anyways, the other reason I wanted to talk to you privately is because I think you need someone to keep you from spiraling out of control, keep you from getting in your own way by being an arrogant shit, and someone that can, potentially, give you an edge against the immense resources of Britannia and the Chinese Federation." And to make sure the Black Knights won't be able to turn on you the moment they think that all they have to do is kill us both in order to keep Japan independent, not that I'll tell you that.
"Who would be able to do all of that?" He said, amused, and ignoring the snubs I put in there to remind him he's a human being who fucks up. I looked at him with a very serious expression.
"Shirley." Lelouch's face twitched at my deadpan reply. "No, you dumb egotistical stick, I mean me, who else is going to be able to remind you that glowing contacts aren't going to keep you from being stupid. Though, how the contact lens could turn on and off was pretty cool." I pretended to muse, still pretending I knew nothing of Geass.
Lelouch looked upset, his eyes narrowing at me. "You know about Geass, trying to pretend otherwise is just insulting," he said flatly, "And why would you think you could keep me in check? I could run circles around in chess and classes, let alone everything else." I walked closer to him, my hand slamming next to his face as my reflexes, honed by the first Perk I had gotten, moved into overdrive as I scowled at him.
"Trying to push me away in order to protect me, is only going to piss me off." I said sternly. "We are people, with our own wills, desires, and choices. If I die defending you, it's because I chose to. If I die because of Britannia, than it was still my choice. I'm done sitting back on the sidelines, and I'm done letting anyone try to put borders on what I can or cannot do, whether it be from Britannia, or my friend. If you think you can somehow convince me to just go back to how I was before the incident, then you're just high on Refrain."
Lelouch stared at me with both eyes wide, and I backed away as the man sighed. "Fuck me." He cursed to himself, looking down for a moment, before looking at me with a scowl on his face. "No thanks, I'm straight." I said dryly, amused at seeing Lelouch's eye twitch at my fast jab. Heh. I still got it.
"So, how do you plan on 'keeping me in check'?", he said with amusement, chuckling. "Tell Nunnally that you broke a promise to me." I said with a straight face.
"You sick bastard." He swore, glaring at me. I shrug. I didn't say I played fair. I played to win.
"Also, what the heck is 'Geass'? Is that a kind of food?" I tilted my head curiously. Lelouch stared at me, his incredulous face looking at me for a moment before his hands went to his face.
"I need a drink." "That makes two of us." I replied with amusement. Lelouch looked done with my antics and gestured for me to keep walking behind him further into the private wing.
Several rooms down, and the door opened to reveal Nunnally, who looked surprised to see me. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Nunnally vi Britannia," I bowed to her slightly with a grin, even as she gasped at my words. She 'looked' in Lelouch's direction, concern and worry in her face as Lelouch spoke to her silent questions. "Rivalz knows about us, and he won't tell, he just thinks he's being funny." He glared at me as I continued to grin at him.
Riling up Lelouch was a lot of fun when you didn't have to worry about being mind controlled. Nunnally reached out for my hand as I gave it to her. "Oh. Rivalz, you feel different." She mused quietly to me, smiling at me with her face relaxed. "I'm pleased to finally meet you too." She giggled slightly as she went along with the joke she said earlier.
Oh fuck. Pure innocent cinnamon roll. The urge to protect rose sharply.
V.V., your days are numbered. Immortality is a Curse, because now I have all the time in the world to make you scream.
Perks So Far:
Mental Resistance III (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (200CP)
Your mind and will are strong.
I: You are very difficult to intimidate and have a high resistance to mental fatigue (such as from extended warfare or study) and can generally delay dealing with mental trauma until any immediate crisis is dealt with. Also, you do not get bored with tasks easily and can study or practice abilities for extended periods without penalty or need for a break.
II: Immunity to the items in tier I plus a high degree of resistance to memetic hazards, insanity, mind control, and other factors that would impact how your mind works.
III: Complete immunity to the items in tiers I and II.
Virtuoso (World of Darkness - Demon the Fallen) (100CP)
There is nothing sexier than an artist. Music, painting, singing, you are a veritable virtuoso when you put your mind and faith into your work. Your emotions flow into musical pieces in ways that incite that same emotion in those that hear it. Those that look upon your art understand the deeper meanings of it almost instinctually, but it might always feel as if there is something they just can't grasp about it, something more. In some way, they can feel your divine touch by just experiencing your art.
Her Majesty's Majesty (Fate/Legends - Empire of Antiquity) (100CP)
They say that every hero of these times was a marvel to look upon. The statues that remain from these years in modern times would seem to give that impression and should you eventually have one made of you, it won't fall short. Whether it's being beautiful or handsome, you stand out like a shining jewel even among heroes. Many can't help but gasp once they see your visage and it'll smooth out plenty of problems for you, not the least is finding a suitable partner. Your beauty will also affect the things that you make and rule over, even something as large as Rome itself, but this effect slowly takes hold over time. While a sword you wield may slowly become more ornate and fine over days of use, an empire might need years to be fully affected, but it and all it's people will be shining by the end. You can have this stop at a certain level if you like, whether that's to keep some parts of your empire ugly or just to stop everyone from maybe becoming self-obsessed snobs that never stop looking in mirrors.
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! So the rules of Celestial Forge are slightly different in this fic; 1,000 words for 100 CP, Interludes do count, but the Celestial Forge has a bonus for duplicate rolls. If I roll the same Perk again that has already been bought by the Celestial Forge, the points of the duplicate are added in to the CP Pool and up to two Perks can be rolled. Cause the odds of rolling a duplicate roll are never zero, just rare. Just to shake things up a bit. Also, all Perks not related to crafting, equipment, or items, will be put in automatically, so the MC is immediately aware of those Perks affecting him.
Most ladies are up for the running, so yes, that includes Ms. Chawla, as does C.C., since Lelouch is asexual, so he doesn't feel sexual attraction to anyone. For now the MC is mostly focused on trying to figure out how to roll this out where he won't die, because Code Geass isn't exactly the safest world to be in, even for a civilian. That, and, consolidating resources and power, obviously.
Let me know what you guys think so far! I'm not sure how Threadmarking works, but I put the Chapters in Index and I'll probably put the Celestial Forge Perks Obtained so far in the Extra tab. Also, there is a lewd Celestial Forge Document I'm thinking of throwing in, though I'll likely tweak it for my own tastes.
Chapter 3: Day 2
The subtlety of beauty was not something I had considered before. I mean, I knew beauty as a concept, but I, in both my first and this life, was roughly average by comparison.
I didn't look that way anymore. The person in the mirror just didn't look like me, though only in subtle differences. I shook my head, a little amused at the idea of becoming Narcissus as I went about getting dressed and ready for another day of school. Lelouch had called out, likely working to get the terrorist cell to work with him as leader, while I went about a normal day…
I paused, feeling a little annoyance. Lelouch had been rather insulted yesterday after my remarks of his controlling nature, looking especially infuriated at being considered a control freak. His Geass use had apparently been more out of fear for Nunnally rather than himself, but I was also conscious to the fact that Lelouch had already slippery ground on that nature. Still, if I can make him aware of that character flaw, to not be too reliant on the Geass, the better off he would be in the long run.
I shrugged. I had no qualms about the fact that I was biased. I hated mind control, utterly despised it. The idea of the sanctity of one's mind being violated and dancing to the tunes of another individual, was almost a violent abhorrent thought to have, though at the very least, I also knew that the Celestial Forge likely had some Perks that did some things and much worse, but at least I had little choice in how the Celestial Forge worked in that aspect. I didn't choose my tools. I just did the best with what I had. Why, yes, I'm a hypocrite, I just don't care.
Regardless, the fact that I had become a Virtuoso in every field of art over night was something I considered with some interest. It would be a good way to make a ton of money doing commissions and artwork for the Nobility to fund the rebellion that would be their own destruction. The irony of the fact only made me even more tempted in the idea of doing so. Still, I would need the starting funds to really get that going; art supplies are not cheap, and good art supplies are very much not cheap.
Do I really want to deal with another day of Milly tiptoeing around my new personality, and Nina being so self-absorbed in her work that she hardly talked? Lelouch at least humored my interactions, my dry humor, my sarcastic moments.
I frowned. What was the point? Ashford Academy was more for forming connections than it was grades, something Shirley was not realizing, even as Milly often tried to get her out of her shell so she could form some connections of value for later. While I looked more handsome, and had the art skills to back it up, did I really want to form false connections and false relationships with people I couldn't even remember their names?
No, no, I didn't. I sighed. Dammit. Going through the motions had been the plan to start, but this was rapidly falling apart as I just couldn't force myself to pretend. As it was, deeds and results mattered more than anything right now.
Which was why I set down my bag, took off my jacket, called in sick with the academy, and went to an Art Studio that was having a clearance sale due to the loss of the late Prince Clovis. Prince Clovis had donated a lot of money toward the arts and theaters, even giving money toward museums to record and keep the Japanese Arts intact and available for all to see.
"The Elevens may be weaker in blood, and weaker in beauty, but their arts are something to be appreciated and valued, even if they were still primitive." Leave it to Clovis to make a compliment of a still living people's history and art, and turn it into a much deeper insult.
Buying the supplies I wanted, I went on my way back home and started to work on my project, which was to be a painting. Specifically I wanted the painting to be a message of strength in kindness rather than strength in being cold and firm.
Which was why I decided to make it a painting of Euphemia and Nunnally, specifically a painting where both of them were signing documents, with both Lelouch and Cornelia were standing next to them with soft looks toward their perspective sibling.
I changed a few details, making Nunnally different than she looked in real life, no need to trigger Lelouch's paranoia button, and her eyes were a lighter shade of purple than I remembered from the show. Euphemia was slightly taller as well, to show kindness as a strength. Slight exaggerations that were fine.
The name of the painting was 'What could have been, a World of Kindness.' It took me most of the day to finish it, and then I decided to hang it up on the wall and post the painting on the Britannian Noble Net, this World's equivalent of the internet, if the internet also cost insane prices to ensure not even the Honorary Britannians could afford it.
I was pleased with my work and was about to go to bed when I got a call on my phone. Answering it, I said. "Hello?"
"Yes, we wanted to confirm that you know the person who made the painting of Euphemia and Nunnally?" The voice wasn't someone I knew, but I answered with a shrug.
"Yes, I am the one who made the painting as a personal project. Why? Do I have a buyer?" I asked curiously.
The voice changed as a woman spoke in the background. "I'll speak to him directly. Thank you." The voice grew clearer. "I am willing to buy it using the Royal Treasury. It's a painting worthy of the royal family."
I paused, a little blindsided. "I mean, a name would be great for verification?" I asked, a little lost. I expected a musuem or maybe someone in the mainland to want it.
"Cornelia li Britannia. I've been assigned to become the Governor of Area Eleven after the death of my brother, Clovis. I am sending a formal invitation for you to be at the Area Eleven Government Building with the painting, and I am willing to pay quite the sum for it. I am not one for negotiations on pay, so the final price is already included in the formal invitation and you can speak to my knight Guilford if you wish to renegotiate on the price, though I doubt it." Cornelia hung up and I slowly set it down.
That was not what I expected. The Perk said I was a Virtuoso… wait. Her Majesty's Majesty must've had an effect on the painting. I sighed.
The small reach grabbed a small star and tugged on it, pulling it into me.
The Perk flooded my mind, the memories of a Past Life, somehow older than even my previous life, struck me like a hammer. The memories of my life was clear, and yet, unfamiliar to me.
The other thing that occurred to me was that I was crying a bit. The sorrow of watching my fellow Exalted make deals with the Primordials that we had slain, had doomed the fall of the First Age, and the loss of the Golden Age for humanity. It had been a horrifying blow to the Era of the First Age.
The Perk had guaranteed my mind a near perfect recall on top of a sharpened mind that can make connections and associations quickly, meaning that while I didn't know any more that was relevant to this world as I had previously, the connections themselves were much sharper and more obvious.
I shook my head. I needed to get some sleep, because tomorrow was Zero's debut against the Britannian Empire.
Perks This Chapter:
Savant's Understanding (Exalted - The Infernals) (100CP)
A good scholar is one that understands quickly, and remembers their lessons well. Gaining a sharpened mind, you will make connections and associations extremely quickly, your burgeoning mind filling with ideas and potential solutions. But remembrance is just as important, so you will find that your memory is clear and enjoy near-perfect recall. Indeed, the memories of life and technology in the First Age, which your Exaltation retains from its past life as a scholar of note, are likewise quite clear. Even better, you will find it easy to retain absurd amounts of newly acquired information. For some reason, this also makes it easier for you to construct elaborate monologues to reveal the full genius of your grand schemes.
AN: A Short Chapter before bed, but I figured I'd strike while the iron is hot and the muse is high. This story could be a harem, as there are quite a few single woman in Code Geass that just never got their happy endings, but I'm also leaving it a little open ended to see which characters mesh well with the MC's personality, as the writing after a while does write itself when you're not trying to force things to go a certain way for the plot's purposes. It feels more natural that way.
Chapter 4: Day Three To Six
Today was the day of Zero's debut, and I'm in here pretending to pay attention in class while really trying to ignore all the girls staring at me like I'm a piece of meat, especially as Lelouch was yet again absent.
I had to restrict myself from showing my annoyance. If I see a girl writing a fanfic between me and Lelouch, I swear, I'll strangle them and blame it on Shirley. 'Or,' I mused, 'maybe tell Shirley so she actually strangles the girl for me.' I chuckled a bit at the thought. Milly was acting stranger than usual, even her antics and teasing was absent the past few days. I'm starting to wonder if she's actually scared of me. I frowned. Scaring my friends wasn't the idea when I had that outburst, but maybe that would be a good way for Milly to wrangle in her antics? Or at least channel them in a more positive manner.
I'll deal with it in a few days. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the amount of money Cornelia had sent in with the invite as a price for the painting.
4 hundred million dollars. 400,000,000 dollars. That's eight zeros! That's an insane amount of money! For one painting!
To put it in perspective, the Lower Nobles that my family was a part of made roughly four million, a year. With at least one million being taken out in taxes within that same amount.
As the painting was considered a 'Royal Artifact', as it's maker, I paid zero taxes for the painting, though likewise, I had no rights to the painting as it would be considered a royal family heirloom after purchase. Cornelia's and Euphemia's family would inherit the painting, where it would no doubt probably appreciate in value, but that was still an insane amount of money for me to work with.
Even if I couldn't spend it all in the rebellion, as that amount of money would definitely be traced, it was still enough money for me to move out of my family's home and emancipate myself, something I was eager for since my father had only kept me in the hopes that I could somehow raise the family's standing. 'I wonder if I should change my own last name, just become a New Noble House at that point, and cut him off.' I mused to myself on the idea.
New Noble Houses weren't well liked, actually they were despised by most Nobles, but the advantage of a New Noble House was the much lower taxes for a decade that a New Noble House had, making them able to shore up their income for when the taxes raised in the eleventh year of the House's founding. It also came with the ability to buy and own land outside the Britannian Mainland, something the Old Noble Houses simply couldn't do as they traded their ability to buy land in other countries in exchange with raising influence on being in the same mainland as Pendragon.
'Do I be evil and twist the knife by making my New House be named 'Lamperouge' to spite the Nobles?' I mused. Lamperouge was not a Noble name, as Lelouch's mother had gone straight from being a commoner into being a Consort of the Emperor. The idea of Lamperouge being a New Noble House was very tempting to spit in the faces of V.V. in public without actually calling him out, but it would definitely draw attention from the Secret Service and no doubt V.V.'s forces.
No, I'd need a new last name, and that was a pain to consider. It would also be smart to consider doing so during the upheaval that Cornelia would bring when she arrived in three days. While the show hadn't showed any changes with the Noble Houses here in Area Eleven, most Lower Nobles had donated much of their money toward the Purist Faction, and several of the Lower Noble Houses had members in the Purist Faction. Meaning when shit hits the fan, the Purist Faction unintentionally really fucked up the Lower Nobles when they nearly fired on Euphemia during the split confrontation between that one guy and Jeremiah.
I shivered at the thought, wondering just how utterly fucked the Lower Nobles must have been when Cornelia found out that particular news. She was overprotective of her sister, so I could imagine that death was preferable to whatever treatment they got.
The school day was actually much easier, as the Savant's Understanding Perk had made my memory nearly impeccable, and since most of school learning was rote memorization alongside connecting the dots between historical figures and propaganda on the certainty and elevated status of Britannians, it was fairly easy work to deal with. 'Euphemia really should've picked a different school for Suzaku', I mused, 'there are literally no Honorary Britannians here, and the Ashfords probably only let him in as a favor from Euphemia.' Though it would've been less dramatic than the original idea of 'enemies outside of school going to school unknowingly together'. I snorted. Lelouch may have been willing to keep Suzaku alive out of nostalgia, but anyone who even remotely looked like Lelouch ending up in Suzaku's report or talks in the military base would have brought Cornelia here faster than the death of Prince Clovis bringing her to Area Eleven.
After all, how many people also had black hair, purple eyes, a thin build, couldn't exercise for shit, and had a blind, crippled, sister? In the same building as the Ashfords who had historically been the allies of the vi Britannia siblings? Too many dots lined up too closely for that to not warrant at least a private investigation, and Suzaku, while a good liar, isn't one to habitually keep quiet on his days and his activities with his friends while censuring himself to that degree. That was more Lelouch's schtick.
'No', I hummed quietly to myself as I put away my things as the end of the bell rang, 'that wouldn't make any sense at all. No, I think it must've been loss. The two sisters didn't investigate it because they couldn't bear to get their hopes up on the vi Britannia siblings being alive, and because Cornelia wouldn't tolerate Lelouch being public enemy number one of Britannia. In hindsight, she didn't want to connect the dots because the idea of one of the siblings, the very few she liked, turning traitor against Britannia, the country she served for decades in, and endangering Euphemia's life in the process. A crossroads between two ugly mental choices that would break even the Goddess of Victory.'
The small reach extended and missed it's target.
Damn, a missed Perk. Ah well, more charge for the next one. I got into my motorcycle and drove home, relishing the combined synergy of the reflexes from Medicine and Virtuoso meant that I could let loose, a grin on my face as I moved through the cars in the traffic, enjoying the freedom of moving in and out of the lanes, my low level anxiety disappearing as I enjoyed the art of riding a motorcycle, the feeling cut short only by the fact that I didn't want to break the speed limit. The speeding fine would mess with my clean record after all.
'Note to self, pay for a huge stretch of road that has no speed limit and make it private for my own enjoyment.' That was too much fun, as I eventually came to a stop and parked by motorcycle inside the garage.
I was less pleased to see my father standing and staring at the painting I had made. He didn't look anything like me. Fading brown hairline from stress, chubby from his overindulging, and he eyed my painting like he was about to fuck it. I had to suppress the urge to vomit at the idea of him jerking off to two teenagers. Disgust welled up in me as the balding man looked at me with pride.
"Finally, Ralph, finally you show your true value in this family. I saw the formal invitation from Cornelia. This is exactly what we need to put the Cardemonde' Noble House back on top!" He chuckled loudly and left, heading out the door, not even asking how my day went or even about what inspired my desire to paint.
He didn't even remember my name.
I silently scoffed, walking to my room, and turning on the national Britannian newsfeed. 'Let the old man try and schmooze to Cornelia,' I thought as a vicious grin crossed my face, 'all the sweeter when I ask her publicly that I'd like to change my last name and petition to become a New Noble House right in front of the bastard.' My grin turned into a scowl.
If he saw my formal invitation, something that was sent to my phone, than that meant he was monitoring my phone and likely my purchases. The bastard had been spying on me, all the while pretending I didn't exist because I brought no value to the family name until now. I needed to either wipe my phone clean, get myself a separate burner phone, or make my own phone. The Celestial Forge was all about making things, after all. No doubt I'd eventually get to use the advanced cybernetic knowledge I already had in my head courtesy of Medicine.
The idea of facing off Knightmares in a cybernetic body with a sword like Metal Gear: Revengeance, that was too good to pass up. The idea of watching Lloyd scream in agony as I took apart his precious Lancelot using my own two hands and a sword was just too tempting to think about. Though, depending on the Perks, I could even make my own Lightsaber, something that made me smile in nostalgic joy.
Disney ruined one of my favorite franchises, and the idea of Luke Skywalker tossing his lightsaber like it was garbage had infuriated me like nothing else when I had seen it. The Lightsaber was an iconic weapon of all time for cinema, and they treated it like a joke. A gag.
How unsightly. Though, I mused, there was no such thing as Star Wars in Code Geass. Actually, a lot of fictional literature and movies didn't exist in Code Geass. The grin on my face was back as I decided to commit multiversal copyright infringement, and maybe change some things around.
Han shot first, and I will die on that hill, dammit! Though I'd need to reinvest the nest egg I just got from Cornelia to begin recreating that sort of thing, it would be a cultural phenomena bomb like nothing else. Also, I'd need to tweak it for the appropriate audiences.
The idea of creating a 'The Empire Were The Good Guys The Whole Time' Side Piece to be palatable for the Britannians made me laugh at loud a bit. The Europe Union would get the actual trilogy and the prequals, unedited, but the idea was still considered gold.
It would be rather unfortunate if I ever got perks related to the franchises I sold, but it was not the first time that technological advancements had been made after watching or reading science fiction. Star Trek was among those that had pioneered the idea of a video call before it was a thing, if I remember right.
The news changed to the show of Suzaku and Jeremiah being taken to the Courthouse, with the late Prince Clovis' transport suddenly arriving on the other side.
The events conspired almost identical to before, with Jeremiah letting Suzaku go and both of them making their escape outside of the broadcast as it abruptly cut off with static as the news station cut the feed.
"And here we go. The game begins." I said with some amusement, grabbing a can of soda and changing the channel to some random garbage. Nothing was really permitted that wasn't Britannian safe, so of course it all about being superior to everybody else, or being the best because they were born the best.
I wonder how controversial Gattaca would be in this world?
The reach had grown and tries to reach for another star. It succeeds and tugs it back down into me.
Well, shit. How do I tell Lelouch I can actually give Nunnally back her legs and her eyesight? I'd need a facility, some supplies, and some time for the surgery, but now I could actually use the cybernetic knowledge that I had for use. Hell, I could revolutionize the medical and scientific world at large with just this perk alone. I'd need to get some programming perks eventually so a machine can do it to me while I'm unconscious, but the idea was solid in my mind now.
Day 4: Afternoon.
I sat down across from Lelouch and Nunnally, telling them I had something serious I needed to tell them both. Lelouch looked exhausted, no doubt from having to run around as Zero and having failed to convince Suzaku that joining him was the right move, not realizing that Suzaku was a suicidal man who was looking to die for a cause that he felt was right, and dying trying to change things from within was just the right ticket as far his subconscious was concerned.
"I've been looking into paralysis cases, been researching a lot on the subject because I figured I had the knack to become a surgeon when I graduated from Ashford Academy. I can't make any promises, but, I think I know how to let you walk again, Nunnally." I said quietly, holding her hand as she gasped, her hand grabbing mine harder at the shock of the news.
"How?" Lelouch asked quietly. His eyes were intensely looking at mine. No doubt so many doctors in the mainland and here in Area Eleven had told him that it was impossible to fix Nunnally's legs.
"Cybernetics. Nunnally's spinal cord had been damaged by the bullets that had went through her, and while she survived, her central nervous system has been unable to connect properly. Trying to repair the damage would only leave her with legs so brittle that she'd be struggling for at least five to seven years learning to walk again. I did some digging and found that the Knightmare Frames put pressure on pilots through haptic feedback systems, meaning that while they haven't really done anything with it, it's an avenue that can be pushed further." I explained methodically, turning to look at Nunnally.
"Nunnally," I said quietly, "this is ultimately your choice. You are a young woman, who has her own desires, wills, wants, hopes, and dreams. I know Lelouch has been looking out for you for so long, but, this is your body, and your life. It's your right to choose your treatment options, and your right to know about these things. What do you want to do?"
Nunnally looked stunned for a moment before her brow furrowed in determination as she 'looked' at me. "I'll do it. I want to walk, dance, sing with Milly out on the stage, and chase Lelouch when he's being silly." I nodded, looking at Lelouch. "I'll need a lab, some supplies, total Patient Confidentiality, the works. The procedure will take between one to two days time, if only so I can observe to make sure there's no complications."
Lelouch nodded, his eyes narrowing as he was no doubt putting together the thoughts in his head on how to go about doing it. "It's the weekend, so most doctors offices are closed. I can call in a few 'favors'. As for parts, I'll pay it. Whatever it takes." He said firmly. I nodded once.
"Alright Nunnally, let's see what we can do." I stood up, only for Nunnally to ask for me to walk across the table.
I did so, a little confused, only to feel her arms reach around as she hugged me, her soft "Thank you" as she hugged me hard made my heart melt.
Lelouch was true to his word, it honestly took less than four hours for me to get into a doctor's office, with my list of supplies bought and paid for as I documented everything, my hands reaching out as I started breaking everything down and reconstructing everything into the parts I needed.
It's strange to feel like it was a lifetime ago, when it had only been a few days, but I felt my confidence rising as my hands seemed to know what they were doing with the added experience of the surgeon and first responder from Medicine. Who would've suspected my first Perk would've been so impactful as helping my best friend's sister getting her legs back? I mused.
Nunnally had been put under anesthesia, her nervousness hidden under a layer of steel belief that I knew what I was doing. She trusted me with her life. Lelouch had been told to wait outside. "Last thing I need from you is to go grab a shotgun just because I'm operating on your sister." I somewhat joked with the man, who looked torn between wanting to hug me and wanting to kill me.
It was also a little funny and sad that Nunnally had asked for some things in private after Lelouch left. "Rivalz, could, could you do me a favor?" She asked quietly. I agreed, humming a soft tune as I prepped my tools.
"Could you kiss me?" I froze and turn around.
"Nunnally, I promise, you aren't going to die. The procedure will work, I promise." I said earnestly. Nunnally stayed quiet for a moment before speaking softly again.
"Lelouch always sees me as a six year old. He sees me as I was before what happened back in the Villa. Nina doesn't see me at all. Milly teases Lelouch to make me smile and to get Lelouch to relax around me. Shirley is nice to me, but doesn't really want to get to know me. Everyone is nice to me, but no one sees me. Everyone treats me like I'm a doll, a thing to play around with and gently leave on a shelf. Please. Please acknowledge me."
She started to cry, and my heart broke, so I knelt down and hugged her. "I do see you, Nunnally vi Britannia." I whispered. "I see your strength in trying to keep everyone happy. I see you trying to make Lelouch happy by letting him be the older brother so much, and my heart breaks for the fact that you are no doll. You are not weak."
"Yes, I am. I can't even walk." She sniffled against my chest as I pulled away, looking at her with a firm expression that I put into my tone.
"Nunnally, you are not weak. You have never been weak. Ever. Only the strongest can be kind in a world so cruel. You are human, you are flawed, just like I am, just like Lelouch is, but if there's anything you are not, it's weak." I said quietly. "You are a very brave woman whose still discovering who she is, who wants to be able to laugh, dance, and date, even if Lelouch would never admit it aloud. A very brave person whose willing to be under surgery to get her legs back just so she can walk on her own two feet, to stand up and show the world exactly who she is. Does that sound like a weak person to you?" I asked.
"No." She sighed. "I'm sorry for asking such a personal thing from you, Rivalz. I'm ready." She put on a brave face and nodded once.
I gently kissed her on the mouth, feeling her body stiffen before she tentatively tried to kiss me back, her tongue questioningly licking at my lips, making me pull back a bit as I smiled and laughed a bit, kissing her gently on the nose as she pouted, her face blushing deeply as she looked away. "Thank you." She said quietly.
"You're very welcome, Nunnally. I see you, I acknowledge you. Now let's make the world see that this doll can kick the shit out of anyone who tries to treat her like she's weak." She gasped at my crassness and then giggled, nodding as she agreed.
Fourteen hours later, the procedure was done as I finished up with the tools, sanitizing and putting everything away as I hummed quietly before I called Lelouch, who picked up immediately.
"How is she?" He sounded exhausted, nearly dead on his feet. No doubt he'd been standing outside the whole time pacing himself ragged.
"Good. The procedure was a complete success, and she should be awake in a few hours. I'm heading to bed and tell her she's not to move or get up without me there this afternoon." I instructed, as Lelouch agreed, his voice cracking a bit before he eventually spoke up again.
"Thank you, Rivalz. I know I've been a shit friend, and I don't know how I can repay you, but I'll figure out a way." He said, his voice hoarse as I could tell he was trying not to cry.
"That's what best friends do, you egotistical bastard." I joked lightly, as Lelouch laughed.
"I wish I had been born a bastard, so that insult doesn't land. I'm going to bed." The phone clicked.
Now how to avoid death by Lelouch once he figures out Nunnally probably has a crush on me, I mused. Maybe I'll call in that favor to have him call me brother in law.
The reach tried to aim for a star, and grabbed one, pulling it into me.
The Perk struck me as I went on my way through traffic, the ease of the Perk sliding into place as it really only added onto the other Perks already there. I was already a Virtuoso, an Artiste on top of that merely amplified what was already there to even greater heights as I was pleased with my work.
After eventually crashing and then waking up, I went to the Ashford Academy, which was much more quiet on the weekend when school wasn't in session. Entering the private wing, I knocked on the door to the living room that opened silently as Lelouch let me in, with Nunnally in her wheelchair with a thing of gauze around her eyes. He looked concerned, but I shrugged it off as I took off the gauze.
"Nunnally, this will sound silly, but please, open your eyes and stand up for me." I said quietly.
Nunnally didn't even hesitate with standing up, gasping as she didn't even lose her balance. Her eyes opened as she stared at me. "Your hair is blue." She muttered, staring at it. I laughed, a little giddy. It worked!
"Yes, my hair is blue. It's been blue my whole life, but thank you for checking for me." I said with a grin.
"Nunnally, I, you, you can see!" Lelouch sounded winded, no doubt shocked and shaking slightly. Nunnally nodded, grinning with glee as she walked, her legs moving effortlessly without any hint of issues or problems, and she hugged Lelouch, who actually started to cry.
I was just happy as hell my mad plan worked out. Charles' Geass worked on Nunnally's memories by trying to hide the trauma, but had inevitably caused issues when he had also hidden her ability to see entirely.
The false eyes and neural connections would bypass that limitation, though I also added filters that would block out any visual sensation that didn't correspond with light waves. I wasn't sure if it would work against Geass, but it was a better attempt than nothing. A last ditch measure was just to immediately block visual input upon any symbol of a red crane that moved like it was flapping had been my secondary measure.
Of course, Nunnally suddenly up and walking around while being able to see would no doubt bring a ton of questions, which was why I had Lelouch have several private doctors under Geass to take some money and retire thinking they had done an extremely experimental procedure on a teen for cybernetic implementation. As part of the contract they had been paid handsomely for, they wouldn't ask questions nor know the name of the patient, where they lived or what family name, under extreme privacy.
That wouldn't last a second under scrutiny from the Britannian security, but the doctors would not be available for discussion, and the trail would die under a cold death aside from 'teenager can now see and walk, don't know which one.'
I eventually had to go home, but not before Nunnally hugged me again, her new eyes glistening with tears as she thanked me.
Precious cinnamon roll, I would've done it for free for you.
'Though I did forget to tell them that Nunnally's legs also have weapons as a last defense measure in case she gets kidnapped. Along with several EMP's, an auto-targeting pistol that uses her eyes as a targeting system, an injector fluid that'll keep her from bleeding out if shot, and an alarm system that was tagged to ping off of my phone if she gets badly injured. Ah, I'll tell them later.'
Yeah, I didn't tell them. Mainly because Nunnally would've told me to remove most of those things.
Is it really treating someone like a doll when you can just arm them to the teeth in case of emergencies and then tell them to have fun?
Day 6
The day of meeting Cornelia was here. My gene donor, the man is not my father, was excited and had nearly ruined the painting by grabbing it with his bare hands, only for me to save it by smacking it away with a rolled up newspaper. "You are not touching that. You are not looking at that. I will deal with it. Get dressed." I said dryly, as the man just scoffed at my testiness and then went to get ready.
That was the start of my day, and my patience dropped as the man continued to test my patience. "Just say I did the painting, son, you can take the full credit for the next one." He said again for the third time as I ignored him, nodding as the guard escorted us through the government building where Cornelia and Euphemia were waiting.
I had originally wanted to paint a second painting, but my time got eaten up by the surgery for Nunnally's legs and eyes. Cornelia looked impassive, while Euphemia looked eager to meet me.
I bowed. "Greetings, I have the painting you wish to purchase." I said politely.
My irritation grew as my gene donor abruptly put his foot in his mouth by exclaiming. "Which I made! I did the painting, your highness! My son was just about to tell you that." He finished hastily as Cornelia looked at the idiot with distain in her eyes as she put on a polite smile.
"Oh really, Mister?" Cornelia trailed off, with the idiot responding immediately.
"Cardemonde. Richard Cardemonde. This is my son, Ralph." He gestured to me briefly.
Cornelia nodded once. "I see. Well, I was under the impression that Rivalz Cardemonde was the one who made the painting." She said slowly, with my own silent glee getting larger as my gene donor stuttered and stammered trying to create a proper response.
"Your highness, I'd like to ask if, along with the payment, I could register the account and myself under a New Noble House." I said smoothly, smiling politely as the man next to me straightened, his face paling before darkening as he yelled at me.
"Rivalz, what are you doing?! We're trying to raise the Cardemonde name!"
I looked at him coldly. "The Cardemonde name? The same name attached to you, the man who had obviously written me off as someone not worth talking to or interacting with for years as I grew up in a silent home where I had to learn to do everything on my own? No, I think not. The Cardemonde name will die with you." I finished quietly. The man's rage got the better of him, as the man wordlessly yelled and tried to lunge at me.
I move out of the way, aware that I was holding the painting and instead tripped him, sending him down to the ground as the man clearly had not exercised nor kept himself fit in years, maybe even his entire life. I looked at Cornelia, who looked torn between bemused and exasperated.
"Guilford, take this… Cardemonde and lock him up for attempting to damage a Royal Artifact and it's maker. He can face trial once he's cooled his head for a day or three."
The man, who I took was Guilford, moved from Cornelia's left side, taking out handcuffs and cuffed the man as he snarled and yelled at me wordlessly in his rage while Guilford took him toward the direction of the guards.
"I'm sorry about your father attacking you." Euphemia's voice said sadly as she watched the whole thing.
I shook my head. "The man is not my father. What father treats their children like garbage unless they're somehow useful to the family name?" I replied with disgust in my tone.
Cornelia stiffened slightly, no doubt making connections between my statement and the Emperor, but said nothing as we walked toward an empty spot on the wall. "This was to be Clovis' next painting when he had the time. 'The Emperor's Family'. It was to be his magnum opus where he had painted a large painting of every member of the Britannian family." Cornelia explained as she waved her hand toward the empty spot.
"I'm honored, your highness." I said softly, lifting and placing the painting on the wall gently, where it hung silently. Euphemia looked at the painting and looked back at me. "So, why did you make the painting, and how did you make it?" Euphemia asked curiously, looking back at the painting at the taller than life version of her was signing documents with Nunnally.
"The painting was because while you are very well known for your kindness, Euphemia, I remembered that you had been distraught with grief when Lelouch and Nunnally had died, you cried out loud that Nunnally and you had been supposed to make a world of kindness. The press had ran that story during the invasion of Area Eleven. Thinking back on that moment had moved me, so much so that I needed to see at least a glimpse of that world where the two vi Britannia siblings had lived. A world where strength of military power could be met by an equal strength of kindness and diplomacy. It seemed impossible at the time, but only in a world of kindness can everyone thrive and grow to become the best people they can be, and so I wanted to see that world for myself. No matter the expense, no matter the time. How could I not pay tribute and justice to such a kind and beautiful world?" I gestured passionately at various details where I tried to put the meaning and emotion into the painting while talking, my eyes unfocused as I drew from my passion.
I looked back at the two, a little embarrassed for having gotten too into it.
Cornelia wasn't happy, but she didn't look upset at me, just looking bittersweet at the painting. Euphemia wasn't even looking at the painting anymore, her face flushed as her eyes seemed to stare at me. "I've never thought anyone would remember that, or think like that." She said softly. I smiled back, still embarrassed.
"Sorry, I feel very passionate about this painting." I laughed a bit. "We Britannians are the best, the best in genes, the best born. Noblesse Oblige, therefore, means how could we not bring about a kinder and gentler world for those of us who cannot do for themselves? Is it not our responsibility to make it a better world for others after we're gone like we hoped others had done for us? If we are born better, faster, and stronger, than uplifting this world isn't just a choice, but a responsibility." Euphemia's face was flushed, her mouth moving to memorize my words as she shook slightly.
"Peace without strength cannot last." Cornelia's solemn voice entered as she looked at me, her face set as she seemed aloof to the discussion, had it not been for the hint of pink I could see on her cheeks. "So let's see if you can match those words with action, Rivalz, first of his Name. You'll need to figure out a last name for the New Noble House, but maybe I can just write it in if you win a match against me in the Knightmare Simulator." She smirked at me with a challenge.
I smirked back. "Three out of five rounds, your highness. I haven't used one before." She nodded, satisfied by the backbone as I didn't seem intimidated by the Goddess of Victory.
The reach echoed once more, reaching out toward a star. It succeeded and pulled it toward me.
The Perk added onto the previous one and my mind spun with ideas as my polite smile grew vicious as Cornelia walked me through how the Knightmare Simulators worked.
As I got a better feel for the simulator, I could feel the Perk humming as I just understood how it worked, and understood how to make it better. How to rewire haptic feedback to remove the lag times, to increase the fidelity of the machine, to make the simulation even more realistic and even throw in pain jolts to make the person under the simulation recognize damage and how to avoid it during real time scenarios.
Cornelia had been cocky, taking her time trying to take me out in a one on one Sutherland match in a broken down city simulator. She swung from the side, her Sutherland aiming to kick me down, only for me to duck as she overextended, only for my gun to aim for her cockpit and fired right under it where the battery of the Sutherland was located.
She was furious with herself for losing the first round, changing it into a jungle environment as she vowed to get her win back.
She lost again. She switched it over to the Desert environment with other Knightmares as we had to dodge enemy fire from cannons and machine gun fire where she had expressed her comfort and superiority in the environment she had been in for several months at the last campaign.
She lost a final time, and I heard her snarl in the other Knightmare Simulator as I got out.
She looked at me with a glare. "There's no way you haven't been in a Knightmare Simulator." She swore, as I shrugged.
"Nope, first time. I've played a lot of video games though, so it's not too different. Beginner's luck?" I offered, as her eye twitched before she took a deep breath and sighed.
"I'll have Guilford read your numbers. The way you've moved in the Sutherland is beyond insane, and you seem to have an instinct for it. Though," she grimaced, "New Noble Houses are exempt from being drafted into the military." she admitted with a sour look on her face. I had to keep from snorting. She joined the military out of choice, she didn't get to be mad.
Of course, being exempt from being drafted didn't stop from being incentivized on joining, obviously. No doubt Lloyd would give a lot to have me join up as a tester for the Lancelot.
Not that I planned to join, obviously.
"You'll still need to pick out a last name for the New Noble House." She remarked, amused as I looked annoyed. I suck with names.
Euphemia looked awed at the fact that I had beat her sister, and amused at my expression. "You could always ask me to pick a name for you?" She interjected as I nodded to her.
"Let's hear it, maybe I'll like it."
"House Anderson?" She suggested. I thought about it for a bit. Rivalz Anderson. Eh, better than Cardemonde.
"Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson it is." I shrugged, as Cornelia snorted.
"Already wrapped around my sister's finger." She jested, her eye twitching in annoyance as I fired back.
"One step closer to just adding li Britannia to my name then."
Euphemia's squeak at my response was adorable, even if Cornelia looking ready to strangle me had me trying to resist laughing at her face.
Perks This Chapter:
Neuromancer (Generic Cyberpunk) (200 CP)
You've mastered the arts of interfacing machines and the human mind, able to both design and build things to seamlessly interface with the human nervous system and the actual consciousness housed within it. Building an implant or accessory to let people access the net with just a thought wouldn't be difficult at all, neither would making sure that a cybernetic connects so seamlessly with the user that it feels more natural than their original arm. You've also mastered the use of such a simple if almost magical technology, not just it's construction. Combined with some programming skills, full immersion Virtual Reality would easily be within your grasp. You've bridged the gap between mind and machine, it's up to you to discover where you go with it from here.
Artiste (Girl Genius SB) (100 CP)
From acting to painting, there's a lot of call for people like you around here! Simply put, you have the skills and talent to be one of the greatest, finest artists of all time. Not just in any one field either. Your talent is boundless and unbelievable at everything remotely art-related you do. With the slightest effort, you could be a scintillating star in all fields from writing, painting, singing, underwater basket weaving… er, you get the idea. Crowds throng to listen to a concerto from you, and books you write may well cause knife fights between people wanting to buy them!
Such is your talent that in but a handful of months you could become a celebrity every bit the equal of the Queen of the Dawn, or any other celebrity you've heard of. This also makes anything you do look unbelievably good, from your fighting which looks like a dance, to your clanks which all look like Things of Beauty and Grace even when stuffed chock-full of firepower.
Technical Expertise (Generic Cyberpunk) (100CP)
People use technology every day but that doesn't mean they understand or are skilled with it. You're not one of them. You're a deft hand at working with and understanding technology and machines, picking up anything you need to know to use and work with them easily. Given anything more than just a passing familiarity you'll be a whiz with it, able to work magic when you get your hands on the inner workings of whatever you're dealing with. Whether that's peeling apart computers and piecing hardware back together to make a much better system, tweaking software in ways that make it run like a dream, or working magic in a garage with vehicles that have seen better days nobody can deny you have the talent.
Interlude: Lelouch I
If someone had told Lelouch that his friend Rivalz would've been a super-genius, a doctor, and an artist a week ago, he would've laughed at that person and called it a joke.
Then again, he would've said much the same about Geass a week ago as well.
He wasn't laughing, because this felt too strange to be a dream.
"I don't understand, you're sure Rivalz isn't just under Geass by someone else? He wasn't affected by my Geass, maybe because he's already under one?" He asked C.C., stressed and concerned that his friend had been body-jacked. If a Geass can force someone to obey, surely there's a Geass that allows someone to puppet a person's body like a meat-suit.
"No, Lelouch. He's still your friend. Just, also something more." C.C. said cryptically. "There's more out there in the world than just the Power of the King. Granted," she acknowledged, "much rarer, but it has happened. Your sister has a gift for reading the truth of a person's soul without being like us, for example. The soul of a person is completely open to people such as myself, as it's how we form Contracts. When your Geass bounced off of him, his mind was guarded by a different Power, so to speak. Geass won't work on him directly." She finished, frowning.
Lelouch's eyes narrowed at her. "What kind of Power does Rivalz have?"
C.C. shrugged. "It's still growing, but it's not one Power on it's own. It's multiple budding Powers, which is why I refused to meet the man. The last thing I need is to get a migraine looking at such a complex soul in person." She shook her head. "That aside, his first Power was the gift of healing and reconstruction through machine methods. If he offers to help you or your sister, take the offer." She said seriously. Lelouch' felt his headache grow at the idea of letting Rivalz operate on his sister, his gut screaming at him that it was a bad idea.
C.C. was relentless. "I'm serious, Lelouch. That Power would be able to turn a person such as yourself to be able to take on the Knightmares of Britannia if given the resources and time. That's not something to be taken lightly." Lelouch stared at her with shock and concern.
"Do I confront him?" He asked her seriously.
She shook her head. "No. Those born with souls that carry these things often don't know that they have them. Much like how you don't know your talents before you try out an activity or a skill. As it is, the multiple budding Powers indicate that there's a theme, some sort of focus point where these things come from. Trying to force him to tell you everything will only make him paranoid and try to withdraw completely from society, mostly out of fear of being used or experimented upon. You'll need to wait for him to tell you, if he ever figures it out on his own. The soul is poorly misunderstood even by me, and this is just from the centuries of experience I've drawn upon. I can count the number of people like your friend on one hand with left over fingers in all the time I've been alive."
Lelouch huffed. "Okay, so Rivalz was always going to be this kind of person, but why now? What would cause…" Lelouch trailed off. "That day." He cursed. "That day that I went to go help the truck. He had been furious with himself for sitting by and doing nothing. Was that really the catalyst?" He mused aloud to himself.
C.C. shrugged. "Probably? The future spins on the actions of what people have chosen and not chosen to do. For all the idea of your father's Social Darwinism, he's not wrong; some people are just born different. Sounds like your friend Rivalz just needed a wake up call." She said with amusement as Lelouch looked frustrated.
"Can you read his soul even without being present?" He asked curiously.
She nodded. "You're my Contractor. I know where you are, how you are, and when your Geass activates, I get a feel for what it's being used on and for. Your Geass is still active on Rivalz, it's just being negated by the Power that blocks his mind, which means I can read the changes and budding Powers. Unless he develops a Power to block such a thing, which can happen over time due to exposure." She acknowledged.
Lelouch nodded once. "I'll trust him for now, and you let me know when you can't read his soul. I'm glad to know Rivalz is still himself, even if I'm not pleased about having told him about Geass. As it is," Lelouch sighed, "I don't know if I could harm him, especially if he does help Nunnally with her legs, or eyes if he could do such a thing. I'd owe him too much." He finished quietly.
C.C. sighed. "Well, if I need to take action to protect my Contractor in case your friend turns against you, I will act. Still, I don't see that happening; his soul holds a stubborn quality on par of your own." She finished with some amusement.
Lelouch said nothing, contemplating what to do now. He'd need to deal with Cornelia once she got here, to see what she knew about his mother's assassination.
"Well, well, look what I found." C.C. said happily, on his computer as she waved him forward to see what she had found.
A painting. His breath caught, seeing the beauty of his sister whole and unharmed, signing documents next to Euphemia, both of them smiling as they waved to the crowd full of faces that had different shades and facial structures, indicating a multi-cultural crowd in the background. He was standing next to Nunnally, looking proud with a gentle smile on his face. A gentle smile he hadn't really felt in years, since the Villa. Cornelia stood next to Euphemia, not quite smiling, she didn't smile at crowds, but was looking proud in her eyes at Euphemia for her success.
'What could have been, a World of Kindness.' Lelouch felt his voice caught in his throat as he had to sit down for a moment. "Who made the painting?" He said quietly.
"Who else but your friend? I can see his intentions etched into the painting. He really poured his heart into the painting." She hummed with appreciation at the art, though she also sounded a little bittersweet about it.
He couldn't raise a hand against anyone who cared about his sister that much. Cared about him that much. He'd just have to trust that Rivalz knew what he was doing.
End Interlude I
AN: A short chapter before work, but I wanted to address the confusion people had about if Rivalz had been told about Geass, if he had told Lelouch about the Celestial Forge, and the initial disbelief of why he'd let Rivalz operate on his sister. Hopefully that helps, and let me know what you all think.
Interlude II: Cornelia
"Guilford, these numbers are insane. It'd be more likely for the Simulator to be faulty than for these numbers to be accurate." Cornelia said flatly.
Guilford shook his head. "We tested and checked the machine. It's still running within normal conditions. The numbers are accurate." He said bluntly.
"These numbers are higher than some members of the Knights of the Round." Cornelia sighed, rubbing her temples. "If I report this, Nonnette will want to make him a member of the Round and push for it incessantly until it happens." She groaned.
All of this had been just because of her trying to get a measure of the man that had very clearly expressed interest in Euphemia. To paint so honestly and dearly from the heart meant that the man couldn't hide such feelings.
Of course, Euphie was crushing hard for the man despite having just met him, and of course now of all times, she couldn't scare the man off.
'One step closer to adding li Britannia to my name then.' Oh, her sister practically swooned at that remark when she had been trying to subtly tell him to remember his place.
Now she had to deal with two choices she didn't want. She would need to let Euphie make him her personal Knight or she'd need to give the reported numbers to the Knights of the Round.
She couldn't hide the report because she had participated and lost to the damn man. Her records of victories to losses were automatically updated, which meant that eventually it would get out she lost to someone that none of the Knights of the Round knew about.
Euphie was painfully niave. She didn't understand the politics, the nuance, of dealing with and having a Knight or of being a princess aside from the decoram and politeness of the position.
Which, Cornelia reflected bitterly, was her fault. When Lelouch had accused the Emperor in court, she knew that Lelouch had gone too far, but she had hoped that the Emperor would be lenient since Lelouch was obviously grieving.
He had exiled Lelouch and Nunnally, forbade all doctors from even helping Nunnally with experimental treatments, and banished them to Area Eleven, where they died.
She couldn't even tell if it was the Elevens that killed Lelouch and Nunnally, or her fellow Britannians.
To protect Euphie, she took her when she went to war on securing the other Areas, to keep her as far away from the Noble Courts and that man as much as possible. She regretted that now, realizing that Euphie was woefully prepared to deal with the actual issues and problems that were in store when she returned to the mainland.
The man, Rivalz of Anderson now, wasn't bad looking. Handsome, polite, scarily intelligent, passionate. There were a lot worse choices for Euphie to fall for, she was just worried that Rivalz would be a negative influence on her sister.
At least, she mused, as a Knight, she could keep a much closer eye on Rivalz Anderson. Then she could pick him apart piece by piece to see if he was actually worthy of her sister's affection, or if he would be found wanting.
Of course, there was also the sticky matter of the Emperor who would want to meet the man who made the painting. Even before the numbers from that damn machine, the Emperor had agreed to let her draw from the Royal Treasury on the condition that he met the painter and would commission a painting of his own.
She was baffled, as the Emperor had never taken to the arts before. He'd smiled and nodded at Clovis' work, but he never commissioned anything from him. He viewed the arts as just another tool from propaganda to draw from.
This was Rivalz sink or swim moment, she decided finally. She couldn't protect him from the Emperor, no one could, and the man would go straight from dealing with fellow classmates and an occasional princess right into the Dragon's Den itself.
She decided against warning Rivalz, if only to make him sweat, and it was just another way to measure the man. If he could hold his own against the Emperor, someone that made her nervous, than she would give him her metaphorical blessing to date and teach Euphie on how to survive the sharks that swam in the Noble Court.
She turned her attention to Zero, scowling. She would avenge Clovis' death. She needed to set a hard example that killing Royal family members is off the table, regardless of their actions.
'What was Clovis thinking, breaking the encirclement, and then having no cameras inside the mobile military base?' She fumed.
'Worse, why was he there himself?! Even if it's a high security clearance only, we have secret service members for that!'
It was stupid. Stupid and short-sighted, which unfortunately fit Clovis ever since he had gotten swallowed up by giving Nobles favors for his parties and art project funding. It was disgraceful.
Now she had lost three siblings to this damn island, and she would burn this whole island to the ground before Euphie got hurt.
Zero was dramatic, he had an ego, and he had a flair for being motivated to help his fellow Elevens, inspiring terrorism in others. She could recreate the Shinjuku Massacre, take advantage of the moment to make Zero take the fall hard.
Yes, the plan was a good start, but it would have to wait until after she allowed Euphemia to Knight Rivalz and got his measure by the Emperor. It was a small delay, but she wanted to clean house before she had to deal with outside threats.
She sent a message to Euphie, detailing that she had a few days to make Rivalz her Knight or else she'd miss her chance, and then promptly put her phone on silent as Euphie started blasting it with messages.
She loved her sister, but she was a chatter box like nothing else when she got excited and she still had work to do. She'd respond to those messages later.
Right after she filed the paperwork for Cardemonde to be put on trial and have his House dissolved. Incompetence infuriated her, and liars trying to steal credit so blatantly only really upset her more.
She shook her head as the idea of having Rivalz paint a nude picture of her slipped into her mind as she once again cursed the man in her head. She didn't have the time for romance, no matter how attractive or powerful he had been, disarming her with ease and skill while not rubbing her face in it.
Powerful skilled men without an ego behind it was just impossible to find these days, even if she did enjoy it.
Chapter 5: I'm a Knight, and I meet my Father In Law
You know what sucks? Waking up from a dream of 'cuddling' Cornelia and Euphemia to the Celestial Forge deciding that being a human being is just overrated.
I'm a Slime. Not even a cute Slime either: a Slime from Overlord, a Slime from the Yggdrasil video game.
I only looked human because the Perk gave me the ability. That's, well, convenient, I guess. Still sucks to not be considered human, but I'm not one to complain too much about getting new Perks.
Upsides. I am effectively immortal, immune to nearly all physical damage, and am slightly weak to magic in a setting where magic didn't exist. Super win.
Downside. I'm really vulnerable to Fire. So definitely avoiding running into a burning building if I can help it. Also I'm not immune to energy based attacks, so the FLIEJA and various energy based weapons could still hurt me.
My only saving grace was that the Slime body would hold up to even the closest of scrutiny, so I'd still appear human to any and all observers, while in human form. So I couldn't just be a full on Slime without breaking that cover.
My next concern was a message from my new phone, something I immediately bought after leaving the government building with my new wealth.
'By Royal Decree, Euphemia li Britannia has requested Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson to come to the Area Eleven Government Center to Accept or Reject becoming her Personal Knight in 2 Days from the moment this message has been sent. Please respond in person by this afternoon.
Hopefully Yours,
Euphemia li Britannia'
Oh fuck, and there went Canon, not that I was overly reliant on it. Reality was different from the show after all.
I'd say I feel bad for Suzaku, but I don't. I don't at all. The man could stay as Lloyd's pet Lancelot Devicer, and be sidelined.
Also I couldn't help but smile at how brazen Euphemia was acting by putting that last bit in. A crush from two cinnamon rolls? Even if it would be a minefield to ensure no hurt feelings, it was very flattering to be admired by two of the cutest cinnamon rolls in the show.
Swinging by the private wing of the Ashford Academy in the morning, the Celestial Forge woke me up three hours early, the bastard, Nunnally and Lelouch were eating breakfast when I knocked and entered.
Nunnally's eyes lit up as she saw me, her spoon clattering into her half eaten oatmeal as she jumped out of her seat and pretty much tackle-hugged me. I laughed as my arms wrapped around her, steadying her in place instead of falling over.
"HI, Nunnally. Did you miss me?" I asked teasingly as she nodded seriously.
"Yes, Rivalz. I had to go wake up Lelouch and his mistress to go see the sunrise with me." My smile widened into a grin as I heard Lelouch coughing violently as he nearly choked on his oatmeal.
"I'm afraid it's going to have to be Sir Rivalz now." I said gravely, my voice turning somber. "I've been invited to be Euphemia's Personal Knight."
Lelouch could've been carved out of marble, while I was more surprised by Nunnally's response.
She pouted, frowning as her face turned slightly red as she looked at me with the most heartbroken expression on her face. "I thought you were supposed to be my Knight." She said with the saddest voice I have ever heard.
Gods, the heart strings. She's tugging all the heart strings! Make it stop!
After a moment, her face changed into a firm glare as she looked at me. Oh, hey, I can see the resemblance to Lelouch when she's like this.
"You may be Euphemia's Knight, but you will make me your first wife. Or Consort, whichever comes first." Nunnally ordered, her face stern.
Lelouch's face darkened so fast. "Nunnally, you're too young for those kinds of thoughts." He said firmly.
I couldn't hold back the wince as I saw Nunnally's eyes darken. Oh shit. Mt. Nunnally is about to blow up in three, two, one…
"Lelouch, brother, I will chain you to Milly and make you wear that dress and make up from the crossdressing ball that you hated every single day you decide to try and dictate how I live my life. Then I'll make sure to find a way to marry you to her and Shirley until you beg for mercy. To which I won't give you any." Nunnally's cold declaration was brutal.
Lelouch's face paled so fast I was a little worried he was going into shock. "But Nunnally, I'm just…" His voice trailed off as Nunnally raised a single hand silently.
"I know. I know you've done your best to keep me happy. I know you've tried to keep me innocent. But I'm not six. I will not be stifled, I will not be a doll on the shelf that everyone smiles at and ignores. I swear, as Nunnally vi Britannia, I will be me. Even if you don't like me." Nunnally said quietly.
Oof, Nunnally, you're really killing your older brother here. I can't say he doesn't deserve the wake up call but damn you're being brutal.
"Is this a bad time to mention the defense system and weapons I put into your cybernetic legs as a precaution?" I said into the silence, trying to deflect the situation into something more manageable.
"No," Nunnally assured, "but you could've picked a better time. I would like to say it's unnecessary, because I believe in a kind world, but I don't want anyone to try and kidnap me to threaten you or Lelouch while he's out in his Halloween costume."
Lelouch looked like someone had kicked him in the balls.
"I've known about Zero since you held my hand. I had been hoping you'd be honest with me, but since Rivalz came clean about the stuff he did to my legs before you came clean about being a revolutionary, I decided to let you both know that I know." Nunnally said coldly, staring at Lelouch to really pin him down.
Holy fuck, Nunnally, I knew you were a mind reader in the show, but damn. Nunnally is really going for the kill.
Lelouch didn't know what to say, looking away with an ashamed look on his face. "I'm sorry for lying to you." He said quietly. "I just wanted to bring the world you wanted. A kinder world. A gentler world."
Nunnally's voice was soft, no longer angry, but disappointed. "Brother, a kinder and gentler world without you in it is a world that I wouldn't want to live in." Lelouch flinched at her response.
"Beating up on Lelouch for his faults all morning isn't a nice way to spend the day, and you've shared your grievances Nunnally. You can unwind now." I interjected. Seriously, this stopped being funny when Nunnally started repeatedly kicking Lelouch in the metaphorical balls.
Nunnally sighed, nodding. "As long as he learns to not repeat those mistakes. The sunrise was beautiful though." She said wistfully, going to sit back down to finish her oatmeal.
Lelouch eventually recomposed himself, eating the oatmeal slowly as I sat down next to Nunnally as I started to outline my plan.
"I plan on getting Knighted officially in two days, though now my current plans on keeping Lelouch's ego in check are pretty much no longer an option since Cornelia will definitely be keeping a closer eye on me."
Nunnally responded cheerfully. "Oh, that's okay, because Zero just got a new assistant in command. Right, Zero?" She asked with a sweet tone.
Lelouch looked like he was warring between having Nunnally be safe and not upsetting her again.
"I can make sure to fully deck out your outfit, since I can cram a lot more stuff into an outer shell now that you have some cybernetics in you. I can at least guarantee security against a few Knightmares." I interjected smoothly, with Lelouch looking frustrated at having his protective instincts cut by a clear plan to protect Nunnally.
"Good. Can you see if you can do the same thing with Zero's outfit?" Nunnally immediately asked, looking at me hopefully. I gave a so-so gesture.
"Lelouch's would be weaker and with a couple more vulnerabilities, since yours could be manipulated using the same neural links I used to attach your eyes, while Lelouch would have to use an actual interface he'd need to learn and manage. Weaker but enough to take on a few Knightmare shells and survive." I responded.
Lelouch nodded reluctantly at the idea, agreeing to send me the suit and parts to my new house discreetly once I purchased and swept through the property for bugs and cameras.
I eventually went on to explaining the painting and the events that happened in the government building while being careful to show no change in expression or tone.
Why? Because Nunnally was being a very bad girl by reaching under the table and rubbing my pants where my body was definitely responding.
Good lord, Nunnally, you are really pushing your limits. I can't say I'm not enjoying the nervous and yet gentle touch as I had to keep from reacting.
The reach extended to grab a star and failed to hold onto it.
After a while, Nunnally gave a gentle squeeze as she moved away from me under the table, looking innocent as I finished explaining how I defeated Cornelia in a Knightmare Simulator three separate times in a row.
Lelouch's face looked calculating. "That would explain why your being asked to be Knighted. It would be either being Euphemia's Knight or being pushed into becoming a Knight of the Round." Lelouch admitted grudgingly.
Yeah. I'd rather be Euphemia's Knight than be one of those bastards.
"You might also get a video conference from the Emperor," Lelouch warned, making me stiffen in alarm, "defeating Cornelia is no small task, and you admitted to never using a Knightmare Simulator. Between that and your painting, he might commission a painting from you to strengthen Britannia's propaganda, and to interrogate you." Lelouch hissed angrily, looking worried for me.
Nunnally grabbed my hand, looking scared for me. My alarm settled as I sighed. Well shit. I can't hide this thing forever, and I need to explain my advantages, even just a few of them if I didn't want Lelouch and Nunnally to storm the government building to kidnap me.
"I'm not worried about the Emperor for the same reason I am not worried about assassination attempts." I stated cryptically.
"I don't know the exact specifics, but ever since that day where I felt angry with myself for doing nothing, I have felt different. More. Sometimes I wake up with knowledge and memories that aren't mine, instincts that grew from nothing, yet as natural as if I was born with them. I call the phenomena the 'Celestial Forge', because so much of it seems to be about making or improving things." I admitted finally.
Lelouch's eyes lit up with awe and another emotion I identified as relief. "Thank God," Lelouch breathed with a huge sigh, "I was worried that you had been body-jacked as someone pretending to be Rivalz. What's it like?" Lelouch asked, fascinated.
Nunnally looked amused. "I could've told you Rivalz was still Rivalz since he always holds my hand." She sniffed, no doubt feeling superior.
"Stressful. The Celestial Forge feels random at times. Most of the time its convenient, useful even, as it's all a theme of building or creating something, but it's still important to not rely on any future 'Perks' to get me out of a current jam." I admitted honestly.
"Perks are what you call the things the Celestial Forge gives you." Lelouch confirmed to himself, his eyes moving as he was no doubt putting the past things I had shared into context.
"I'm thinking it's like a Multiverse Theory. The Celestial Forge never seems to draw forth from my life, just my other lives from different realities. It's the only thing that makes sense." I admitted.
Nunnally looked at me with awe. "That's so cool." She breathed, as I coughed and looked away in a little embarrassment.
Lelouch sounded envious. "Damn, that's way better than Geass." He responded, looking slightly bitter.
"Up until you vividly remember watching your own civilization make deals with Eldritch Horrors that you and yours personally killed to survive a little bit longer only for it to lead the destruction of the Golden Age for humanity. Savant's Understanding is hell." I said quietly.
Lelouch looked horrified and Nunnally was squeezing my hand so hard that I'm pretty sure she'd have broken my hand had I been human.
"What kind of Perk is worth that?" Lelouch whispered hauntingly, his eyes looking at me with sympathy.
"The Perk gives near perfect recall and better connecting the dots between things that I know, but the Celestial Forge doesn't give a choice on what I get, only that it becomes a part of me. The only thing that helps is a Perk that guarantees immunity to trauma, among other things it grants me." I said gravely. "The Celestial Forge is a responsibility. One that asks that you make use of it to better your position and your world, by any means necessary."
The reach had grown and tries to latch onto a star, missing its mark.
"Yeah, I'll stick with Geass." Lelouch said flatly, looking horrified at the madness I had to deal with.
"Geass is?" Nunnally asked impatiently, looking at Lelouch for answers.
"The Geass, also known as the Power of the King, is a unique ability that differs from user to user, with 99% of said abilities being mental influence of some capacity. Lelouch's Geass is mind control. Absolute Obedience. It only works once per person, and Lelouch needs to make direct eye contact and give verbal directions for his to work. You're immune because your false eyes don't directly connect to your orbital lobe, instead being directed to a cybernetic visual processor that automatically blocks all visual input of a red crane in flight within someone's eyes. You should be fine." I abruptly answered.
Lelouch's eyes lit up with intrigue. "Could you place a visual processor in me to do the same thing?" He said excitedly.
I shook my head. "It would destroy your Geass, probably, not to mention your brain is likely very different after whatever process you went through to obtain it. Giving my best friend brain damage is not a good look, even if maybe it'd give Shirley a better chance of dating you." I finished with a wry joke.
After a moment, Lelouch looked at Nunnally, puzzled. "You're not defending Shirley?" He asked, confused.
Nunnally snorted. "Shirley only tolerates me and is friends with me because I'm your sister. She has this build up of you as the perfect boyfriend and it's nauseating to deal with sometimes. No, I'm not defending her. She needs a reality check." She said flatly.
Lelouch winced, nodding slightly. "Fair enough." He said quietly.
"Since I've said all I needed to, I'm going to head to the government building to respond to Euphemia. As a Royal Decree, I'm exempt from school." I said with a grin.
Lelouch groaned. "Lucky bastard."
Nunnally nodded. "Okay, but remember," her face got really close to mine, "you may be Euphemia's Knight, but you're mine too." She whispered, looking like she really wanted to kiss me.
I am so turned on right now.
So I kissed her on the nose, a silent compromise to keep Lelouch from needing to Geass himself to bleach his eyes.
She pouted briefly before a suddenly devious smile rose on her face. "I always did think Euphemia and Cornelia looked nice, and the pictures of them lately have looked very good. So you do have permission to bring them into my harem." She said hungrily, her eyes darkening as Lelouch looked like he really wanted to be anywhere else but here listening to this.
"Your harem?" I teased. "You sure about that?"
Nunnally nodded with a proud look on her face. "I'm my father's daughter in that regard. Eventually all the pretty girls will be in my bed, and you too, if you behave." She giggled.
"Enough messing with Lelouch, I think he's about to Geass himself out of remembering you're his sister." I finally stated, putting my foot down as Lelouch looked at me with relief at getting Nunnally to stop.
I left the Ashford Academy, but not before Nunnally gave me another hug and exchanged numbers with my new phone that I had recently bought. I put it on silent to avoid it going off while talking with Euphemia and Cornelia about accepting being Euphemia's Knight, and potentially speaking with Charles on the video call if Lelouch was accurate, and he rarely was wrong about his deductions and analysis.
It was nice to get the Celestial Forge off my chest, even if I didn't admit absolutely everything about the details. The fact that I got my Perks recently without sleeping was a nice bonus, but I wasn't sure if that was because they were mostly based off of what I had before or if it was because my body and mind was getting used to the process. Could be neither or both, it's not like the Celestial Forge came with a handbook.
The guard let me in once they registered who I was, nodding back respectfully when I nodded to him in thanks. Entering the government building, I could hear Euphemia and Cornelia talking to each other, Cornelia's more reserved tone clashing with Euphemia's nervous/excited tone.
"Do you think he'll accept? I hope he'll accept, I really do. He's so perfect and dreamy and passionate." I was feeling a little embarrassed overhearing this but I still coughed loudly as I entered the main room, with Cornelia looking amused as Euphemia's face turned red at getting caught, squeaking as I said "Good morning, your highness. I'm here to accept becoming your Knight, if you'll have me." I said respectfully, with Euphemia shrieking out loud in wordless joy.
I looked at Cornelia. "Is that a yes?" I asked her seriously, with Cornelia sighing and nodding as Euphemia pretty much launched herself at me, hugging me and jumping up and down in excitement until I coughed and said finally.
"Your highness, please, I'm a little overwhelmed."
Euphemia backed away, looking deeply embarrassed and still holding a wide grin on her face as she took a single deep breath before breathing out. "Okay, I, Euphemia li Britannia, formally accept you being my Knight." She said formally.
Cornelia's eye twitched. "Euphemia, those aren't the words you use, and we're not in front of an audience yet." She said exasperatedly. Euphemia turned to look at Cornelia and just gave a wide smile.
"I'm too happy to care right now, sister. Rivalz Anderson, the man that beat you three times in a row and made a gorgeous painting, is my Knight. Knight to be. Whatever. I'm so happy!" She said so excited and happily about the whole thing that I wondered if being a Personal Knight wasn't akin to marriage. She was way too happy about having a personal bodyguard.
"I'm sorry, Rivalz Anderson, Euphemia has a very different outlook on what a Personal Knight is than what they actually are. She continues to believe that Guilford and I are married by sword, and refuses to see reason." She sighed. I shrugged.
"Guilford has sworn his life to you, as I will swear my life to Euphemia. Though, I will need to be upfront on something before I swear loyalty to her." I confessed. I was taking a risk.
"Oh? And what is that?" Cornelia said quietly, looking at me with a dangerous look in her eyes.
"Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia are alive." I said solemnly. "But they don't want to be found, and they fear that the Emperor would see them dead rather than be alive at all." I finished quickly.
Euphemia and Cornelia looked frozen stiff, with Cornelia taking a long slow breath before eventually speaking quietly. "Rivalz Anderson, you better pray to every God you know that you aren't lying or I will make you beg for death before I am done." She said very softly, taking out her pistol. I noticed she hadn't aimed at me yet. "Talk." She said coldly.
"Lelouch believed that the Emperor had set up the assassination against his mother and the family in the Villa, believing that his father had removed the investigation by force to ensure no one found out the details or trace it back to him. His fears of his sister being used as a political hostage and as leverage after her crippling and blindness meant he assumed he needed to act as swiftly as possible, even if it meant being banished, than it was to be in the same Court where Nunnally would've been preyed upon and then forcefully removed in a political marriage. He feared for her future and her happiness than he did his own life. So it goes that they went underground during the invasion of Area Eleven by Britannia, fearing the Emperor would order them dead by the Secret Service."
Cornelia said nothing for a long moment before Euphemia spoke up quietly. "The painting. You had a better idea of what they look like when they were older because you met them personally. You might even know them now." She whispered, staring at me with a mixture of horror and deep sadness. "Please, I don't care about anything else, I just need to know." Euphemia begged. "Are they safe? Are they happy?" She looked ready to cry.
I nodded slowly. "Lelouch hates the Britannian Empire, seeing the nation as a travesty against everything he stands for, believing they would throw Nunnally to the dirt before even lifting a finger to help her, but he's well, and he's happy with his sister. He misses you both, though he'll never admit it out loud." I said carefully. I looked at Cornelia before talking. "Lelouch believes you had something to do with the Villa being empty that day, and while he's not certain about if you were complicit in his mother's death, he wants answers, and he's willing to do anything to get them." I said quietly.
"Like work with Zero." She said quietly. Her pistol went back into her holster. "I won't say anything to the Emperor, and neither will Euphemia. I can't help the nation I was born in, nor am I willing to fight against the soldiers I fought with and nearly died alongside with, but I won't harm Nunnally or Lelouch. They are family, however distant. Marianne had asked me to take away the guards around the Villa the day the assassination took place. Jeremiah was devastated when I gave him the news, as was I. I knew nothing that happened that day, only that she had trusted the person who came to the Villa implicitly." She said with finality, her eyes looking wet as she looked away, ashamed to show her tears.
Euphemia looked at me carefully. "Why did you tell us? You could've said nothing." She asked curiously, hesitatingly. Cornelia also looked at me with a more aloof expression, though I could see the same curiosity.
"Because Lelouch and Nunnally loved you both dearly, missed you both, even if Lelouch would never admit it. If I can avoid a tragedy in the making, avoid the mess of family hurting family when it's both unnecessary and unwarranted, should I not act and do so? I did it because it was the right thing, even if Lelouch will absolutely be furious with me for putting Nunnally and himself at risk." I admitted openly.
"No, because Lelouch will never find out that you said anything. Despite my best efforts, it's pretty obvious to assume that Euphemia and I are being monitored. I had always assumed the Secret Service had been for our protection, not for the dirty work of the Emperor wanting to keep his secrets hidden." Cornelia said darkly, her eyes narrowing at the realization.
Euphemia gave a sad nod, but smiled at me softly. "Thank you for telling us." She said sincerely. I nodded back, thankful that this decision didn't bite me in the ass hard.
The reach, now grown even bigger, reached out to grab a star. It succeeds and pulls it into me.
Holy shit. HOLY SHIT! I know magic! I can use magic now! I carefully kept my mad glee from showing on my face as I suddenly had access to seven years worth of Hogwarts education, even better than the usual stuff as far as Defense Against the Dark Arts goes.
I didn't have a wand, but I really didn't need to make one. I was a Slime, already a magical creature as far as my magic was concerned, and that meant I could use my own body as a conduit for magic. I knew Occlumency, though it wasn't very good, and Legilimency, though I was wary on practicing it. This Perk alone had such a huge edge in a world where everything was dependent on science and technology.
Oh, shit. I have magic. I can't do any technology on myself because it would short circuit out on me. Fuck! Another setback until I get a Perk that lets me remove that issue. Still! Huge advantage! Absolutely huge!
I found myself torn out of my thoughts by a pair of lips kissing mine, and I suddenly realized that Euphemia was kissing me. Euphemia was kissing me and I'm absolutely kissing back before Cornelia tries to kill me. I licked at her lips as she gave a low moan of approval, her tongue immediately going into my mouth as I realized that she was fully committed to kissing me right in front of her sister.
Well, at least I'll die happy.
After a few moments, she steps back, blushing furiously as she looked away. "That was for telling me." She stuttered out. Cornelia still stood across from me, but I was thankful that she hadn't drawn out her pistol.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't see that." She finally spoke after a moment before turning to Euphemia. "If Rivalz survives talking to the Emperor you have my blessing, but you will use protection and will do your best to not get caught sleeping with your Knight. We don't need rumors about a fling when trying to get Area Eleven settled." She said curtly.
Euphemia's blush turned darker as she nodded but eventually spoke up, not daring to look Cornelia in the eye. "What if I don't want him to myself? I know you said you're not with Guilford, but being alone sounds so sad." She said quietly. Cornelia stared at her.
"I, uh, heard you grumbling about Rivalz when you were doing paperwork and I don't think it's a problem to share him. I mean, he's… him."
Why are you gesturing to me like I'm not here?
Cornelia looked absolutely embarrassed. "Euphie, not the time, and definitely not the place." She muttered. "I don't have time for romance." She finished, looking at her sister with a sad smile. "Be happy, you got your Knight, Euphie." She implored.
Euphemia shook her head. "I'm not saying you need to marry Rivalz, but he's loyal, he's honest, you think he's attractive, and I don't see an issue in sharing as long as I get my share. I'm not saying date him, I'm saying fuck him." She stated bluntly.
How the fuck did I end up in a harem anime?
Cornelia looked me over, her eyes stopping right at my groin. Hey, my eyes are up here? Hello?!
"I guess I could take him for a spin or two." She mused. "After you've had him first." She immediately clarified. "I'll make sure to file, ah, soundproofing chambers." She coughed. "You do tend to scream." She finished, as Euphemia's blush returned with a vengeance.
"Can't help it. It feels good." Euphemia muttered, avoiding looking at either of us, staring at the painting.
Cornelia shook her head, gesturing for me to follow her to another chamber. "Not a word," she called back to me as I followed quietly, "just know you're a lucky, sexy, son of a bitch." She finished, gesturing for me to go inside where a large screen stood above the chair in the room.
I walked inside, with Cornelia dialing a series of numbers into the wall and then promptly left the room.
Charles ever so lovely old face appeared on the screen as he looked down at me. "Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson." The Emperor said plainly. "It's good to put a face to the man who made the painting of Euphemia, Cornelia, Nunnally, and Lelouch, the brat that he is. Tell me, how are Nunnally and Lelouch doing?" The man rumbled, looking at me carefully.
Oh, fuck.
Perks This Chapter:
Slime (Overlord - The Series) (200CP)
There are many types of slimes and oozes.
All of them uniformly are next to impossible to hurt with physical attacks, but are incredibly vulnerable to one type of elemental damage (fire for a regular slime, ice/cold for a lava slime, etc) and also possess a slight weakness to magic in general.
You possess the ability to take on a human form that will pass even close inspection, while losing none of the benefits that come with being made up of an amorphous slime-like substance, and possess physical abilities at least twenty times that of a human. Including speed, despite how odd that may seem.
You can naturally fit through tight spaces, shape your body into unnatural forms, and can make as many 'feelers' or 'manipulator arms' as you like. In truth you're more like a uniformly colored Shoggoth than you are anything else, except without all the eyes and body parts.
Slimes are also powerfully acidic and can inflict grievous acid damage on anything they touch; you naturally possess the ability to determine whether or not your acid will damage the things you are in contact with. All Slimes are naturally good at alchemy and can create alchemical substances and magical potions, if they possess the knowledge of their creation, directly out of their own body. Slimes, due to their nature, are ageless.
Schoolbooks (Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality) (200CP)
You gain a collection of all of your school materials for a seven year course at Hogwarts (assuming Defense Against the Dark Arts is taught by a competent professor assigning a high-quality set text for all seven years, so in reality probably a bit better in that regard), as well as Muggle school up through British Secondary School. Learning and teaching from these books is easier than normal, enough to almost make up for a lack of an instructor. Lost or gifted books are replaced via owl order within one week at no cost to you. Yes, even if there's no logical way for an owl to reach you with a full set of magical textbooks. If your starting age is above 11, you're assumed to have been learning at an appropriate pace from these books for however long you've been at Hogwarts, or should have been at Hogwarts in the case of a Drop-In. Post-Jump, anyone studying from a set of magic textbooks which they own gains the ability to use Atlantean Magic. Gifted and re-gifted books never lose the magic-granting ability, stolen books do not grant magic until returned to the rightful owner.
AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, as this one took me the whole afternoon to write in bits and pieces. To clarify: it's not uncommon for Nobles and Royal family members to share beds, so long as there's no inbreeding, and so it's more so feelings of the MC feeling rather blindsided when, no doubt after pressing ALL of their buttons, they decide to jump him first.
Also Charles knows Lelouch and Nunnally are alive because Lelouch killed Clovis after showing himself. He's just making Rivalz sweat, because Emperor is an asshole.
Let me know what you guys think.
Interlude IV: Charles
Interlude III: Charles.
Charles was, as much as he hated to admit it, impressed with Rivalz of the New Noble House Anderson.
The upstarts' mind was almost akin to a labyrinth, the memories of the boy's life shrouded by an endless deluge of information, imprints from what Charles deduced was coming from the boy's soul.
Reincarnated Souls do give imprints of their past life, he'd seen it in some of his wayward children, but all too often the Reincarnated lost those imprints as they grew older, their new lives subsuming the old one.
It didn't stop his Geass from working on the blue haired boy, but it practically screamed how in tune the boy was with his true face that his soul was giving instinctual knowledge and information into the boy's mind.
Charles wryly noted to himself that Rivalz would be extremely resistant to the World of Memories because of it. Without a false face to latch onto to draw false experiences, the World of Memories would shatter.
"They're doing well, Charles." Rivalz said after a moment, his posture set into a relaxed state, a slight grin on his face.
Charles had to resist raising an eyebrow at the audacity as the boy's subconscious was no longer in panic. In fact, he was just as calm as he was. Impressive. Even Schniezal couldn't hide his nervousness.
All was revealed to his Geass.
"I'm going to stop with the pleasantries, Charles zi Britannia. A man such as you respects only strength and conviction. What do you want?" Rivalz said bluntly.
Charles could admit that he was impressed. He could count only two people that spoke to him in this manner, and he wasn't offended by the upstarts mannerisms because it wasn't a bluff.
Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson, you had my attention, now you have my curiosity.
"Despite evidence to the contrary, I did not wish Lelouch and Nunnally dead. I do not care for or against them in the same way we would not care about an ant." Charles said with indifference.
"That they survived does mean Lelouch has some minor potential, but Nunnally will always be a burden, weighing him and everyone else down, ensuring he can never be the ruthless son he is supposed to be. He's being made weak, while she was born weak." He said coldly.
Charles had to admire how fast Rivalz mind went toward wanting to kill him. He actually cared about Lelouch and Nunnally. Why?
Ah. Friends with Lelouch. Tentative lovers with Nunnally, Euphemia, and Cornelia?
All the more strings for him to pull in case the upstart proves to be too much of a threat.
He resisted the urge to sigh. He owed Marriane for winning the bet on Nunnally taking after her mother's appetite. Damn.
"I gave Nunnally back her legs and her eyes. Your Geass ability really dropped the ball there." Rivalz said quietly.
Charles had to admit, he was caught off guard that the boy knew of his Geass.
"I'm surprised you are aware of such a thing." He said carefully, reconsidering his plans. Was Rivalz a Code Bearer? He didn't take over C.C. but there were several Code Bearer that had gone into hiding years ago during Britannia's rise.
The only Code immune to his Geass had been V.V., after all.
C.C. had been an open book, even if she intentionally annoyed the hell out of him whenever he tried reading her mind.
Rivalz smiled slowly. "Of course, Charles. I do my research on my allies, and those who could be my enemies. After all, there is more out there than just the Power of the King." The boy finished cryptically.
Charles eagerly reached into the boy's mind, one of the impressions shining like a star filled with memories and experiences.
Charles saw.
He saw the end of the First Age.
He saw his friends and family butchered and eaten, their very souls devoured and destroyed utterly by the ancient Gods that Rivalz' past life had fought so desperately to kill
His desperation and rage at seeing the fall of civilization, realizing that his hubris and unwillingness to act had led to utter ruin.
He couldn't let this happen again. Never again. He would act, even if it doomed himself.
One of the Dead Gods' many eyes moved toward Charles, it's tentacles reaching out hungrily at Charles as it spoke, hungry and eager to feast on a mind teetering on the edge of madness.
"Even Dead Gods Can Dream."
Charles shut off his Geass. His mind a whirlwind as he could feel his soul shuddering in horror, an unspoken deep dread and terror that reached into him.
Was this why the World of C wasn't stopping him from building the Sword of Akasha?
Because those things were out there, lurking, waiting to grab onto his World of Memories?
Are they waiting for him to slip up and kill the God that shielded them, making humanity easy prey?
V.V. would never believe it. His brother had grown arrogant with his Immortality and his childish nature had only grown worse as the decades continued. His brother was a danger to everyone around him, a loose cannon even he struggled to reign in sometimes.
More importantly, Rivalz wasn't aware of those memories. He couldn't be, because the boy would've cracked upon seeing them. This was a subconscious effect, an impression from a past life he had glimpsed into.
This was troubling. Was Rivalz Anderson the way he was because the World of C was trying to prepare for the next incursion?
"I see." Charles said carefully. He couldn't show a position of weakness, but Rivalz had inadvertently changed the rules of engagement. He'd need to look like he was still hunting for the Thought Elevators, while making sure the Sword of Akasha would never be fully constructed.
"Very well. I wish to commission a painting, one of Marriane and myself, and only of Marriane and myself. Do it well and I may yet decide to allow you to marry Euphemia, Cornelia, Nunnally, and whoever else you draw into your sphere of influence. You have three months." Charles commanded.
Rivalz nodded once. "It shall be done Charles, hopefully we can have a better chat without all the posturing and hidden threats, as it's poor manners not to have at least one drink with my father in law." Rivalz finished with a wry grin.
Oh, you cheeky brat! Ha! I like you! Don't fuck it up.
Charles said nothing, closing the call on his end.
Oh dear, he smiled coldly, it looks like V.V. is having an extreme migraine due to his childish immortal mind not able to keep up with the deluge of memories and information dumping from him reading Rivalz.
What a shame. Looks like he'll need to do weekly calls. Just to make sure of the progress on his painting, of course.
Interlude IV: Euphemia
Euphemia li Britannia really wished the ground would just swallow up around her, even if she knew it was her fault that she was feeling this way.
Well, and Cornelia's! She always said that in war, there's no gauruntee for time and regrets! So of course she was going to jump for Rivalz the moment she could!
She pouted, staring at her bedroom wall. "Of course you could hear me." She grumbled. "Most of the times we were stuck in the same bedroom for our safety." Her face flushed even deeper. The pillow betrayed her! It was supposed to keep Cornelia from hearing her!
Her blush faded slightly as she bit her lip. She knew Cornelia would've never agreed to sharing Rivalz, and she had to hit her immediately with the idea to catch her off guard long enough to get her to agree before she got it stuck in her heard that she didn't deserve happiness.
Her sister could be so dumb like that. She always focused on her duty, her responsibility, to the refusal of all else. If it hadn't been for me, Euphemia scowled, she'd have worked herself to death by now.
She really hoped Rivalz survived talking to the Emperor. She'd seen her sister exit the meeting room, pale, shaking, absolutely terrified and a wreck after speaking to the man.
The Emperor was more of a monster than a human being, which saddened Euphemia since she had always tried to believe in the best of everyone.
Not everyone was so deserving of that kindness. The Emperor was a big jerk, a man who used his position to terrorize everyone around him! To the point that Lelouch and Nunnally never wanted to be found!
The worst part was Cornelia not denying any of it. Not the accusations, not the secret service using them rather than protecting them, nothing. Cornelia, by saying nothing, agreed with everything.
It broke her heart. Realizing her sister had been dragging her from warzone to warzone, not because Cornelia wanted her close by like she always said, but because Cornelia didn't want Euphemia to be treated like Nunnally.
That it was better off being raised by respectful soldiers and commoners in warzone torn districts than it would be to live in Pendragon. A literal warzone was better, in Cornelia's mind, than it was to be anywhere near the Emperor.
No wonder Lelouch and Nunnally went into hiding, she thought sadly. Even in hiding, Lelouch and Nunnally had more freedom and privacy than her and her sister. She shook her head. Now was not the time for tears, she chided herself.
After all, she didn't want spoil the happy occasion if, no, when, he got out of that room, confident and handsome and hot and…
She took a deep breath, giggling a little. Okay, Rivalz was really attractive, but he was also really sweet, loyal, and, his greatest quality in her mind, honest.
He didn't need to tell either of them about Lelouch or Nunnally. He did so because he felt that was the right thing to do, and he sounded so passionate about it that it turned her on to hear her Knight would face the world for the right cause.
That made her melt, and she, being the emotional person she was, leapt first and kissed him hard before thinking about the consequences.
Thankfully Cornelia didn't scare him off. Or try to shoot him with her pistol. She was relieved. After so many attempts of trying to entice soldiers to her chambers, trying to explore her new feelings and appreciation for men in their uniforms and their muscles, Cornelia finally had to deal with a man she couldn't scare off.
Of course, her sister tried to push him away. Years of responsibility and duty, was part of it. Yet, she knew her sister. She knew her better than anyone.
Cornelia was scared of being emotionally vulnerable. Her last crush hadn't ended well, being used in political games and her favors trying to make the man happy burning into ashes as she realized the man would never return her affections. He never apologized, and he never looked sorry about it.
Cornelia would never trust Schniezal ever again, and Cornelia made her swore to never trust a man who wouldn't be honest and upfront about their feelings and faults.
The Nobility classes and history had reminded Euphemia that jealousy between siblings had sparked assassinations, wars, nearly splitting the empire in half twice, and so she had to strike while the iron was hot, saying everything as bluntly and upfront as possible to ensure Cornelia couldn't hide or try and maneuver around her pleads.
Even if she had to avoid giggling at Rivalz dumbfounded expression of being talked about like he was a sexy piece of meat on the market, which he isn't anymore!; it only made it easier to convince Cornelia because Cornelia had seen Rivalz honesty and his clear feelings.
A man almost the antithesis to Schniezal. Even if it was just a fling, it would be enough to slowly start healing Cornelia's heart so she could live and find someone to be happy with.
It helped that Cornelia always used to complain about how her soldiers were scared to death of her.
"Where can I find a man that can appreciate me, kick my ass in a Knightmare, and take me like a woman while respecting my authority?!" She once exclaimed, drunk.
Euphemia was sad that to this day she hadn't recorded that conversation. Such priceless blackmail material!
Her face turned pink as Cornelia's words had inspired a lot of her fantasies. She was kind, yes, but God if it didn't turn her on to be kneeling in front of a man like Rivalz, hearing him moan as she made him feel good.
She panted, shaking her head. No, Euphie, focus! She could do this. She just had to avoid imagining that it was Rivalz fingers making her wet as he kissed her ear and whispered how sexy she looked moaning for him.
Damn it! Now she needed to change her panties and she couldn't cause she has to wait until the end of the day after her bath.
She squirmed.
Interlewd: Nunnally
Nunnally had, for many years, resigned herself to needing help from others. Between being blind and crippled from the waist down, Nunnally was very aware that she was effectively helpless and would never really have privacy or feel independent.
She hid those feelings from her brother, Lelouch, her only family aside from Cornelia and Euphemia as far as she was concerned, but her patience over him treating her like she was six all the time had turned into resentment at him.
She despaired at the lack of privacy and the idea that she wouldn't be able to have a normal life, but it truly didn't hit her as hard as when she went to the Ashford Academy.
No one really saw her. No one really acknowledge her or wanted her around. They pitied her, but the extent of that pity only went as far as politeness and silent frustration at her holding them back.
It made her depressed, forcing herself to hide her true feelings and thoughts to make her brother happy while all she wanted to do was scream at them all to not ignore her.
Milly did tease Lelouch, making him react to her antics long enough to make Nunnally laugh or smile, and it helped, a little. Yet, Milly could only offer sympathy from one Caged Bird to Another.
Milly Ashford was resigned to the fact that she would always just be a bargaining chip for her parents, and had pushed to enjoy her time as a single woman for as long as possible, though Nunnally disapproved on how she tugged on Rivalz heartstrings for so long. It was a cruel thing to do to an open hearted young man who had nothing but kindness and laughter in his heart.
Rivalz had changed that day when Lelouch had been kidnapped by the truck he went in to help. His soul became darker. Not bad, but his laughter and carefree nature had been dented by the pain of being useless when his friend had needed him most.
It also brought something out of Rivalz. The 'Celestial Forge' as Rivalz called it. She wondered if she could ever describe to Rivalz that the Forge seemed to grow from his soul, the embers of who he was being molded, heated, and then cooled into the person he became after every 'Perk'.
It was beautiful. Even when she had been blind, she always felt like it was how people felt looking at a sunrise, or at a painting. Like it was awe-inspiring to witness, an honor to witness such an event. Nothing compared to Rivalz' soul, a magnum opus of human expression.
She could never understand why C.C. would get headaches from it. Maybe she was so used to expecting something bad or something dark lurking in the shadows of people's souls that she couldn't bear to look at the sun that was her Rivalz soul?
'How sad,' Nunnally reflected, 'to be blessed to witness a human Miracle in human form and not be able to bear seeing it in person'.
Oh, Nunnally was aware that Rivalz and Lelouch subscribed to the Multiverse Theory model, but they couldn't see it as she could.
Rivalz because his soul was innate to him and so he couldn't be aware of it on his on anymore than you could hear your own heartbeat next to a waterfall.
Lelouch, even with Geass, didn't see the world in anything he couldn't calculate and measure.
Regardless, Rivalz had made her a personal Miracle of her own. Her legs shown in her mind's eye, the power of his soul flush against her own through her legs. Or at least, something akin to his soul, a vestige of the Miracle put into her.
Her eyes too had the Miracle, but she could feel it so much more through her legs. Like bathing in a hot bath in a cold freezing day.
She was such a dirty girl. Using her Miracle for things she shouldn't. She couldn't help it. It made her hot, panting quietly in the silence of her bedroom now.
She rubbed her fingers across every part of her legs, the metal legs feeling as real as her own used to be, only so much better. So much more. Like liquid heat flowed through her body at even the slightest touch, feeling her soul lit with fire and hunger for more, hunger for him.
Her clitoris didn't even compare, her legs alone making her soaked as she panted and squirmed, holding back a low groan.
"Rivalz. Master. Fuck me." She growled lowly to herself, her nerves on fire, imagining Rivalz was standing in front of her, ordering her to get herself soaked for him so he could ravage her.
No foreplay. No lovemaking. Just pure utter fucking. Bending her legs around her head in a mating press, feeling his tongue in her mouth as she let him in, wanting him to dominate her soul and body, letting him claim every part of her.
She hissed, her hand reaching back to grab her ass hard, moaning as she felt the sharp twinge of pain making her heat in between her legs soar. God, she hoped he was an ass man. She wanted him to spank her ass red, to bite her because he couldn't help himself.
She shuddered, so close to the edge. 'No', she feverishly imagined Rivalz saying, 'bad girls don't get to cum. They get to stay right on the edge and beg Master to make her hurt. They get to feel their nipples pinched and their hair pulled.' She moaned louder, pushing her face into her pillow to hide the noise.
One of her hands reached to pinch her nipple, making her whimper into the pillow as her lower lips drooled, her Master's pussy clenching on nothing as she felt herself struggling not to cum.
'Rivalz, break me,' she thought deliriously, 'break me in, use me, turn me into a breeding royal slut! Make me a barefoot pregnant bitch!'
The image of her belly swollen, her hands lovingly rubbing her belly as she wandered naked in the house her Master owned while wearing nothing but a collar set her off hard as she screamed into her pillow, her body shaking as she soaked her sheets.
She panted, exhausted, drained, and felt herself drift into dreamland as she barely dragged the blanket over herself as she crashed into dream land, imagining Euphemia, Cornelia, and herself wearing collars and nothing else, giggling slightly at the idea as she relaxed into a long nap.
Rivalz could never be satisfied with just one woman. She knew she could never be.
Sayoko wasn't pleased when she had to redo Nunnally's sheets. Again. Nunnally didn't regret a thing.
Chapter 6: I ended up in a Harem Anime Pt. 1
Thank you, Celestial Forge, because my God, dealing with Charles without my Occlumency would've probably screwed me the fuck over.
It didn't stop the Emperor from reading my mind and memories, but I could direct the man toward the safer memories of my most recent life rather than when I had watched Code Geass as an anime.
The only Perk I had that gave me memories outside of my own, was Savant's Understanding, which I moved in front of my mind after baiting Charles with the ol' being cryptic routine to make it seem I was so much better prepared than I had been.
Diplomacy is the Art of giving just enough weakness to not seem like an unassailable fortress, making your enemies all group together to kill you or your allies discretely, while trying to show a position of strength enough to dissuade any single enemy from acting.
God, I feel dirty just by pretending to be a politician, but someone needed to try and knock Charles off of his game before he went all in on the Sword of Akasha.
I didn't know if it worked, but Charles had shut off his Geass for the remainder of the call, so I took that as at least a tentative success in scaring the shit out of the man long enough to make him hesitate.
After all, even Charles wouldn't want to end up as food to the Primordials.
The reach exploded forth, grabbing a star and pulling it back down into me.
I had to keep from laughing. I got my blessing, am going to be a Knight, and now had my own Knightmare and the ability to build/modify Geass Tech, which effectively now included 9th generation Knightmares.
Lloyd, you are now obsolete! Haha!
I got up out of the chair and opened the door to leave the meeting room, tilting my head at Cornelia looking like her face was red, her chest moving as she panted, her eyes staring at me with a dark hunger.
"You… okay? Where's Euphemia?" I asked, looking for her as she wasn't in the room.
"You called the Emperor 'Charles'. To his face. You didn't even flinch when he called out on Lelouch and Nunnally being alive. You made him give you a blessing on taking me, Euphemia, Nunnally, and whoever else you want into being married to you, owned by you with his permission effectively. You, you, God, that's so hot." She panted, her aloof serious expression breaking as she shuddered in silence.
Did. Did she just have an orgasm at me manipulating Charles and at being thrown into a harem? Did that seriously just happen?
"You're so lucky I said Euphemia could have you first or I'd be testing your hip bones so hard right now." She groaned out, shaking as she struggled to get herself back under control.
See, my normal response would be to nod slowly and try to reassess the situation. My Perks seemed to guide me toward a different response as I found myself grinning slightly.
"It's a shame I won't be able to take my lovely slave right then and there in the meeting room where I could watch your aloof face break as you drool and cum in the same room I used to own you."
Cornelia's eyes narrowed before her face flushed and she smiled at me with a shake of her head. "Hot, but not today." She said with a sigh. "No doubt Euphemia will want to break you in, but is there anything else you need to tell me in case I need to make some last minute changes when dealing with Zero?" Cornelia said seriously.
"Lelouch is Zero. Any masked accomplice next to him will either be his backer, a green haired woman I've only heard about but not met personally, or Nunnally, whose keeping an eye on Lelouch to keep from going too far." I said curtly.
Cornelia stared, a slow growing horror on her face as she whispered. "Lelouch killed Clovis?" Her eyes staring at me, begging for me to say no.
"Yes. Clovis was doing human experimentation on the green haired young woman, torturing her for possibly years or even decades, as Clovis was convinced the green haired young woman was immortal. Clovis sentenced the Shinjuku Ghetto to be cleansed and destroyed, every last man, woman, and child, killed because he knew the Emperor would have disowned him for such an act if it got out." I explained carefully.
Cornelia didn't give a shit about Elevens. Trying to go the whole moral route over the Massacre wouldn't work at all. I needed to appeal to a different fault, like Clovis' crime against humanity.
Cornelia closed her eyes, her teeth clenched as I heard her whisper. "Clovis, what have you done?" She shook her head and sighed.
"I see. And Nunnally keeping an eye on Lelouch? I can't see him endangering his sister." She said quietly, no doubt withholding a dozen questions. An officer will always try to wait to get as much details as possible before acting. A good officer at any rate, and Cornelia was definitely good at her job.
"Lelouch, ever the aloof yet kind bastard that he is, is my best friend, and I used to take him to chess tournaments. Underground tournaments run by Nobles with way too much money and too little sense. That day, we narrowly avoided a truck crashing into us on the road back. He went in to help the people in the truck. The truck suddenly started off again and Lelouch fell inside. This is going somewhere relevant." I said, noting Cornelia's growing impatience but she nodded for me to continue.
"I was devastated. My best friend could be dead, his last words to me being that someone has to help. He eventually returned back alive with the green haired woman, but that day changed me. Ever since that day, I wake up sometimes with knowledge I don't remember having, skills I didn't practice for. The phenomena I've called the 'Celestial Forge'. So of course my first opportunity I'll do with it was fix Nunnally's legs and eyes." I finished talking.
Cornelia looked lost, a frown on her lips. "That sounds utterly ridiculous. You do know that, right?" I nodded and she nodded back once, a sigh from her lips.
The reach went toward a star and missed, failing to grab it.
"Either I'm betrothed to a mad man, or you're telling the truth. I'm not sure which I like more. Evidence? I doubt there's anything you could do or say that could phase me at this point." She assured me at my hesitating expression.
I released myself from my human form, the Slime of my body becoming apparent as my features melted away into a liquid ooze of purple.
Cornelia stood still, her eyes widening in terror as I could see she was withholding a scream.
"It's still me. The Celestial Forge turned me into a Slime, something to do with alchemy and alchemical ingredients." I assured her, speaking yet not having a mouth.
Cornelia very slowly took deep breaths. "I… see. Well, that proves it's real, not unless I'm also hallucinating under extreme drugs. Are you still considered… human, like that?" She asked curiously now.
"I believe so. Just also as something more. I'm harmless to you or Euphemia in either form." I assured her.
She nodded, though her face turned red as she started to mumble out loud. "I guess Euphemia can enact her tentacle fetish when she's feeling adventurous." Her face turned red as I laughed.
"To be fair, I can feel that I can make myself as many 'feelers' as I want. So, by all means, I can see about making both of you scream." I teased.
Cornelia squeaked, her face flushed with embarrassment, looking away. "I'll think about it. Too bad that means we can't have children." She said wistfully.
"Who decided that? My 'form' is a Slime. It says nothing about my genetics." I said slowly. "Just sounds like we'll need to experiment to find out." I finished cheerfully.
"Okay. You can change back now. I'll need to tell Euphemia so she doesn't freak out at your form." Cornelia said plainly.
I returned into my human state, shrugging. "I think she'll react fine. You didn't scream." I pointed out.
She shook her head. "No, I meant freak out by tearing her clothes off and ordering you to turn her into a cocksleeve." She said bluntly.
Well. I didn't expect Euphemia to be so kinky.
Can't say I mind. Really hot actually. I wonder how many other Princesses are that kinky?
Honestly, thinking about how terrible their parents and upbringing was, probably all of them.
Oh God, is Nunnally a freak in the sheets as well? Should I be scared or aroused if the answer is yes? Both?
Euphemia appeared, her nervous walk changing when I gave a large smile to her, her eyes lighting up in awe and delight as she squealed in delight, almost tackling me as she ran into my arms.
"Yes, yes, yes! You did it! You got his permission! Woohoo!" Euphemia cheered so loudly in my arms as she bounced up and down in joy in my arms, hugging and kissing me repeatedly, fast pecks of pure emotionally driven excitement.
"Okay, okay, Euphemia, please, I would like to go over what I said to Charles and what I discussed to Cornelia while you were out." I said, trying to calm her down a bit.
She nodded, her face flushed with excitement and glee as she stepped back next to her sister, her face turning into a playful glare at me for a moment.
"It's Euphie in private with my sister. Not Euphemia. Although you can call me whatever words you'd like when we're alone." She finished hungrily, her eyes darkening with lust as she bit her lip.
"Euphie!" Cornelia yelled, her eyes wide as her face turned crimson. "Not in front of me!" She pleaded to her sister. "I'm already trying my best to not jump him. And he does have some serious news to share."
Euphemia, ah, Euphie nodded, her expression turning serious. "Yes, my Knight?" Her hands fidgeted slightly against her dress.
I explained the conversation with Charles, her gasp of fear of the Emperor knowing her favorite siblings were alive being turned into a sigh of relief and a silent glare at his lack of caring about his children being alive.
Her face turned into a slightly mournful expression as Charles commissioned a painting of just him and Marianne. "They say that she was the only woman he truly loved." Euphie said quietly, her eyes misty for a moment.
"In exchange for the painting done well, I have three months to make it, I have his blessing to marry you, Cornelia, Nunnally, and whoever else he says I bring into my 'sphere of influence'." I finished with air quotes.
Euphemia's face turned deep red, a low moan of pleasure escaping as she bit her lip hard, her eyes turning darker and lidded. "I hate him for treating us like political pieces, but that is really hot to be owned by you." She admitted.
Oh dear God I am in a harem anime. I hope that means I can have sex without being blue balled by random acts of 'Apocalypse Crisis' of the week. I'll turn villain if I need to have sex, I won't be denied my right to fuck!
I briefly explained the Celestial Forge, changing into my Slime form briefly before changing back as I noted that Euphie was staring at me like she wanted to eat me. She didn't even look scared at the Slime, her face changing into a deep red as she licked her lips at seeing my form.
Euphemia's arousal died as I explained that Lelouch was Zero, his issues with Britannia as an institution and a country, his beliefs of Charles having something to do with his mother's murder, his search for answers and anything to do to get them.
She looked so sad. "Oh, Lelouch." She said sadly. "He's hurting so much."
Cornelia's eyes narrowed as she huffed. "He's being a dramatic little shit. He's playing revolutionary in his quest to get what he wants, and he's dragging Area Eleven into a war that they can't win to do it." She said bitterly.
I sighed. "The alternative is to somehow stop Lelouch and the ball has already started turning. The powder keg was set to go off long before Lelouch was here. Britannia will eventually suffer the fate of all Empires: Corruption and a slow death from within. The best thing to do now is to mitigate the damage, try to limit the loss of life on both sides."
"When the dust settles, Lelouch will have is vengeance, the corruption rampant in Britannia will be substantially weaker, and we sweep in to clean up the rest, changing the institution into something that Lelouch can begrudgingly tolerate while we keep the empire from collapsing into a series of countries run by warlords." I finished, outlying the plan.
Cornelia and Euphemia looked stunned. "This is treason against the Emperor." Cornelia pointed out slowly.
I snorted. "Charles is old. Old and he knows it. He's trying to squash the Chinese Federation and the European Union while he's alive, because he's a masterful war time Emperor, but a terrible peace time one. When Britannia has conquered every country, there will be nowhere else to direct the military for conquest, there will be no way to hide the failing systems from the Britannians as the Nobles drain the economy and resources dry." I pointed out coldly. "The social Darwinism he's instituted will be truly successful when he gets overthrown by a political person whose willing to step up and challenge the Emperor and the Nobles, breaking them over their knee and reforming it into something that can survive the end of the Conquest of the World."
The reach went to grab a star and missed, the star too vast to be pulled down.
"It's not treason if Charles knows about it and agrees to the plan. He knows full well what's going on. He may not give a shit about his children and his consorts, which I think is his loss personally because you're wonderful and beautiful, but his real aim is to see his ideology completed. To see that in the end, he was right." I finished quietly.
"Oh my God, the Emperor is a fanatic. An ideal fanatic. And it all fits." Cornelia's face paled in horror as she trembled. "No," she shook her head, her face turning red with rage. "Fuck his ideology, he's endangering all of us by letting this all happen because he wanted to play God." She snarled, her hands flexing as if she wanted to gut the Emperor down right now personally.
"What's the alternative, Cornelia? Hide with Euphie in a bunker and hope to survive the fallout?" I argued. "I'm not saying follow his plan of doing nothing," raising a hand at her face filled with rage as she looked ready to argue, "I'm saying if he wants someone to step up and crush him in the political sphere of influence, to destroy the corrupt Nobles slowly killing the empire, then we do it and take advantage of Zero's revolution to be used to put their feet to the fire until they give in." I stated with a cold stern expression.
"Cornelia, take advantage. Clean house here in Area Eleven. See if you can provoke the Purist Faction into acting rashly by sidelining them with what happened to Jeremiah. Create an operation similar to the Shinjuku Massacre because Zero will expect it." I ordered, turning to Euphie. "Euphie, you'll be a 'leak' from Cornelia's office, telling the people that live in the area the night before, send an Honorary Britannian mentioning the operation trying to warn his own to get out as an idea for example, that Cornelia is planning on killing them all on the suspicion of housing Zero and that they need to evacuate. The civilians will believe you as the nice Princess and they know Cornelia is here for blood. The ones who remain will be either terrorists or extremists, neither of whom will cooperate no matter what you say or do on just sheer principle." I commanded.
"We play Charles' game, but we take the initiative. We set the board and the pieces. We will upturn the corrupt shadows in this world and bathe them in the light as we change this society into one where we need not fear assassinations, into one where we can be ourselves without reprisal, into one where humanity can rise forth from its ashes of conquest into a Phoenix blazing into the future!" I said passionately. "For when a Phoenix dies, it's reborn in its flames, greater and more powerful than before!"
"Euphie, you have three days to bed this man before I jump his bones. I'm soaked." Cornelia said huskily, her eyes dilated as she licked her lips.
Euphie nodded. "I'll need to test on if his Slime form can let me breath. I might never need to worry about changing the sheets again if I can be swallowed up in his form, he could fuck me in all three holes. God, I've been dreaming of gangbangs for years but didn't want to be unfaithful to the one I loved if I found him. You better pray you have a lot of stamina." Euphie said hungrily, biting her lip as she panted.
"Uh, girls, I still need to tell Lelouch and Nunnally about what happened here. I suspect they'll break into the government building if I don't return." I said slowly.
Cornelia sighed. "As great as it would be to meet my long lost siblings, it would be in poor taste to have them barge in on you railing Euphie on her maiden night. You can go." She said reluctantly.
I nodded, moving forward to kiss Cornelia hard as she gasped and moaned into my mouth, her tongue tentatively exploring as I grabbed her ass and gave it a single spank, loving the muscle tone as Cornelia moaned into my mouth as she wiggled her ass against my hand as I groped her, feeling her grind against my groin for moment until we reluctantly stopped as I heard a wet squelching noise.
Euphie was staring at us both with a red faced expression, her hands under her dress as she played with herself. "So hot." She moaned.
Cornelia's shriek of "Euphie!" was ignored as I walked over to her and firmly took her hand out of her soaked panties, looking her in the eye as I sucked on her fingers, my tongue tasting her juices as she whimpered.
"Delicious." I finally said, licking her hand clean as she shook silently. "You are beautiful when you're horny." I whispered. "So sexy and needy, just be patient for a couple more days." I kissed her deeply, one hand groping her breast as the other trailed the fabric of her dress, groping her ass to hold her closer to me as she moaned and let me explore her mouth with her tongue licking at mine for a moment as she sighed happily.
Stepping back, I smiled at how Cornelia and Euphemia's flushed gaze was so hot as we hadn't even had sex yet and they were already so dazed with lust.
"See you in two days, Cornelia, Euphie." I said, walking out of the building as I felt eager to tackle the world.
Perks This Chapter:
Techy (250CP)
From Knightmares to guns, you know how to build and improve Geass tech.
Personal Knightmare Frame (0CP)
Build your own Knightmare Frame, it is half the jump document, so I am not copying it all here.
AN: I couldn't sleep last night, and since the voting count clearly shows in favor of Magic/Magitech, I wrote the chapter with it in mind. I'll edit it if it changes. Let me know what you all think!
Promotion Rank:
Rivalz: Pawn promoted to Red King. The Board has been set, the game begins, a third Faction rises.
White Bishop A converted to Red: Cornelia.
White Bishop B converted to Red: Euphemia.
Black King still in play. Zero.
White King still in play. Charles/V.V.
White Pawn converted to Red: Nunnally.
Chapter 7: I ended up in a Harem Anime Pt. 2
Okay, confession time. I was open and honest with Euphie and Cornelia because my Perks were screaming at me that it was the only way it was going to work without there being some major issues down the line.
Those same Perks were screaming at me that telling Lelouch everything would just end very, and I mean VERY, badly. Lelouch was a man on a mission, and he's not exactly sane or mentally well. He hides it well, he truly does try, but Lelouch would lose his mind at the idea of me trying to 'reform' Britannia.
He wanted it all burned to the ground. As an institution, as an ideology, even as a people in some respect. The dude was absolutely looking for someone to blame, someone to crucify for everything that went wrong in his life.
Trying to tell him that Charles knew that and was banking on that would really not go well. Even worse if I had to explain that the real culprit was an immortal ten year old who was both extremely sadistic and extremely paranoid, wouldn't work at all. Lelouch would be killed by the Secret Service in weeks, and C.C. would be after my head for putting the idea in Lelouch's head, and C.C. was not one I'd want to deal with. She'd show up with a FLIEJA bomb out of nowhere just to annihilate me while I wasn't suspecting anything at all.
Lelouch screamed his intentions into the world, he was dramatic, he was willing and eager to take credit for his deeds, even if that meant he also was all too willing to take credit for failures and mistakes.
C.C. didn't give a shit about if you knew if she existed or not. If she wanted you dead, you'll die. If I had to choose between dealing with V.V. or C.C., I'll take the sadistic child immortal any day than an immortal scheming adult whose had centuries of patience, cunning, and experience to fall back on.
So, no, I was heavily editing what I was telling Lelouch. I would tell him that Charles suspects that he's alive, tried to make me sweat, was pleased I didn't break, and then commissioned a painting of just himself and Marianne in exchange for the 'blessing' of marrying Cornelia and Euphemia, alongside any others I hrought into my 'sphere of influence'. I would tell him that I did some digging using my cybernetic knowledge background while at the government office building and 'discovered' the data of what happened that day in the Villa.
Which was what Cornelia told me. That she had been told by Marianne for Cornelia to dismiss all the guards including the head guard Jeremiah Gottwald, and to pack up shop for the day because she trusted the visitor implicitly.
Lelouch would connect the dots and think it was either the Emperor himself or someone very close to the Emperor sent to do his dirty work, and then things would progress as he tries to free up Area Eleven to create a problem for Britannia.
Therefor he wouldn't need to kidnap Cornelia or Euphie, though I'd need to be careful because Lelouch was a paranoid bastard. He'd hide information from me if it wasn't strictly need to know information on operations and missions with the Black Knights, especially once he knew that I drew the Emperor's personal attention.
Lelouch was intelligent, but between his paranoia and his impulsiveness, dude was a live grenade waiting to go off at the slightest trigger.
Luckily, I have an insider. Nunnally. I'd need to ask for her permission to modify her cybernetics, but between the cybernetic knowledge I had and the Techy Perk, I had a lot more options to work with. Like giving Nunnally an automatic Geass Canceller, a Gefjun Disturber so she could hide in stealth missions or from anyone trying to track her position, though I may put another one in her cybernetic suit, and a one way recording device so I can see and hear through Nunnally's eyes during their outings while Nunnally does her thing.
Nunnally would, of course, already know about all these things, but this was already part of her job as Lelouch's handler, because dude was impulsive on his own, and C.C. would say nothing as long as it didn't interfere with Lelouch using and eventually mastering his Geass so she could get her 'Wish'.
I'd need to break my phone apart and reconstruct it, modify the OS, but all of this would only make my equipment that much more effective when the Secret Service couldn't just turn it all off and swoop in to grab me. As it was V.V. was content to ignore everything as long as it meant he could play spymaster and be his usual destructive self.
All that within the next couple weeks. Zero wouldn't do anything while Cornelia cleans house, he operated under the guise of Justice after all, while Cornelia is going to set up plans in motion for dealing with the Purist Faction, which included the majority of the Lower Nobles and were no doubt eager to 'prove themselves' after Jeremiah's fuck up over handing Suzaku over.
The problem with fanatics, was that they couldn't be reasoned with. Bargained with, their goals delayed in some measure if they felt they must, but fanatics would, and often did, pull coups and generally make absolutely horrible decisions in the name of their 'cause'.
How frustrating it is, to live in a world where political dogma and propaganda of superiority over others, combined with the historic atrocities commited by Nobles and family members alike, that Euphemia, Cornelia, and Nunnally all latched onto me so desperately the moment they could, out of absolute certainty that they'd never find a decent or caring individual like myself.
The 'art' of flirting did not mean I could flirt my way into a harem. Especially not when a woman will, at a 90% certainty, want to keep a man to themselves. Love can be possessive, destructive, and great love especially so.
I expected Nunnally to be eager to date after getting her legs and eyes back though I expected it more to be Lelouch wanting to pull his hair out as Nunnally went from boy to boy, figuring out what she liked.
I didn't expect her to want me. My Perks did not make me infallible or immune to assumptions.
I had a rule in my past life. 'Be honest and upfront with your feelings and concerns with those you date'. It burned me many times, but it worked to keep my relationships from dying on the vine out of resentment or silent frustration.
I hadn't taken into account such a rule simply wouldn't exist among the Nobility in Code Geass. Not in a society where the death of a ruling monarch led to a series of assassinations and political destruction to obtain absolute power, and which happened nearly every generation.
I found myself feeling sad for the women in Britannia amongst the Nobility. To be surrounded by daggers and vipers all, to live a lie of comforts knowing that you could not trust your family or your friends, that you needed to keep your guard up all the time. It just didn't sound like a life worth living.
The upbringing of royals raised on the certainty of being political pieces, no matter the personal values and strength of the woman in question, in conjunction of living in a world of lies and unable to find partners in a society where the best you could hope for to be treated like a person is your own children while they're young, would explain neatly why Cornelia, Euphie, and Nunnally acted the way they did.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts as I went into the Ashford Academy, but something was different. I could hear someone crying in the computer lab room on my way to the private wing.
Was it a person recovering from a break up? Should I give them privacy or ask if they're okay?
The reach expanded and shot forward, grabbing the largest star yet, pulling it down into me as I feel it encompass my being.
I think I just became immune to the FLIEJA warheads. And most energy weapons in this setting. Well, doesn't help my need to make sure I don't turn myself into a vegetable if I use magic, but hey, I'll take shoring up my weaknesses any day of the week!
Right, crying person in the computer lab, sorry if you wanted your privacy, but you sound like you need a hug and a cup of hot chocolate, so I'm walking in, I guess.
I gently opened the door. "Hello? I heard you crying, everything okay?" I asked tentatively, making sure to not raise my voice to not startle whoever it was.
"No, go away." Oh. Shit. I know this person. Nina Einstein. Well, can't leave my 'friend' being depressed if I can help it.
I entered and closed the door behind me, sending a message to Lelouch that I'd be a minute and that I'd be at the private wing of the Academy in an hour, give or take. Hey, some people just needed to vent or have someone to cry on, and I was not one to judge.
"Nina, it's Rivalz. You can talk to me. What's wrong?" I asked gently, carefully moving to the back of the computers where, yep, Nina is looking utterly miserable.
She couldn't look at me. "I got rejected from getting funding for my research again." She said bitterly. "I know the military wants weapons, but I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to make the world better."
I nodded, contemplating what that meant. Was this a part of why Nina went ahead with the FLIEJA? Not just for the death of Euphemia, but for the funding and recognition she craved?
That tracks. It sucks, and I think it's a shitty reason to make nukes, but Nina isn't exactly what I'd consider a normal person by any stretch of the imagination.
"I am no super-genius when it comes to what you do, Nina, but, I did recently come into some money from my painting. You could have half of the money, provided you show that your research has value in some sector of the economy." I stated slowly, my mind spinning. If I can turn this around, then the FLIEJA warheads will never be developed. Or at least never streamlined directly into weapons manufacturing. That alone would add years, decades even, for them to be a problem.
"I don't think a few thousand dollars will be enough, but I appreciate the gesture." Nina said dismissively, sighing and wiping her eyes of her tears. My eye twitched. I forgot how much Nina could annoy me at dismissing those she considered below her skill level. She didn't do it consciously, or at least I didn't think she didn't, but god was it irritating.
"I don't think two hundred million is a small amount to play around with." I said curtly.
She froze and jerked up, staring at me in shock. "Wait, how much?! How could a painting cost four hundred million dollars?!" She shrieked, her hands shaking as she nearly dropped her glasses.
I winced, making a hand lowering gesture to lower her voice. "Just look up 'World of Kindness'. Cornelia herself drew from the Royal Treasury to pay for it." Shakily, Nina turned to her computer and pulled up the Noble Net. typing in the words I described.
She gasped at the painting, her eyes glued to the screen. "Oh, Rivalz, that's. That's incredible." She whispered, not even turning to look at me. I smiled, finally, got Nina to think about something other than scientific notations on the conversions between Sakuradite and other energy sources.
Eventually she turned to look at me, frowning. "Rivalz, that's way too much money." She said carefully. "I appreciate the offer, but I just can't prove that my research can go anywhere long term. Especially not if you're looking for a return on your investment. I'm sorry."
I shrugged. "I'm already under commission from the Emperor himself, I'm pretty sure the four hundred million will be at least small stuff by comparison. His Royal Treasury is in a fourteen billion dollar surplus, so he's not hurting for money."
Her mouth opened silently, her eyes wide as she looked lost for a long time before she eventually said weakly. "Okay, but you'll get real time updates on the research, you'll be the first to know about the findings for any good ideas on how to market it and where it can be the most effective for your return on your investment, and, you can patent the invention as long as I get my name on the research findings and the papers for it's discovery."
I nodded. "Sounds good. You'll get the two hundred million in a couple weeks, has to pass security clearances, and we can patent it under a joint patent. How does 'Nina and Rivalz's Ultra Generator' sound?" I asked, a little jokingly.
Nina launched herself out of the computer chair and hugged me, crying into my chest as she kept saying thank you and apologizing for not recognizing him as a genius in the arts. Well, it's a start, I guess. Better than dealing with trying to fight or block the FLIEJA warheads. That's an invention that'll stay buried if I can help it.
After patting her on the back several times, I coughed. "Nina, I do need to go check in with Lelouch and Nunnally. They're expecting me." I said, as she reluctantly nodded, stepping away as she sniffed.
"I'm sorry about your shirt." She apologized, as my front was now covered in tears.
"That's okay. You're overwhelmed and you've been trying really hard to prove yourself to your peers. I get it. Add 'getting three meals a day' and 'eight to ten hours of sleep' to those requirements if you want that funding." I said somewhat jokingly, my joke backfiring a bit as Nina nodded seriously.
"Yes sir. Thank you. I'll, uh, get back to work." Her face flushed a bit as she smiled weakly at him again in silent thanks and went back to work.
Okay. That's a perfectly normal response. Nina Einstein is not into me. She's just really happy about having her funding. I can be just friends with our resident anti-social genius. Yes. Absolutely.
My perks overrode my mouth, again. Damn it! No!
"Good girl. Pace yourself and you'll do great." Fuck!
Nina's face was cherry red as she nodded, shaking as she refused to look at me. I left the computer lab as fast my legs could walk without me moving faster than a human being should be able to, closing the door behind me as I went back toward my original destination, the private wing of the Academy.
I entered the private wing where I found Sayoko and Nunnally sitting down eating dinner. Lelouch was absent. "Master Lelouch went to go on a 'grocery' run for some last minute items." Sayoko informed me with a soft smile as she stood up. "Please, sit down and I'll grab you a plate. Lady Nunnally was in the mood for macaroni and cheese today." Nunnally's face blushed as she ate her food, probably feeling judged over the comfort food.
"Hey, no problem. Mac and cheese is a nice solid dish, comforting during a tough day." I comforted her, reaching over to hold her spare hand as she squeezed it back gently, her eyes not focused for a bit as she sighed.
"I've missed you." Nunnally confessed. "It's not the same having legs and eyes when you still can't walk around much without being stared at." She pouted. "I think it's your fault. You made my legs and my eyes too pretty." She jokingly complained, her face set in a small grin as she teased me.
I fired back. "I only made them as good as they had been when you looked fine, sounds to me like someone's just self-conscious because she can see the people staring at her when she couldn't before." I grinned as she giggled.
"Should I wait for Lelouch or should I spill the tea right now?" I asked Nunnally seriously, my grin fading a bit. Nunnally's hand clenched on mine a little tighter as she thought about it for a bit before responding.
"Tell me the whole truth now, and you can tell Lelouch the edited version that won't have him blowing a fuse." She said seriously, her eyes glinting a bit as they darkened.
Yeah, sometimes I forget she's Lelouch's sister. And then she pulls shit like this and I'm wondering if I released an absolute monster hidden in cute girly flesh.
Still not complaining though. It's hot, when it's not directed at me!
Sayoko returned with a plate of macaroni and cheese that she gave me as she also sat down across from Nunnally and myself. I looked hesitatingly at Sayoko before Sayoko spoke up with, I think, approval in her tone.
"Lady Nunnally informs me of everything, she's practically my daughter in every way that matters. I will not say a word even to Master Lelouch as long as it's not in direct harm to him." She said with a calm expression.
Okay, so I spill the tea on everything. I explained everything to Nunnally, leaving out nothing as I went back all the way to when I left the private wing to when I exited the government building. The only things I decided against mentioning was the World of C and the Sword of Akasha, as neither of them would be able to do anything about such a thing.
"Truly remarkable diplomacy." Sayoko muttered, looking impressed. "Turning enemies into hesitant allies, redirecting enemy focus into other matters while you consolidate your strength, and you're focused on the bigger picture where everyone benefits to your cause that isn't a corrupt Noble or a negative influence on the world."
I shrugged. "I'm already facing a huge threat, I don't need to add more to my plate. There's competence, and then there's arrogance, I'm not willing to set my bar above what I can handle. And," I mused with a soft smile at Nunnally, "there are some things worth doing well. A world where Nunnally can be happy and carefree, where she needn't worry about assassinations to her children or her family members, is a world I'm willing to fight for."
Nunnally's face turned red. "I, thank you, Rivalz." She squeaked, her eyes looking firmly at her empty plate. Sayoko's quiet giggle made my head turn toward her as she looked amused at our interaction.
"I think so too." She said with a smile. "I owe Master Lelouch my life, but the life would've been much more empty in it without Lady Nunnally in it." Her face hardened as she looked at me with a cold expression.
"Don't break my daughter's heart, and I won't break your arms and legs before feeding you to the hounds." She said coldly. Why am I getting the shovel talk from you?!
"Of course not. I'd rather break her bed multiple times before I could even think of such a thing." I said affrontedly. Why are my Perks making me say this?! I don't want to die!
Sayoko's face turned slightly pink as Nunnally squeaked again, her hand clenching mine hard. "Well, can't blame a mom for wanting to protect her daughter from such a vulgar brute of a man, can you?" She said back, raising an eyebrow.
"Certainly not, but if you're so worried about Nunnally's heart from a 'brute of a man', as you say, than I guess you'll need to keep a really close, personal, eye on me when I'm with her, shouldn't you? I can at least guarantee you'll enjoy the view of seeing your grandchildren being made first hand. If you hear her screaming for more, than I guess you'll know she won't want anyone else." I said confidently.
What the fuck. What the fuck. Why are my perks trying to kill me? I am so dead.
Sayoko licked her lips as she seemed to look me over for a moment. "I guess I'll have to make sure you don't break her by going to hard then. You'll need to back up your claims, of course. Don't disappoint." She said slowly, a deep flush of pink in her cheeks as she reached over and tried to grab my plate.
I grabbed her hand, stopping her from doing so as I raised her hand to my lips, kissing the back of her hand as I smiled. "I look forward to proving my claims then. Please, allow me to clean up while you spend time with your daughter." I let go of her hand as Sayoko breathed heavily, her eyes unfocused as she nodded slowly, stepping aside as I took Nunnally's and my own plates to the sink to be cleaned.
Oh, come on! I wasn't asking for this! I mean, Sayoko is hot too, but I only have so many hours in a day! Seriously?!
The reach extended for a star and missed it's grasp.
I can't even be mad that the Celestial Forge missed grabbing a Perk. It's Perks that got me into this mess!
Perks This Chapter:
Environmental Tolerance IV (Essential Body Modification Supplement) (400CP)
You are not damaged by hazardous environments, though this does not provide you a method of propulsion.
I: You no longer need to breathe and do not suffer from temperatures between -100C and 100C (-150F to 200F). You are immune to most radiation (up to about 1,000 mSv; the amount experienced during unshielded exposure to space).
II: As tier I, plus you do not suffer from temperatures below 1500C (2700F) or the effects of pressure lower than 1000 atmospheres (including the effects of vacuum). You are immune to the effects of radiation at all levels.
III: As tier II, but the protection extends to any non-magical environmental source.
IV: As tier III, but the protection extends to magical environments such as energy planes.
AN: I'm pretty sure everyone saw that coming, but it's still fun to write out as the Perks really do hold nothing back. Let me know what you guys think so far. Probably should add 'Code Geass AU' and 'semi-crack' to the tags at this point since this world is definitely not the one we entered at the start of the series. XD
Chapter 8: Upon This Island, I Build My Cyber-Nation!
There's some absolute BS on the Celestial Forge that makes it incredible against even the most powerful of forces.
There's also some absolute BS on the Celestial Forge against it's owner! This is totally unfair!
Yeah, my excitement over magic dwindled with the horror that I couldn't access the Schoolbooks that I wanted to have on hand to complete my education, as my Occlumency helpfully reminded me that I had six years of Hogwarts education, not seven. Absolutely bullshit!
I could summon my Knightmare to and from the… Entrance Hall? I don't have a Workshop, and I'm lacking a Key, so I'm forced to deal with this world without a safe space to build from. Damn it!
Still, summoning my Knightmare out of nowhere with no visible way of it's construction, and with no way for my money to be traced toward any factories that specialized in Knightmare Manufacturing, would be a huge red flag in the making.
I had ideas to fix all of those issues and more, however. Ideas that could see the common people grasping better conditions for living, create vast wealths to even supplement my own income, and support my military endeavors all at the same time.
My painting for Charles had been completed within a day, no doubt Her Majesty's Majesty would see it looking even more stunning by the time those three months were up, and tomorrow was the official coronation when I became Euphemia's Knight. Today was the last day that I could move without a lot of eyes looking upon what I did, no doubt being a nuisance in the process.
Drawing on my knowledge of Techy, I was bemused to realize that not only were many of the parts of Knightmare Frames just much larger versions of modernized equipment with some basic cybernetics thrown in using Sakuradite as it's power source, many of them had similar flaws due to the standardization of construction for the average pilot. Lloyd's Lancelot was practically inoperable to all who didn't have extreme reflexes and reaction timing like Suzaku and myself. No doubt it was why they went by 'Generations' for each Knightmare Type, with the Sutherland being Generation 5.
The Lancelot currently in use is the only noted 'Generation 7' Knightmare Frame, and was so unwieldy by many other pilots that it would take a couple years before the technology fully realized for the average pilot in the various upgrades given to the Gareth's and the Akatsuki's, the Britannian's and the Black Knight's mass produced Knightmare Frames perspectively.
I had access to Generation 9 Knightmare Frames, with tentative steps into Generation 10 thanks in part to the Namid Shu Mane, which was the only designation that gave it Generation 10 qualities.
With cybernetics, I could uplift my pilots to utilizing even Generation 9 Knightmare Frames like the Lancelot Albion and the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. without any issues or drawbacks, though I couldn't just start off with those Generations without drawing a lot of questions and eyebrows at how I created such an advancement in technology.
That, and the Industrial Centers of Area Eleven were woefully prepared for such magnitude increases in demand for parts and designs that hadn't even been blueprints on a computer yet, let alone tested for quality in manufacturing design. The only two major areas for Industrialization of Knightmare Frames was the Mobile Knightmare Experimentation Unit, headed under Prince Schneizel's own employed Lloyd Asplund and Cecile Croomy, and the Tokyo Mass Knightmare Construction Facility, which took advantage of the destruction in Tokyo from the Area Eleven Invasion to build on top of the rubble to create the Knightmare Manufacturing Facility for extremely cheap prices and extremely cheap labor run by the Elevens, whom were paid barely enough to survive, let alone the minimum wage dedicated to Britannians of the same age and gender.
Oh yeah, that's a thing. Britannian's Minimum Wage is at least five times higher than Honorary Britannian's, and Area Number Minimum Wage is… zero. There is no mandated minimum for Area Numbers. They could get paid one penny a year and that would still be considered a wage.
Sadly, while I'd love to just pay everyone the exact same wage, the laws for payments are strictly enforced. You could get fined heavily for paying an Honorary Britannian too much money, and Area Numbers had no rights, so it wasn't uncommon for those who made more money to have to pay protection rackets or just give money to the mob in the hopes of not being robbed and killed for having too much money in their homes. Getting paid an actual livable wage is a death sentence for an Area Number.
And the mob gave a huge chunk of that money to the Britannian forces, who would look the other way and let the mob strangle their own people into compliance and despair. Refrain was just another drug among dozens made by the Britannian's science and research teams to quell the Area Numbers into compliance alongside systemic destruction over resources and quality of life, and it wasn't uncommon for the Refrain to be given by police to schools filled with Area Number teenagers and children, to hook them into the system young and force them docile for their next fix as Britannia drains their economy and their resources dry.
Utterly disgusting, but this was the system I was born into, and no doubt I'd be a worse terrorist than Zero would ever be had I been born an Area Number with the Celestial Forge. I would've burned the whole thing to the ground, salted the earth, and strangled the idea of a 'just' empire by any measure. I was a vengeful person, and I didn't play nice to those who wronged me. I was similar to Lelouch in that regard. I was just born lucky, and didn't want to see everyone suffer under the collapse of Britannia.
The end of a world superpower like Britannia doesn't make it nicer. It creates a power vacuum as it breaks into various countries filled with warlords who had access to infrastructure and manufacturing facilities that had access to FLEIJA constructions via Sakuradite. It would've signaled this world's equivalent of WW3, and the absolute end of most modern nations as a result.
I needed to consider carefully where I invested my money into creating the next major industry, because the industrial center mattered heavily as far as logistics, costs, shipments, construction time, and labor to draw from the nearby cities and rural areas.
While I could build into the Ghettos, as most land there was extremely cheap and essentially glassed over for me, there was the stigma of Britannians refusing to work in those areas, which would leave mostly Honorary Britannians and Elevens, and I'd need to rebuild the roads, the electrical wiring systems, the sewage systems, the production line would need to be extended, parts would need to be ordered and then modified to my specific designs and specs for my Perks to take advantage of them, and lots of patents and papers to fill out to complete regulatory forms.
On the other hand, buying a used factory would fix most of those issues for me, and I could just restructure it toward my designs rather than build it from scratch, saving me hundreds of millions of dollars in the process along with just having to fill in the licenses and the patents. It would let me move months and weeks ahead of schedule, and I think I knew the perfect facility to buy.
The Ashfords' had attached themselves to Marianne, particularly as the Ashfords had pioneered the Knightmare Frame in the 3rd Generation. They created the Ashford Foundation, a Knightmare Frame Facility that specialized in building them one at a time, as the mass production lines of the Knightmares' such as the Glasgow were primarily made in Britannia while the Tokyo Mass Knightmare Construction Facility was under construction at the time, as it would take roughly five to seven years to become completely built.
The result was that when Marianne got assassinated, the Ashford Foundation lost nearly all of it's funding, and closed up shop, as no one else wanted to touch the Foundation's Facility after it's 'fall from grace' on top of being an old Knightmare Frame Facility that had seen very little use outside of Marianne's Ganymede construction and rare repairs.
So, I offered to buy it from Milly's parents directly, who were thrilled to get rid of the relic of the past, though they were saddened when I refused to buy the Ganymede itself. "It's a part of the Ashford's Legacy, and I will not take it from you even if you offered it for free." I said freely, well aware that Nina was using the Ganymede as a study for how to turn used Sakuradite into a power source.
I paid four million for the whole Knightmare Facility, its lands, all of it now under my name directly. Which was perfect for me because after Marianne became the 'Knight of Honor' and the Consort to the Emperor, the Ashford's used a vast majority of the money they had gotten into buying a ton of land in the surrounding area, alongside several apartment buildings, which they tore down and turned into a mansion for when Marianne and the Emperor came over to visit, and even a closed down Japanese Museum, which they had planned to turn into a museum celebrating the success of the Ashford Foundation. The plan never came into fruition, but now I had a lot to work with.
The mansion had fallen into disrepair, as I noted by the lack of windows, the evidence of nature growing and reclaiming the building as it's own. The Facility, however, was left relatively intact, the parts and manufacturing systems rusted and needed to be replaced, but otherwise the building and it's basics were very much functional, if bare.
I smiled. I could work with this. I could work wonders with this.
The first thing I did was start tearing down the rusted manufacturing machines, taking advantage of my isolation to really let loose using my Slime body to dissolve and 'eat' the rusted metal. Once I did that, I started to experiment using magic, drawing from my knowledge imparted from Schoolbooks and Slime to create a magical wood and a core filled with my own slime, creating a temporary magical focus. It would do the job, but it wouldn't be perfect until I fully experimented on the different materials to find out which one made the perfect wand for me.
Then I started casting magic, using the wand to repair the electrical wires and the cracked walls, repairing the sewer systems, and even went all in on repairing the mansion almost wholesale as I practiced the different spells and wards that I knew of, noting that while I could cast a Patronus, I couldn't cast the Killing Curse, some innate effect requiring me to have a hatred for life, which I just didn't have. I like living, and I like my life, so why would I want to hate it and everyone in it?
It seems the Schoolbooks weren't from Harry Potter Canon, which meant deviations and changes I'd need to deal with if I went along that path. On the upside to that, it hopefully means I can go forward with cybernetic enhancements on myself without destroying myself in the process. I'd need to practice on that just to make sure.
With repairs out of the way, it was time to go shopping, buying lots and lots of parts from the Tokyo Knightmare Mass Construction Facility did sell warped and messed up parts for cheap to those who had the right licenses, or to those who knew the right people. I was also buying lots of electrical parts, raw metals and materials, and buying a truck to deliver it all into the Facility with a generation payment up front to be delivered in less than four hours, ah, the wonders of buying in bulk and paying convenience for it.
Twenty thousand dollars and three hours later, the truck dropped off the supplies and materials at my facility, with the Britannians sniggering at my obvious lack of business sense if I was willing to waste so much money buying the disgraced Ashford Foundation's Knightmare Facility. I didn't deny them their humor.
After all, they might want to switch working for me in a few months time, and I would be the one laughing silently then.
I decided to split the Facility in half, with one side focusing on cybernetics and the processors for said cybernetics, and the other side focused on Knightmare Construction/Modification. That way I could wave my hand at this place and say "This is how I made my Knightmare as an extreme experiment, no, it's not for sale, fuck off." with a big wide grin on my face Lloyd screams in outrage while V.V. screams silently a few thousand kilometers away as he can't find the blueprints nor the patents for the Knightmare that makes his Siegfried look like a joke.
This was where magic was useful. I couldn't use it on 'active' delicate technology, but on huge metals and parts? Oh yeah, fair game. Using my wand, I had the Knightmare factory arms and repair systems fully constructed in less than an hour of work, truly, magic is blissful, but I was wary on doing so with cybernetics, since these were parts that would be going inside people.
Well, that, and I just wanted to have fun building the things that would be used to slowly turn Britannia into a cyberpunk utopia where I am the man behind the shadows. Britannia and the Black Knights will be buying from me in droves, especially because the cybernetics weren't just for the Knightmares. Cybernetics that could allow you to have access to the Noble Net without a phone, cybernetics that could regulate your blood pressure and sugar intake, cybernetics to give back eyesight, limbs, and senses that some people were born without, all of it and more would be available, with Nobles eager to be the first to buy the extremely costly cybernetics.
If you want to capture an aristocracy, appeal to their ego with your cybernetics, with your inventions that the public haven't even seen yet, and then when all of them dance to the tune of the cybernetics that have made their lives so much better, manipulate their brains and bodies to allow complete control over whatever you want. Cyberpunk dystopias with corporations doing this to governments are a dime a dozen, and for good reason.
Why pay bribes and grease the wheels of a society when you could control the very movement of the wheels themselves?
Which was why the first cybernetics I designed was one that removed poison and toxins, with a limiter so Nobles could get drunk or even send a request to me for special modifications if the Noble wants to try Refrain or some other drug without becoming an addicted addled mess. The machines that make cybernetics required very fine-tuned needle like structures, because it would be moving an even smaller machine that moved on the inside of a glass dome that was completely sterilized and would hold the metals and materials needed to make cybernetics. Cybernetic parts are extremely delicate, and often needed to be adjusted to be specialized to the consumer who bought them, which was why a part of the cybernetic equipment was a variation of weak one-time use nanites that would modify the cybernetic parts once implanted. This was where my cybernetic specialization really hit into high gear, because a huge part of cybernetic equipment was programming.
Programming that could alter brain structures and systems, manipulate the nervous system, alter functions of various organs, and create unique protein models found on a consumer's cells that their immune system checked to see if it was a foreign object or intruder that needed to be destroyed. Programming that I also used to monitor and send back data to me using a two way data system that would require the consumer to have a basic cybernetic implant to use even the most basic of other cybernetics. This was very experimental technology, as far as they were concerned, so getting in on the ground floor had some small risks, though always tested for safety first.
The next step was to create black box programs. Black box programs would destroy the coding and render the cybernetic utterly useless in case anyone else tried to tamper with the cybernetics to create their own versions, as without the coding, the cybernetic system itself was less than useless, being a hazard that would endanger it's hosts without proper modifications.
Following that were authorization programs, systems with a series of authorizations and a master key that only I would possess using my own cybernetic implant, to ensure that the cybernetics would run properly and in specific ways, with my master key used to alter that system to however I wanted at the time. No one would ever see me breaking into a place because their eyes couldn't give that visual information to the brain if I didn't allow it.
Oh yeah, I'm pulling out all the stops in being a man in the shadows, and I'm having fun while doing it.
Each cybernetic would also come with a Geass Canceler, meaning that it would be impossible for a Geass to work on whoever has my implant unless I turn it off intentionally using my master key, and some would be modified with a Gefjun Disturber, to hide from radar or detection frequencies. Those would be designed to be given to top operatives of the Secret Service and to the top operatives of the Black Knights. This way, I could play both sides while gathering intel directly into V.V.'s operations as the young immortal would no doubt want to try cracking into why the implants are blocking Geass.
Which was where I lay a trap. Should someone try to pry apart the cybernetic, it would silently release a secondary one-time use nanites that destroyed the cybernetics from within, and activate a bomb that would detonate in minutes. The strength of the bomb would be minor, but it would definitely be enough to ruin someone's hands.
Oh yeah, it's all coming together.
If anyone walked in and saw a Slime laughing maniacally over a reconstructed and heavily modified computer, they saw nothing! Absolutely nothing!
I was also adding a ton of systems into place to ensure that no one would approach the Facility or even get inside, which is where magic came in handy, as the wards that blocked non-magicals should in theory work on everyone, though I wasn't sure if it worked on Code Bearers and Geass Users. Would they count as magical in this world? Wasn't sure, wasn't risking it, so I added several wards that checked the person's 'name', that which they called themselves by, and if it wasn't a very small select of people, they would lose memories of the facility and abruptly leave immediately.
Without any concerns of the public or Secret Service stumbling upon my facility, I debated on summoning my Knightmare to look at it, and decided it was worth it in case I needed to make some last minute modifications.
I willed it to appear in front of the Knightmare Modification Facility, grinning as it appeared in front of me.
Spoiler: The Lancelot Albion Zero
[img: https/static.wikia./codegeass/images/4/49/1538730129063.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20181204100207]
The Lancelot Albion Zero. The pinnacle of what Suzaku would pilot when he pretended to be Zero during Lelouch's reign, heavily modified to suite my taste.
The gold had been replaced with a dark blue to blend into the purple, giving it a dark color suited for how my Knightmare is to inspire terror in those it faces, for I took no prisoners. Those who endangered me and mine would face only annihilation.
I named mine the Apeiron Model Zero. For it is boundless and would reduce all who opposed it to nothing.
The thing was a marvelous machine of beauty, and it was fiat-backed to be both repairable within a day, and fully reconstructed within a week if destroyed. It's I.F.F. sensors were fiat-backed to always detect neutral, friendlies, and allies within a large radius, regardless of if they were mechanical or biological. The Harken Boosters would increase the speed, strength, and targeting system of the Harkens, able to destroy and pierce the weaker Knightmares like the Sutherland and the Gloucesters. It has a Multi-Energy Device attachment under the cockpit, allowing it the ability to create and extend the Blaze Luminous five times as further away and expands them by three at an increased energy cost.
Something I wasn't worried about as my personal Knightmare was fiat-backed to have infinite ammo and energy for every part it had in or on it.
The Float System allowed my Knightmare to move through the air, able to act as air superiority on top of it's powerful tactical advantage.
The 10 Energy Wings it had allowed the Knightmare to shred through any nearby Knightmares looking to try and ambush or surround me in combat if they're trying to take Euphie hostage by overwhelming numbers.
It also possesses the Blaze Luminous, including the variants on the knees and legs to ensure it won't get destroyed hitting a weak point below the arms, and a Gefjun Disturber, which would enable it to hide from radar, useful for deploying on enemy lines to demolish the opposing force unopposed. Something I was considering doing to face down the JLF and take down Bartley's Code R research station in the mountains, that way I could start really cracking into whatever sick garbage V.V. is up to in the short term.
It also came with a V.A.R.I.S. Rifle alongside two MSV's, Master Vibration Swords, as part of it's standard equipment. All of that before I put any modifications in, of which I was considering quite a lot, but the futuristic Knightmare Frame would be fine for now as it was, though I made a mental note to add in a Geass Canceler to the Knightmare as soon as possible.
I cracked my 'neck', aware that as a Slime I wasn't truly limited by a human form as I noted how it was fairly dark outside, and the time indicated it was roughly ten at night now. A day well spent, noting that I had enough supplies to make a few dozen cybernetics for some nobles, so I'd probably send those to certain nobles in Pendragon. I would also reach out and offer a few select cybernetics to one Lloyd Asplund who would be esctatic at not needing to sleep more than three hours a night to continue his pet projects and likely pass that idea up the chain to his boss, Schneizel el Britannia. I doubt the man will take the bait, no doubt wanting to give it to an assistant to monitor for any issues, but it would still give me an inside into his operations, however small.
Britannia, Chinese Federation, European Union, what are your borders of value to a man that can see through your men's eyes, thoughts, and hearts? What are your defenses capable of against the man in the shadows who can turn your defenses upon you?
Let us see what value you all will have against the Celestial Forge. I will enjoy your silent submission as your people beg for the cybernetics that improve their lives, as your society begins to waver under the onslaught of systems that would make the Knightmare Frames look like toys in comparison, for just like how pathetic a tank is in comparison to a Knightmare, how pathetic will a Knightmare be against a weapon that surpasses the Metal Gear? When a man's fist can punch holes in your military, slice through your Knightmares like butter with a blade, you will beg for the same innovations to maintain your superiority.
Tremble world, for the cybernetic dystopia has arrived, and it is not in your favor.
AN: No rolls this chapter since it was mostly technology and construction, something I think is a good idea to keep from having the whole story be 'Rivalz discovers new method on terrifying enemies, builds it, gets another new method on terrifying enemies, and spiraling out of control'. The points will be added in, so that's 550 CP into the next chapter, but the rolling itself won't happen. Let me know what you guys think!
Chapter 9: Politics, Being Knighted, Lots of Sex
The day was here. I was to become Euphemia's Knight. I never expected to be a Knight of the Massacre Princess when I entered this world.
Thankfully the moniker was one Euphemia would never get. I would make sure of that.
I was also awake super early. Apparently there was a lot of pomp and circumstances to being Knighted, especially a practice run in private so neither Euphemia nor I would mess up our lines on international television.
Because this was being broadcasted everywhere. From Britannia and all the Areas to the Chinese Federation and the European Union. Euphemia was internationally loved for her kindness and diplomacy, often regarded as one of the only good Britannian Royals.
She was the reason Cornelia wasn't being hounded by assassins across the world, because if you hurt Euphemia in the process, God help you, because no one else would stop Cornelia from hunting you down.
So I was up at about one in the morning, and I was surprised when I got a message from Nunnally on my way to the government building for early analysis by the Royal make up artists who would check to see if I needed any touch ups for the camera.
'I know you're going to be Euphemia's Knight, so I wanted to congratulate you early with a present. I recommend opening the attached files in private, but you can open it in public if you want to show off the vi Britannia princess you own and hopefully plan to breed. Try not to keep me waiting too long, I'm worried I'll jump you in public and cum on the spot one of these days.
With love, your fucktoy, Nunnally.'
I won't lie, I 'swallowed' the phone and opened the pictures, looking inside myself while in an alley so no one noticed that I wasn't looking human at the moment.
Holy shit, Nunnally, you kinky bitch.
She was in her dress but it was obvious she was wearing nothing underneath as she hiked it up to show off her drooling lower lips as she was panting and looked like she was moaning in the middle of when the picture being taken.
The next picture had the dress off, with her frowning at her small sized breasts and pinching one of her nipples while grinding against her pillow.
The last picture surprised me the most, with Sayoko's flushed face looking nervous and rather scandalous at Nunnally licking at Sayoko's clearly exposed breasts while Nunnally had one hand back to hold her own ass cheek open to show off her holes dripping and eager for me.
The follow up text message appeared. 'Sayoko really doesn't know that I've imagined her mouth on my clit for years. She's the best, letting me indulge. Even if I didn't get any milk from her tits. You can fix that eventually though. Breed us both Master, ruin us for any other man.'
I closed the messages and pictures, letting my phone reappear in my hand. God damn, Nunnally is definitely a freak, and that's hot. Can't wait to bed them both at some point.
I was surprised to note that the guard patrolling the government building was actually relieved to see me. "Thank the Emperor," he muttered as he ushered me in, "Lady Cornelia has been a nightmare. Please, Sir, distract her or make her ease up. I'm worried that she'll make Lady Euphemia's big day a mess." Okay, I can do that. Distract or make her ease up. I'm pretty sure distraction is much easier than easing up, not unless I make her fight in a Knightmare Simulator to make her back off.
He saluted me, which made me nervous because I was not in the military and that was making me think he was sending me on a suicide mission, and closed the gates behind me as I could hear Cornelia grumbling in the main chamber.
"Where is that blasted man?! I don't care how attractive he is, I'll strangle him if he's late for the ceremony practice run!" Cornelia snarled as she paced back and forth, with Euphie looking very irritated as she scowled at her sister.
"Touch one hair on my Knight and I will hold you down as he kicks you in the groin." Euphie said coldly, her eyes staring right at Cornelia's waist where her pistol was curiously absent. "I don't care if he's probably not going to be effected, I'm not dealing with my sister thinking she can treat my Knight with anything less than the respect he deserves." She added in, seeing Cornelia looking ready to argue.
Cornelia huffed. "I just, this is a very important day, Euphie, I want it to go right." She begged, shaking her head. "This is a big deal."
"I'm fully aware of that, but you should also know that I have several Perks from the Forge that ensures that this'll go smoothly if you don't try and bite everyone's heads off, Lady Cornelia." I interject smoothly, entering the main chamber as Euphie looked relieved to see me.
"Oh, thank you, my Knight. I'm glad to know that you're not nervous to be in front of an international audience." Euphie breathed with relief, a smile back on her exhausted face. "Cornelia's been trying to have me recite the Knighting Speech for the past two hours. It's ridiculous."
"We screw this up once, we'll look like laughing stocks among the Nobility and the Royal Family, forget the international audience. Our reputation is on the line here, Euphie." Cornelia said darkly, her eyes narrowing as she looked about, as if imagining assassins waiting in the shadows.
I shook my head. "No, the way to go about doing this isn't stress on how bad things could get, it's to relax and take it easy. Stress will wipe away the mind when it's needed most, and having Euphie look frozen stiff out of fear of the cameras and making a fool of herself will only make us look worse. Cornelia, go back to bed. You're not needed outside of presiding over the ceremony. I'll make sure Euphemia memorizes her lines. Don't argue." I raised a hand as she looked furious with me, her face turning red.
"Would you have liked Euphemia treating you the way you have been the night before you Knighted Guilford?" I said simply, as I put my hand down. Cornelia stiffened up for a moment, and looked away, her face set in a frown.
"Exactly. Go. To. Bed. You'll feel better waking up in a few hours with a hot black cup of coffee and some breakfast. We need you looking your best if you don't want rumors going around about how our Area Eleven Viceroy is looking ready to keel over at any minute."
Cornelia finally, reluctantly, nodded. "Okay. Please don't fuck this up." She said simply, moving over to hug her sister before heading through the back of chamber, no doubt on her way to the bedroom to crash.
The reach lunged, it's expanse massive as it shot forward. It grabbed the largest star yet as it slowly pulled it down. As the vastness of the star filled my being, I could feel the Celestial Forge's reach grind to a halt, the star so massive that it began to warp the reality upon which I lived.
Internal screaming intensifies. Internally screaming getting progressively louder as I just realized I fucked up the wards that blocked Code and Geass Users, because I very much didn't know what the fuck I was doing, and I just realized that I am absolutely going insane right now as everything I ever thought I knew about magic was now sharply rearranging itself because holy shit I've been so blind.
Well. That was a horrifying experience to have as I just had my whole worldview torn open as I just realized that I completely fucked up on the wards that I thought I did right, and now I'm starting to wonder what else I fucked up in. Shit. I can't sell the cybernetics now, because I'm having second thoughts on whatever else I fucked up on. Damn! I'd been so looking forward to selling those things. I'll need to go over everything with a fine tooth comb and maybe even get Nina or Nunnally in on my operations because it's obvious that just because I was smart with cybernetics didn't mean I was wise with what I did with them.
Okay, okay. Let's back up a moment. Now I have a lot more magical knowledge to fall back on, I am definitely able to establish those wards properly, even if I now realized I'll need to create a wardstone to hold the ward down in order for it to stay stable and not promptly fall apart after a few hours. I can go back through everything and make sure I don't totally screw myself over in the future by jumping ten steps ahead when some caution is indeed warranted. I've been running practically reliant on the Celestial Forge, and this just goes to show that if I hadn't gotten slapped in the face with my mistake, I would've had a huge bill to pay for the utter disaster that would've happened.
"Rivalz, you okay?" Euphie said softly, her hand on my cheek as I blinked and returned to reality, breathing out a sigh as I held her hand there, silent for a moment.
"Yeah. Just realized I've been running around trying to do too much, too fast. I just had an epiphany that would've really bit me in the ass later, but I'm good right now. Thank you." I said sincerely.
She nodded, her eyes softening. "Okay." She said simply, as I reached over and kissed her briefly, her gasp of surprise leading into a low moan as my tongue went into her mouth for a moment before I stepped back as she looked flushed, pouting at me.
"Every line of the Knighting Ceremony you get right, you get one kiss. You do the whole thing right in one take without messing up or hesitating, and we'll make out for a few minutes. That sound like a thing working for, my dear Princess?" I said lowly, licking my lips as I saw her eyes darken as she bit her lip for a moment before nodding quickly.
It took a few tries, but Euphemia was flushed and panting, soaked and hungrily making out with me for definitely longer than a few minutes by the time she got the whole thing down confidently, her hips grinding against my Slime form, something she absolutely insisted upon as she got herself off hard a couple times during the makeout session while I did my best to not explode as she threw off the dress as she moaned and begged for me to take her then and there.
God, I love Princesses. So fucking kinky.
After an hour, I had Euphie get dressed and used a refreshing charm on us both, her eyes glinting with ideas as I explained that while it wouldn't be as effective as a Pepper-Up Potion, it would work in a pinch.
"I'm also planning on using contraceptive spells on us both until I can figure out a way to recreate the Contraception Potion, which turns off fertility and removes periods until you take the Fertility Potion. It's a little too dangerous right now to be having kids, even if I'd love to test to see how many children I can put in all three of you." I said, cursing inwardly as yet again my Perks were running my mouth off.
Euphie's face flushed a deep red as she nodded, one of her hands going to rub her lower belly right above her hips as she seemed to contemplate how that would feel, biting her lip as she shivered. "I'd like that. I like that a little too much." She admitted honestly.
The make up crew arrived after another hour while Euphemia and I were drinking coffee, noting that it was about four to five in the morning while the Knighting Ceremony would take place at eleven.
The make up crew already knew what they were doing with Euphemia, but I was bemused when they looked baffled at trying to do anything to me. "I just, can't find a flaw. It's ridiculous!" The man complained, looking at my face in the mirrors. "This is absurd! Everyone has flaws, little touch ups that need to be made, things to look nicer, I'm not even sure if I should touch you with even the best of my products!" He grumbled, taking out a note and writing on it for a moment before he looked up at me, his face serious.
"If anyone asks, I did the whole works on you, and you will say nothing to break that claim. I know Cornelia's type and she'll assume we failed our jobs if we say we couldn't find anything to work on with you." He stalked off, grumbling all the while as he handed the note to another person who nodded and set it on a table.
Huh. Well, at least he's honest.
A few more hours went by as the camera crew arrived, with me asking all sorts of questions and eager to try it out, to which the camera crew were bemused enough to actually let me as I experimented with different lightings and camera angles before letting them complete their set up as I thanked them for letting me mess around. "Seriously, you guys do really important work and I appreciate it." I said honestly as the camera director beamed and shook my hand in thanks, handing me a card if I wanted to set up a promotional showing or something important. Heh. 'Royal Productions' was a pretty on the nose business name, but hey, it works!
Finally Euphie was done as Cornelia was also getting herself worked up, apparently she preferred the 'organic looking' approach, which took more time than I thought it did. I hadn't realized so much time went into make up looking natural. I wanted to kiss Euphie because she looked stunning, her lipstick was especially great as I imagined how that'd look wrapped around my cock, but I refrained as no doubt she'd need to redo her make up if I messed with it.
Well that and our relationship aside from Princess and her Knight was secret at the moment, so it's not exactly right to show it off in public. Damn.
"Alright, we're about a half hour from showtime! Everyone get in position! Lady Euphemia, get a glass of water if you need it! Sir Rivalz, you too!" The director called out as he went around adjusting everything.
Grabbing a glass of water, Euphemia was giddy with excitement as the moment she'd been wanting for years was about to happen. I followed as well, drinking a glass of water before we got back into position, noting that there was an audience behind the camera crew, no doubt the Nobles and high society folk that were flocking to see and watch Euphemia Knight a person first hand.
"One minute to news! Get ready!" The director called out loud.
Euphemia looked nervous for a moment, then seemed to take a deep breath as she smiled at me, her face radiant as her eyes glowed with glee and rapture at the moment when I would be hers.
Good lord that's hot.
"Three, Two, One!" The director said aloud.
"Greetings, people of Area Eleven, people of Britannia, people across the world. Today we announce that my sister, Euphemia li Britannia, will Knight Rivalz of the New Noble House Anderson, to be her personal Knight. This is a historic day, and one that I'm proud of for my sister." Cornelia said with an aloof expression that ended in a nod to Euphemia whose face was set in a gentle smile for the cameras and the audience.
"Euphemia li Britannia, state aloud for your reasons for Rivalz of the New Noble House Anderson to be your personal Knight, so all may judge him to be of Worthy Standings." Cornelia commanded.
This was all part of the political show. To be a Personal Knight of a Royal cements the alliance of the House belonging to the Knight and the Royal line. By broadcasting worthy reasons, the value of those reasons would state aloud how strong the Knight was of value to be the Royal Protector of the Royal.
Cornelia Knighted Guilford because Guilford had saved her life many times on the battlefield, and had gone out of his way to enter and destroy a stronghold where she had been taken captive after they falsely declared surrender.
Alas, Guilford was loyal to his Princess but didn't have feelings for her like Euphie had hoped, as a bond forged by the fires of war are deeper and different than bonds of attraction.
"Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson, showed to me his values as my personal Knight by his painting that many of you are already know as a painting worthy of the Royal Treasury, and a painting that expresses my deepest desires of diplomacy and kindness. The 'World of Kindness' showed that long before we met, that Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson has perseverance, for dedication to the painting could have only taken years to make. Has loyalty to my cause and my goals, for his loyalty and desire to show justice and tribute to my ideals are represented clearly in the painting. Yet, these are not his only qualities."
Euphemia paused, her passion showing as she waved her hand to me.
"Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson, defeated my sister three times in a row, using the most advanced and accurate Knightmare Simulator we have to date. He bested her three times, but he didn't boast. He didn't announce it for the world to hear. He offered that it had been a fluke, stating that Cornelia is still worthy of her title, the Goddess of Victory."
"The numbers recorded for Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson showed higher than some members of the Knights of the Round, and record shows that the only people who had higher numbers is Sir Bismark Waldstein and the late Knight of Honor, Marianne vi Britannia. For all the deeds shown by the Knights of the Round also show as an example of what Rivalz of New Noble House Anderson is capable of. A pure Britannian exemplifing kindness, perseverance, loyalty, strength, conviction, and honor."
As practiced, I step forward and knelt down in front of Euphemia. A sword of the Royal Family had been given to me for the ceremony, one that I gave to Euphemia as I stayed kneeling, presenting the sword sheathed hilt first, which she took.
"Rivalz of the New Noble House Anderson, wilt though, upon this day, pledge thy fealty to Britannia, and stand as a Knight of the Crown?" Euphemia said clearly and calmly.
"Yes, your highness."
"Does thy choose to abandon thyself, and be my sword and shield, for the sake of the greater good?"
"Yes, your highness."
Euphemia removed the sword from the sheath, raising it high before gently placing the tip on either side of my neck.
"I, Euphemia li Britannia, do hereby dub thee, Sir Rivalz of the New Noble House Anderson, the Knight of Valor, my personal Knight, may your courage and devotion to my cause and my safety become a shining example to the people of Britannia, the people of the world, of how a True Britannian should strive to become."
She sheathed the sword and handed it back to me as I slowly stood back up, smiling gently at Euphemia. "I am honored, my Princess."
Despite the ceremony officially completed, my Perks suddenly slammed into overdrive as I found myself turning toward the audience and the cameras, as the audience had been clapping politely.
I raised a hand, the audience immediately quieting down at my gesture.
"To the people of the world, of all countries, of all nations, of all races and genders, I wish to say a few words, if you will hear them."
My Perks caused me to stop talking for a moment, a gentle smile on my face that was present turning hard as I found myself glaring at the camera.
"I know what many of you say behind closed doors. That Euphemia is a useless Princess, that she offers only flowery words in the face of Britannia's Conquests. That my Princess is simply lying to everyone's faces while Lady Cornelia follows from behind to strike down the nations that Britannia seeks to absorb into the sphere of influence."
What are my Perks doing?!
"I will not allow backhanded compliments to my Princess linger in the air. I will not allow hidden insults be said that because she is kind, she must be weak. That because she cares, she is niave and simply a puppet. Those who say such things could not be any more wrong! For in a world where strength of blood cannot save you, cooperation is necessary! My Emperor, Charles zi Britannia, is correct. Some people are born better. Born wiser. Born smarter. Born stronger. Yet a man alone cannot survive! A nation alone will die on the vine as its people starve and its infrastructure crumble! Do not be mistaken, my Princess offers you a hand of generosity! A hand where cooperation would see your nations subservient, but still free to possess a heritage and a history to live for! A hand where you need not wonder if Britannia will cross your borders because you are willing to cooperate!"
The sword of the Royal Family was unsheathed, its blade aimed at the camera.
"I will not allow the World of Kindness to die on the vine because some of you short-sightedly believe that you can attack my Princess and my home, believing that you are capable out of sheer numbers!"
"Let this be a warning to all of you with such thoughts in your minds and hearts, for I will not offer a hand of mercy. My princess offers kindness and generosity, and should you slap her hand away, I will only offer annihilation."
"I will rain down terrors that would make the Knightmare Frames you all so fear look akin to children's toys, and when you wonder what you did to deserve this, I will answer with this message. For kindness does not mean weakness, for only someone truly strong can afford to be kind! Fear Britannia, hate Britannia, I care not! Fear me, hate me, I care not! Spit in the face of my Princess, and I will utterly crush you to the point that your names will not be uttered in fear of me!"
I sheathed my sword, my glare softening as I shook my head. My Perks were still in control as I spoke softly once more.
"I know many of you see us as monsters. That we are savages, Nobles pretending to be humans that prey on those weaker than ourselves. I acknowledge that Britannia is not perfect, that we struggle just as you do. My Emperor is correct; some of us are born better. Yet that does not mean we cannot level the playing field, that we cannot help those weaker than ourselves so they too can stand on their own two feet and show value we would not have seen otherwise. I stand by the principle of Noblisse Oblige, that those of us who were born above others have a responsibility to care for those under our care. We Britannians are born better, so is it not our responsibility, our duty to uplift those of us who cannot uplift themselves?"
"Chinese Federation, your Empress is a hostage in her own home, your government feeding you lies so that you will do nothing as they drain you dry of resources and value. They will do everything in their power to avoid a revolution because they know the real power belongs in the people. Take the power back and give it to your Empress."
"European Union, you suffer as each nation puts their selfish desires above the needs of the people to look after and care for each other, in some cases literally starving you in exchange for more resources for their own military complex. They will always say we're the monster. Britannia is not perfect, but an Absolute Monarchy is Absolute. My Emperor Charles zi Britannia can make sweeping changes when he wants, and that means there is no lies or falsehoods. He says exactly what he means, and there is a comfort in that honesty. We have no reason to lie to you, I certainly do not."
"To the people of Britannia, my home," I raised my fist to the air as I bellowed.
"Long live Britannia, long live the Emperor!"
The audience roared back. "Long live Britannia, long live the Emperor!"
The camera director signaled the broadcast was over, as Cornelia had Guilford and the guards make the audience form a line of procession as they congratulated me on becoming a Knight. Many of them moved with a pep in their step, their eyes lit with national pride.
My Perks were terrifying.
Cornelia was looking at me with a mix of awe and fear as she waited until the audience and the camera crew left the government building.
"You've no idea what you just did, did you?" She questioned me quietly, her eyes looking at me as I shook my head.
"You've just started a revolution in the Chinese Federation, completely demoralized the European Union and shot their faith in their democracy, and made Euphemia's enemies nervous by calling them out on international news. They won't be whispering about her weaknesses, they'll be whispering about how ruthless you'd be to them if you find out. On top of making Britannia look stronger than ever by making cooperation seem like the better end of the deal." She summarized with awe and a little fear in her tone.
Euphie was looking red as she looked away. "I should be mad. I should be really mad at you threatening all those people about just talking bad about me." She admitted, biting her lip.
"I think it's so hot you announced how protective and possessive of me you are to the world. I can't be mad." She said honestly, wiggling as I wondered just how wet she was.
"Aww, are my girls soaked from me taking charge?" I teased, smiling as I saw Cornelia shudder and Euphie moaned quietly before her eyes opened, completely dark with lust.
"Sir Rivalz, your first order by your Princess is to fuck the absolute hell out of me. Break my bed and push how far you can make me scream until I pass out and then keep going. I want to be unable to walk for a week. And then, if you're still not satisfied, fuck my sister over her work desk until she gives up on even thinking about work as you rail her hard until she takes a well deserved break." Euphie commanded me hungrily. She looked absolutely drunk on lust as Cornelia whimpered, not looking at either of us now as she shivered.
"As you command, my Princess." I said lowly, licking my lips as I picked her up, carrying over my shoulder as she squealed, giggling and moaning as I reached under her dress to tear her soaked panties off as I pocketed them, fingering her as she moaned, giving directions to her room as she struggled to talk.
Once in her bedchambers, I lightly threw her onto the bed as she gasped and giggled, shivering as I closed the door behind me.
Turning to look at her, my Slime form flowed out of the clothes as I asked seriously. "Did you want to keep your dress?"
She shook her head, panting. "I have others. Break them, get them off, eat me, fuck me!" She yelled.
I'm just going to ignore the fact that Euphie might have a vore kink, so I covered her body and dress, her gasp and moan loud as she felt her dress dissolve into nothing.
"Yes, yes, yes! Ooh, you beast, please. Turn me into your cocksleeve, your Royal breeding cow! Make my breasts grow huge with milk for you to drink as you knock me up over and over again! Ruin my holes. Break me!" Euphie babbled as she lost her mind.
Holy shit, how kinky is my Princess? That's hot!
She moaned and wiggled as she could feel every feeling tendril, every end akin to my tongue as I tasted her and felt her shudder as she came, her arousal flooding my form as I could feel her shaking and climaxing over and over as her fantasy was reality.
"You're mine. All mine." I groped her breasts, squeezing her nipples and tugging on them gently as her lower lips were opened up, one of my tongues diving in to taste her completely as another started licking her clit.
"OH. OH YES! YES! I'M YOURS! FUCK ME! TAKE ME!" Euphie screamed as she bucked her hips back as her body writhed in pleasure.
A brief second had my tongue replaced with a thicker tendril that I guessed was my cock in this form, or, one of my cocks I guess?, and plunged in as Euphie howled, her hands clenching the bedsheets as she squirted hard.
I won't lie, it's hot watching her hair become a mess as she screamed and bounced her hips back at me as she wanted to be completely filled and utterly fucked. Weird detail to attach to, but it was hot watching your woman become an animal for your cock.
"My ass, fill my ass. I want you in me. I said ruin me!" She panted and groaned as I did as she asked, pleased to note that some of the spells taught in fifth year included lubrication spells.
My second cock slowly forced itself into her ass, her gasp and low moan as I got in a reward as I hissed. "So tight. So hot." I groaned, both cocks throbbing as it felt so different.
"Yes, yes, yes, oh, I love you Rivalz, ooh, you're so hot and deep in me." Euphie babbled, her eyes rolling as she trembled into another hard orgasm with her clit being licked by my tongue.
"I'm close." I warned, feeling my endurance reaching its limit, feeling her tremble and clench hard around me through her orgasm as she screamed. "DO IT! BREED ME!"
Yeah, that did me in, I came hard as she shuddered silently, feeling my cum pump into her womb and her ass simultaneously as she silently had another smaller orgasm at the feeling of being knocked up.
I felt drained. Euphie shivered and cooed as she whispered. "Kiss me, Rivalz. Kiss me and hold me until I sleep."
I kissed her, my tongue exploring her mouth and her tongue that slowly and happily followed as she panted and wiggled under me until we parted so she could breath.
"I know I said to fuck my sister, but could you sleep with me? I'm so happy, I don't want to let you go." She admitted, smiling and looking sweaty, her eyes unfocused as she was no doubt close to passing out.
"I'm not going anywhere. I think I'll take a nap myself." I admitted. The long day and very short rest from the night before was catching up to me as I moved her around so she and I were on our sides.
"Don't pull out. I feel so full and they feel so good in me. Just enjoy my body and cuddle until you sleep. If you're horny and I'm still sleeping, you can fuck me. I don't mind." Euphie whispered, as I held her against my Slime form until I heard her snoring lightly as I whispered.
"God damn, I'm a lucky bastard. I love you too Euphie." A tendril lazily went out of my back, grabbing my phone and taking a picture to be sent to Nunnally and Cornelia.
I was asleep when Nunnally replied back with a thumbs up icon and the words 'good job, I call dibs on the next round with you!'
Perks This Chapter:
Merlin Returned (Generic Harry Potter Fanfiction) (600CP)
There were ancient tales of your coming, Jumper. Actually, wait, no. There weren't. But there should have been. You were born to greatness, and this reflects in everything you do. Magic is second nature to you. While you don't get any skill or knowledge innate with this perk, nor any gifts or talents that pass down bloodlines or through rituals, you now have limitless talent in every single branch of magic apart from these limitations. Besides that, you are a genius at learning magic too, mastering years' worth of material in days and weeks without even stressing yourself. This growth continues indefinitely, never slowing no matter what. Your grasp of magic and its theoretical framework is such that you can manipulate the very nature of it, and do so with an almost contemptuous ease.
You can take apart spells, rituals or even entire magic systems, and put them back together in whatever different arrangement you like, even in entirely new magic systems of your own. Even altering spells in real time is second nature to you, changing their effects, size, scope, everything. As is coming up with entirely new pieces of magic, with due research and innovation.
Finally, to fuel all this, your 'Magical Core', per se, is proportionately vast. You have a humongous amount of magic at your fingertips, stretching far and beyond any known metrics well into the realm of legends like Merlin and the Founders. This perk follows you in the future too, providing you all of these effects in any and all magic you become able to do. This perk is a capstone booster, meaning that it serves to enhance each of the origin capstones in their own ways. The interactions are mentioned alongside the respective perks.
AN: Sadly the Cornelia sex chapter will have to come up at a different time as Rivalz underestimated just how tiring sex could be. He's definitely going to need to stock up on some endurance potions if he wants to satisfy everyone! Or the right Perk. XD
Since the Perk rolled was a 600 CP, it grinded the Celestial Forge rolling to a halt for the chapter. Let me know what you all think!
Chapter 10: Course Corrections [Interludes V and VI]
There is power in words, power in manipulation on how others act by saying the right things at the right time. How often had he not done the same in demoralizing his opponents into submission? How often had he derailed the plans of his enemies by making them think he was infallible, that he was untouchable?
Plenty of times. Schneizel el Britannia was a master in the art of diplomacy, and in the art of lies. It was his craft, his bread and butter.
He recognized another master when he saw one in action, and even he had to admit that the bold passionate speech sounded sincere at face value, had it not been for the exact results those words accomplished.
The Chinese Federation hadn't anticipated someone like Euphemia's Knight to act in such a manner and had failed to cut the broadcast. Now there were protests erupting around the capital city near the Palace where the Empress was said to reside. In fact, protests were erupting everywhere, and Schneizel could see that the Chinese Federation was folding inward like a deck of cards, as its generals and various leaders all start pointing fingers and blaming one another, no doubt leading to infighting and preparations for their own revolutions.
Schneizel estimated that Sir Rivalz speech had turned what was at least another 3-5 years of the Chinese Federation's existence into less than 2 years at best now. If that.
The European Union was also heavily shaken. Outer border countries had massive protests as they all wanted out of the Union if it meant simply avoiding being used. Inner countries were scrambling now, trying and being forced to create better contracts and negotiations to keep the Union from fracturing apart into countries that Britannia could take piecemeal. Suspicions and lack of trust would lead to a lack of focus and commitment, some of those outer countries would now cooperate with Britannia in exchange for weaker stable sovereignty. The existence of the European Union would be dissolved in less than two years, and the protracted fighting that Schneizel expected was no longer a likely outcome.
His pet projects, namely the very much in theory Avalon, would no longer be necessary. What point is there in investing huge sums of money in military when the vast countries he expected to subjugate by force would now cease to exist?
Sir Rivalz Anderson, what kind of person are you to strike such a decisive blow to the remaining free countries that Britannia has yet to conquer?
What makes a Knight of Valor like you tick?
Schneizel had to admit, he was fascinated by such a man. He himself believed that people wanted authority, wanted a higher power to give them order and rules to follow, but it was all too often that Schneizel has failed to understand others. His cold interior frightened others away, thinking him a monster pretending to be human, when he knew he'd been trying to be human his whole life.
Schneizel knew he lacked care for others. He lacked empathy for others. The most beautiful person could beg for help from him and he could not be bothered to move to help them unless he saw what was in it for himself, or what the damage to his reputation it could cause if it got out that he did nothing.
Schneizel had long since accepted that he was a 'broken' man, but that didn't mean he didn't find pleasure in life. Just that it was in other things of value. Relationships were just a means to an end.
So to what end are you using Euphemia, Sir Rivalz? What do you intend to do using the reputation you've no doubt given yourself now using my dear sister's Knighting Ceremony to collapse the world on it's head?
I can't wait to find out. I can't wait to see what changes you bring to the board of life next.
Schneizel smiled coldly. It wasn't often that a master of lies meets another equal, let alone one so capable of folding the truth so masterfully. It was a work of art, a true masterpiece on par of the painting he used to secure his Knighthood.
Interlude VI
V.V. was concerned. Very concerned. Not scared! Absolutely not! This Rivalz person was dangerous. Able to bend the truth, yet not break it. He was still recovering from the migraine he had gotten from Charles' Geass just reading the man, and no amount of pleading and excuses on his end had kept Charles from wanting to do another call. Weekly calls would render him almost useless until that blasted painting was done.
The Geass Director tapped his fingers on the desk as he hummed, thinking on what to do. Did he send his assassins after this Sir Rivalz? No. Not yet. He just entered the world stage and he had no reason to give Charles yet. Without a reason, Charles would assume he was having one of his fits again and take the Geass Order from him.
V.V. scowled. Charles' Geass made him a formidable nuisance as much as it had an ally. Any sensitive missions within Britannia had to end up being either personally led or needed to be cleaned up by other operatives, because Charles' mastered Geass allowed him to read the memories and the true faces even through video screens.
Admittedly, it was an effective tactic, but only because Charles learned of how to do so through the Sword of Akasha. A Geass evolves twice. Once when mastered, and once when the Geass holder enters a Thought Elevator.
Rolo was not strong enough to master his Geass. The boy's heart stopped every time he used it, and that weakness would forever keep his pet assassin from being capable of being truly useful. V.V. frowned.
Charles was still himself, and was still eager to get to the other Thought Elevators, but V.V. could feel something was off. His younger brother was smiling in private more, his soul no longer as heavily burdened.
V.V. shook his head. Obviously Charles had just finally got over that pathetic bitch Marianne and was just enjoying seeing Britannia thrive before they completed the Ragnarok Connection. He would just have to take lots of medicine tomorrow in the hopes it would help. V.V. grimaced.
The only thing he remembered was a fragmented memory of that thing that should not be. V.V. just believed that Rivalz had dabbled on some acid trip and clearly had a bad experience.
The research division in Code R over in Area Eleven were still trying his patience, especially that fool Bartley. V.V. paused, nodding with satisfaction as he picked up his phone and pressed a single number.
"Rolo, I have a mission for you. Clean up and retrieval over at Area Eleven. I'll send you the coordinates. No, I believe you by yourself is more than fit for the task."
Chapter 11: Sexual Advances, Euphie and Cornelia.
AN: To preface this, this chapter is entirely sexually related. From start to finish, this entire chapter won't really have any plot related moments, unless you count fucking your future wives unconscious as plot, and is mostly dedicated in part to practicing writing long lemons with some flirty moments throughout. It takes place right after Rivalz wakes up after fucking Euphie the first time, and ends roughly right after Cornelia is pretty much unconscious. As such, all rolls will be done at the end of the chapter, and ALL rolls will be done with the Lewd Celestial Forge, which has been modified to suite my taste.
I must've been more tired than I expected, because I woke up to Euphie with the sheets torn right off the bed, hungrily sucking on both cocks as she moaned and kissed one of my tips, making me groan awake as I gasp out loud. "Euphie?"
Sleep was rapidly not my primary concern as Euphie giggled, rubbing her tits between the lower cock as she kissed and rubbed the higher cock with her cheek, moaning as her eyes were dilated and her face flushed. "Sorry, my Knight, I'm just so drunk off of your cocks. They felt so good in me, that they woke me up, and they were throbbing so much in me, I just had to taste them again!" Euphie cooed, sucking on the tip as I groaned, feeling the suction tugging on my shaft as it traveled like fire toward where-ever my balls were in this form.
"They smell so good, and they taste delicious. A little bitter, a little salty, but delicious because they're throbbing for me." Euphie moaned as she stopped sucking long enough to lick my cock as it throbbed, making me shiver as I could feel her hands, so soft, gently rubbing and tugging on the shaft while the lower cock was being given a loving massage on all sides by her tits. "Moan for me, my Knight. I want to remember every noise you make, every gasp, every shiver as I make you feel good. I love it." She gave another suck to my tip as I groaned, feeling a little embarrassed to make such a loud noise. Years of trying to be quiet to avoid being caught masturbating was just nothing compared to hearing my Princess begging to hear me moan.
"Yes." Euphie purred. "My Knight's so good to me, but these cocks show the truth. They don't want to be good. They want to breed me. They want to breed every Princess they see. Oh, how could I ever tell these cocks no, they're throbbing and so needy." She cooed as she sucked my cock, even sinking lower as she tried to take it down into her throat before she gagged and coughed, moving back up to cough and drool over my cock as she panted and tried to breath.
"Sorry, I know your Princess needs lots of practice. You can practice on my throat every morning. You don't even need to wake me up, just pry my lips and jaw open and slide right down into my throat, pump my stomach full of it's first meal of the day, my Knight. If I'm choking and swallowing down your cock and your seed, it's more important than air." She assured me, licking my cock as her hands wrapped around her breasts and started tugging, making me gasp and moan as she used her own drool and my pre to jerk me off using her tits.
"Ooh, good boy. My good boy. Drip all over my chest. Mark me so I smell like your cum and cock all day. It'll be my permanent perfume." She moaned as she moved her breasts harder as I gasped, my Slime form almost vibrating slightly under the pleasure that was hitting me.
"Cum for me, my Knight. Give me my first proper meal of the day. Maybe I can get used to having it as part of my diet." Euphie commanded, her breasts feeling so soft and warm as I could feel myself reaching my limit as I moaned her name.
"Euphie!" I came, both cocks firing as one spat my cum over her hair and her face, her eyes closed as she held her mouth open, as some of it went right into her mouth. Her chest and neck was covered in cum as I fired spurt after spurt, eventually dribbling all over her as it lost steam, shaking as I took a deep breath. Euphie swallowed the cum in her mouth, a panting smile on her face as she squirmed, her hands reaching to grab as much of my cum off of her face and body, licking and swallowing everywhere she could reach until she eventually opened her eyes, her face turning a deep pink as she looked embarrassed.
"Sorry, my Knight. I just really got into it." She apologized, which didn't stop my form from grabbing her body and pulling it up as she squealed, her body held up into the air above me as her legs were forced apart as she gasped.
"Wait!" She tried to stop me as one tendril grabbed my wand, weak as a focus as it was, it still did the job as I cast two spells. One would make her infertile for the next twenty-four hours, and the other would ensure her body remained lubricated and clean for the same duration as I felt her wiggle under my tentacles grasp as she gasped.
"What was that?!" I didn't answer her as I tossed my wand away, several tentacles with ribbed ends pouring out of my form as she shuddered.
"Well, you made me cum, now it's time I returned the favor. With interest." I growled, my tentacles digging into her ass and her pussy simultaneously as she tried to scream, only for another tentacle to lung into her mouth, the Slime's immunity to physical damage meant her instinct to bite was ignored as I started fucking her in all three holes while she came over and over again.
"Filthy, kinky, Princess. You might be the Kind Princess out there, but in here, you're my royal breeding stock. Once I'm done making sure Britannia is stable, I'll be turning your womb inside out over and over again with the amount of children I'm going to knock you up with. I'm going to make you so used to being filled with my cocks that you'll be drooling when I'm not fucking you, just begging to be turned into a cocksleeve when you're not filled with my brood." I snarled, my cocks throbbing as her screams were barely making it past my cock as her pussy and ass clenched hard as she came hard again.
"That's it. Your womb knows it's place. I can't wait to figure out how to genetically modify you into a walking cumdumpster as all you eat is cum from my cock." I shuddered as her hips were wiggling, trying to fuck me further as one cock would almost leave her pussy while another cock would dive into her ass as she moaned words that I couldn't hear.
"Good girl. Take every drop into your holes. That's all they're good for." I grunted, blasting into all three of her holes simultaneously as Euphie's silent orgasm was noted by her rhythmically clenching holes that greedily tried to suck up as much cum as I could give her.
Euphie gasped as I pulled out of her holes simultaneously, gently laying her on top of me as she immediately moved to kiss me as much as she could, rapid fire kisses as she moaned.
"Yes! Oh, God, I needed that. Ooh, that's one fantasy of the checklist. Tell me some of yours, my Knight." She demanded, kissing me as much as she could reach while her body quivered. Was she still horny?!
"I want to breed all of my Princesses' simultaneously." I admitted with a soft chuckle. "I want to see you all, walking around with bellies filled with our children as your breasts fill with milk for me to taste until they need it for themselves. I want to see how many children I can get knocked up into the royal family simultaneously. I want to change the Britannia line to be synonymous with my own. That way no matter who gets the throne, I can say I knocked up the Queen." I purred hungrily, my fantasies running wild as Euphie gasped.
"You scoundrel! You'd be ruining so many women! I don't think any of the men in Pendragon would have any women left for themselves! None of them would compare to you!" She giggled as her face flushed. "Someone wants to just utterly ruin all of us, turn all the royal family women into breeding cows." She shivered as she bit her lip. "Tell me more fantasies, my Knight! Tell me how dirty you can be!" She demanded, her eyes staring at me with filled with lust as she panted.
"I want to strip you naked in public so everyone can see my sigil marked over your wombs, showing that I own you. I want to fuck you in public so everyone can see and know that I've claimed you as mine. I want to see your eyes roll back into your head as you cum so hard from being exposed as the royal sluts, your whole life's purpose being to be my fucktoys, my breeding cows, my cumdumpsters, my slaves." I growled lowly, several tentacles throbbing as my arousal was starting to fire back up again.
Euphie panted, her face red. "So hot." She moaned. "I feel so hot. Your cocks drive me wild, you drive me wild. I know it's silly but I could get addicted to these." She cooed, her hands reaching out to rub one of my tentacles as she panted, bringing it closer to lick it and kiss it. "Please, my Knight, I know we've been so busy being animals, but, make love to me? Hold me under you? Make love to me as you slowly fill my womb and hold my hand as you kiss me?" She begged, her eyes looking at me with need.
My Slime form obliged as I wrapped around her, as I truly didn't have a body so much as malleable mass in this state, with Euphie rolled to be under me as her legs spread wide as I collected myself into my human form.
"If I'm going to make love to my Princess, let it be with me as your Knight, not your Slime." I rumbled, reaching to kiss her gently as her legs immediately wrapped around me as she moaned into my mouth, my cock sliding gently into pussy as I felt her warmth welcome me home.
"Ooh, yes. Please." She sighed. "So full." She gasped as her body wriggled slightly under me as I slowly rocked in and out of her, kissing her gently as I held her hand as she moaned, her hips moving against mine as she participated, our kisses interrupting as she gasped and gave low moans as our rocking slowly grew faster and faster.
"Fill me, fill me, please." She came, her pussy clenching around me as I felt her arousal soak my lower body as she gave a near silent scream as her face turned red before she stopped moving entirely for a moment, her legs relaxing as she quivered, her eyes rolled to the back of her head for a moment as she was gasping for air.
"That was a very powerful climax." I noted with a soft grin, reaching down to kissing and sucking gently on her earlobe as Euphie's legs suddenly clamped hard around me as she squealed into another orgasm as I started rocking harder again.
"I'm too sensitive!" She moaned as her pussy clenched hard around me again as I felt her gush, absently using my Slime form to catch her juices before she stained the bedsheets. I wondered how often she had to get them cleaned. Probably too often if Cornelia could reliably say she was a screamer.
After her fourth orgasm in this position, I came again, feeling her pussy clench rhythmically as if trying to suck every drop into her womb as her lips silently moved as her eyes rolled to the back of her head again as she completely lost it for the second time.
She was sweaty and looked very out of it by now. "Thank you, my Knight. I'm all drained out. I need some water and another nap." She said breathlessly, her body quivering as I slowly withdrew from her, her legs falling onto her bed as I slowly recollected myself.
"I'll get you some water." I said quietly, the wand I had tossed aside now brought back by a tendril as I waved, her empty glass filling with clear water as she nodded to me in thanks, drinking her glass of water as her breasts jiggled slightly under the motion of her swallowing the liquid, her body flush and no doubt probably sore from all the lovemaking/fucking. "I am going to be so sore tomorrow and it'll be worth it." Euphie giggled weakly, laying back down on the bed as she refused the blankets I offered.
"Too hot right now. I'm so hot, and so good, the blankets might make me melt." She said lazily, her eyes sleepily looking at me as she said. "Go fuck my sister. She needs the stress relief. You can come back after you've broken her in, my Knight. I love you. Goodnight." She giggled sleepily and yawned, quickly falling asleep as I decided that Euphie made a good point.
The door silently opened as I left the bedroom chambers, slowly closing it silently behind me as I started moving silently back toward the main chamber, hearing Cornelia grumble as she was working on some paperwork.
I silently walked over into the room where I heard her grumbling, seeing her face looked flushed as she looked down at the paperwork she was signing. She hadn't noticed me. Good.
I snuck behind her and kissed her neck as I wrapped my arms around her. She gasped and tried to struggle, stopping for a moment as she recognized it was me. "Good lord, Rivalz. You scared the shit out of me. I just sent Guilford to go check on the barracks and those in processing for being kept in jail until sentencing. Did you," Cornelia stopped for a moment as she licked her lips, "I can smell my sister on you. I'm not sure how wrong of it is of me to be aroused when I should be turned off by smelling how much you've clearly fucked her." She finally admitted.
"Made love as well, we're not savages." I joked, my hands reaching under her shirt as she shivered, but she didn't stop me when I paused.
"Get on with it. I don't want to be loved. I want to be manhandled, I want to be fucked." Cornelia grumbled, looking away as I had yet to reach up to grab her breasts and play with them.
"I don't think so," I said softly, my hands moving out from under her shirt as I gently turned her around so she was facing me. "I think you just want to be loved without saying it. I think you're so used to being in charge or having someone in charge, that you don't want to be betrayed by that love." I said quietly, tugging her face up at me as I saw Cornelia's face wasn't red from arousal, but from shame, as her eyes filled with tears. "What happened that hurt you this way?" I asked.
"I did everything for my sister. I did everything and I still fucked up." She whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. "I spent so many favors trying to make Schneizel happy because he said he would always make Euphie safe. I nearly lost her. He nearly signed her away as a political marriage to some damn bastard in the European Britannia. I only caught it just in time by showing up a day early from spending time with my regiment. If, if I hadn't, my Euphie would've been taken from me and I'd never see her again." Cornelia broke down, hugging me as she cried into my shoulder as her body trembled.
I held her, my arms rubbing her back as she sobbed, her body shaking. After a few minutes, she gave a wet chuckle, her red eyes apparent as she stopped leaning on me. "I'm, I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"Do whatever you want to me, just don't take my Euphie from me. Even if I know you won't, because you're so polite, and sweet, and honest, but I need to hear you say it. Please." She begged.
I slowly nodded. "Euphemia is my Princess. I couldn't take her from you. She'd be a wreck without you. I will not take her from you. I may take all of my Princesses from Britannia though. At this rate, I'm wondering if all you Princesses are so heavily neglected."
Cornelia gave a broken laugh. "Not all. Just most." She said bitterly, before she eventually grabbed a tissue from her desk as she wiped her face clean before looking at me with a sincere expression of gratitude.
"Thank you. Really. That means a lot. I suppose I could thank you with my body." She teased, one hand reaching to take off her shirt. I stopped her, looking at her in the eye.
"You need never thank me with your body or political favors. If we do this, it's because it's fun, relaxing, and freeing for us both." I said seriously.
Cornelia stared at me for a long moment before she sighed. "Rivalz," she hesitated, as she tried to think of something before an idea came to her. "We'll do this in the Knightmare Simulator. 3 out of 5." She said with a grin as her face flushed harder as she winked at me.
"For what?" I asked, humoring her.
"For who gets to be on top." I licked my lips at that thought, Cornelia grinning as she clearly threw down the gauntlet she wanted for a rematch.
Several minutes later, Cornelia was grumbling, her eyes narrowed. "You threw that last round! It doesn't count, Anderson!" She yelled, stalking over to me as she poked me in the chest as my grin only widened.
"What can I say? Sometimes an angry woman riding my cock just sounds like a good time. Now I believe that means you get to be on top." My grin was infectious as Cornelia's eyes dilated as she grabbed me by the back of my head and kissed me, her tongue exploring my mouth as her other hand started trying to tear the pants right off of me!
She released me as I licked my lips. "I don't think doing this in the training room in public would be a good idea. Though that might be a good idea if you decide to take me into your Gloucester." I mused as Cornelia's face flushed even darker as she started pulling me insistently over to what I could only suspect to be her bedroom.
Once I entered the bedroom, I had one solid look over the place before she pushed me back until I was laying down on the bed. "Get those clothes off." She ordered, looking ready to tear my clothes right off.
"Careful, your highness. You'll find that this Knight bites back." I chuckled, my Slime form briefly taking the clothes off and throwing it to the side as I returned to human form. "Let's see if the Goddess of Victory can ride this Knightmare!" I taunted, my cock throbbing in the air as Cornelia went as fast as possible tearing her clothes off before climbing onto the bed as she looked down at me, her eyes narrowing as she briefly bit her lip.
"Don't move your hips. Give me a moment to adjust." She ordered, her legs bending wide as she grabbed my cock, slowly rubbing it as her face flushed, her eyes closing as she slowly slid down my cock, her pussy grabbing mine as she moaned, her body shaking as she stopped with my cock hilt deep into her pussy. "Ooh, fuck." She hissed. "So fucking thick, you damn bastard." She shuddered before slowly, ever so slowly, started trying to move her hips up and down, her muscle tone apparent as she wiggled, her face set in a wide grin. "Fuck, I've needed this." She groaned as she slammed herself back onto my cock, her moan growing louder as one hand reached to grab her hip to help her stay stable while the other reached to grope her ass, feeling the years of exercise she put into her body as it barely gave against my hand as she looked at me with a wild look in her eye.
"You have years of fucking to make up for. Break my hips, Rivalz." She ordered. Yes, ma'am. Expect to need some help moving tomorrow, I thought, as a vicious grin spread across my face, the hand groping her ass moving to hold onto the other side of her hips as I moved her down hard onto my pelvis as I thrust up using my hips. Her eyes widened as she gave the loudest moan I'd ever heard as she came from that abrupt thrust.
I didn't stop there, using her hips to move her up and down on my cock as I thrust up into her as harshly as possible, eager to feel her body collapse as she kept climaxing over and over again, her face losing concentration as her eyes unfocused, her lips moving as she babbled nonsense, one hand tugging on her nipples as she kept on coming.
"Heh, that's more of a face worthy of the Goddess of Victory. Victory over gushing hard over and over again on my cock. Good bitch." I sighed, my cock throbbing as I came hard inside her once, once again having a tendril reach out to grab my wand to cast the same two spells I had cast on Euphemia. She looked dazed before she shuddered as she reacted to the spells.
"What'd you do?" Well, that's what I think she was trying to say while looking completely out of it bouncing on my cock. I gave a dark grin as I decided to lie, just to see her reaction.
"It's a fertility enhancement spell, and the second spell was an Enslavement Charm. When you get knocked up, you'll be my slave. Forever. Now keep bouncing and giving that pussy a workout. It's missing years of breeding." I ordered, watching Cornelia's face as she suddenly started bouncing harder, her face red as she panted, her hips wiggling as she started moving as fast she could trying to make me cum.
"Breed me. Breed me. Ooh, I want to be yours, so Euphie won't be alone. So you can knock me up as many times as you want, ruin my hard work from years of being in the military. Fuck!" Cornelia actually screamed, her body shaking as she climaxed hard, her juices covering my groin as I sucked up the juices to avoid her ruining her sheets. Her hard orgasm caused me to lose it as well as I came hard, her pussy greedily trying to suck up every drop as she shivered.
She collapsed weakly onto my chest, her low gasps of air as I held her in my arms, gently kissing her hair as she shivered in silence until she relaxed.
"I was kidding, by the way. It was a lubrication and an anti-fertility spell that'll wear off in about twenty four hours. Worth the wait, Cornelia?" I asked gently, with her head slowly moving as she gave me a kiss, not quite filled with passion, but not quite gentle as she tried to push as much feelings as she could into the kiss, though I couldn't quite figure out what she was trying to say until she backed off, her eyes glinting with satisfaction, relief, and exhaustion.
"Worth the wait. You're my pillow for the afternoon. If Guilford yells for me, tell him I'm indisposed and that the safety words are "The Emperor is an asshole." He won't barge in thinking I'm in a hostage situation. Goodnight." She said, curling up on top of me as she began to relax into dreamland.
Well, I can't say that this wasn't a productive use of the afternoon after the entire Knighting Ceremony, I mused sleepily.
Lewd CP Gained: 400 CP.
First Roll. Too High.
Second Roll:
Sire of All (200CP) (Trials in the Tainted Space)
Do you have some Vildarii heritage in you? Maybe you do, since your genetics are compatible with just about everything you come across. Even races that don't even need genetics from another individual can get pregnant by or impregnate you. You are able to pass on traits to your offspring and can choose what will and won't get passed on. You might even be the first parent of a half-galotian, and those balls of sexy transforming slime eat sexual fluids, not reproduce with them.
In addition, any pregnancy you are involved in is guaranteed to not have any health complications or problems regardless of any factors such as species involved or number of children or size or whatnot. Any resulting offspring will also not suffer from any health or life complications or problems either. You also have the ability to control your fertility, from 100% chances of impregnation to 0%, assuming your reproductive material makes contact with that of your partners.
Third Roll:
Sorcery and Supremacy (200 CP) (World of Tentacles)
Lesser tentacle monsters might feed on their sexual conquests just to gain their next meal but a demon king has much grander ambitions than merely surviving another day. You may substitute sexual activity for magical training, allowing you to grow stronger through your sexual conquests rather than traditional study and practice. In addition to growing in power over time you can also develop specific skill sets at a faster pace through your fetishes and choices of partners: indulging in a BDSM fetish will accelerate the growth of your skill in binding and sealing magics for instance, while seducing a magical girl who primarily wields fire magic may lead to some of her talents rubbing off on you. You may apply the effects of this perk to any kind of spiritual or magical power you possess.
Lewd CP: 0 remaining.
AN: As this chapter is mostly sex, there's very little to be said in the way of plot aside from some backstory on why Cornelia absolutely despises Schneizel in this particular timeline, as we're certainly no longer in regular Code Geass anymore!
To the one comment who was stating how uncomfortable it was with Nunnally: This is an AU, her age is roughly fifteen to sixteen right now, and she's been pretty much isolated from most of her peers, cause cripple and blind. She's just more of a late-bloomer, and she's self conscious about it. Lelouch is also older, but that really doesn't change much since his age has little bearing on the story.
Also! Whoo! First Lewd Celestial Forge Perks! While they're sadly not Master/Slave related as I'd hoped to roll, they're still good ones! Let me know what you all think!
Chapter 12: A Call with Charles, A Private Discussion With Nunnally, and Cybernetic Suits.
After making sure Guilford didn't try to gut me in my sleep for taking advantage of his Princess, I had fallen asleep and woke up to Cornelia trying to wake me up with some morning kisses on my thighs as she gently kissed my cock, jerking me off as I gave a low moan, my cock throbbing as I came all over Cornelia's breasts and face.
"Best alarm clock." I spoke, a little dazed as Cornelia gave a quiet giggle, her lips in a small smile as her flushed face looked pleased.
"I was too intimidated to do a blow job but I'm glad you liked that, Rivalz. You actually don't taste that bad." She complimented, gathering the cum onto her hands to lick herself clean.
"Uh, thanks." I coughed, sliding into my Slime form as I went back into my clothes and stretched, standing upright.
Cornelia pouted, still on the bed. "My legs are sore. You brute. No doubt my sister is also equally impaired so we'll just have to call it a sick day while you have your duties." Cornelia said, barely rolling onto her back as she hissed, her hands rubbing her legs as she winced.
I frowned. I didn't know any spells that related to healing really sore muscles, which meant it was either seventh year or higher in Hogwarts education. "Sorry." I apologized, aware that I may have gone too far.
"Don't be. I needed that relief. I feel so much better." Cornelia assured softly, her face set in a wide satisfied smile. "Soreness aside, it's nice to just feel like a freshly fucked woman." She sighed.
"Let Guilford know that both Euphemia and I will need breakfast in bed and both of us are taking a sick day, barring emergencies. You can grab some coffee. The Emperor wants a call today, preferably before one in the afternoon, and whatever you want to address outside of the government building, do it today if you can, as it'll be expected you stay by Euphie." Cornelia half advised, half ordered as her eyes closed.
"Yes, your highness." I said jokingly as Cornelia nodded sleepily.
I exited the bedroom, closing the door softly as I smiled, hearing Cornelia start to snore. Turning around, I noted that Guilford was standing guard, his face set in a cool expression.
"Guilford, Cornelia orders that she and Euphemia are going to be taking a sick day, barring any emergencies that come up. Breakfast will be brought into their bedrooms. I have a call with the Emperor that I will be addressing soon, and some business to take care of outside the government building. You have my complete confidence in ensuring their safety as you have done for many years." I said bluntly, as Guilford straightened, his posture looking even more serious as he nodded silently for a moment.
"Lady Cornelia and Lady Euphemia have gone through a lot. Please don't be another negative experience." Guilford finally said quietly.
I nodded. "I know. It's time someone stepped up to help them, and I will gladly step into the role. For them, I would face the world." Guilford gave a very small smile, nodding in approval as he left to follow through on Cornelia's orders.
Grabbing breakfast, mainly with cereal and some coffee, I ate silently as I contemplated the past few Perks that I hadn't thought about much, focusing on the matters in front of me at the time.
Merlin Returned was massive, but the other two Perks I could feel in my being were different. No longer simply crafting, the Forge had given me two Perks made for sex, and sexual encounters.
I immediately set my fertility to sterile, as it was easy to forget to cast the spell during the heat of passion. That was huge, and I was relieved to note that it wasn't a vague idea of if I could have kids. The Perk ensured I could have kids and ensured a safe and easy pregnancy for the mother. Good.
The next Perk was much more interesting, particularly as the Perk synergies with Merlin Returned to an incredible degree. That was huge, and it meant I didn't need to choose between spending time with my Princesses sexually or training my Magic. I would still need to devote time for cybernetics, but that I could wave it off as an invention.
Leonardo Da Vinci had been a polymath, a man that was equally as impressive in the arts as he had been in the sciences. None would bat an eye if Rivalz Anderson was the same, particularly without any of the red tape that even most Nobles had to go through to patent inventions, make testing models, and push to production while putting their family's wealth on the line.
Royal Princesses and the royal family as a whole did not need to do nearly as much effort to see the same things happen, so long as the Emperor didn't deny their efforts. As a Knight, I had much the same privileges, provided I had permission from Euphemia.
I cursed myself for running so head first into everything with the Ashford Knightmare Facility. I would be destroying the cybernetics half after I made the suit for Euphemia and Nunnally. It would stay as an experimental Knightmare Facility for my Knightmare, as far as the public was aware, and just that.
The cybernetics part of the facility would need to be reconstructed and reconfigured elsewhere. I was frustrated, but I had time. Aside from Euphemia and Nunnally, no one else even knew cybernetics would be capable of rivaling the Knightmare Frames.
I think I even had the perfect catalyst to display the invention to gather the interest of both the military and the Nobility.
The Battle of Narita. The battle that Zero would use to utterly bury so many of the Britannian's Knightmares using the Guren to superheat the water to cause a man-made rock slide. At least half of Cornelia's forces would be buried under that one strike, and I wondered how many died from being unable to be dug out in time.
I could push forward cybernetics as a military invention. A fast acting form of armor that would protect the squishy Pilots inside the Knightmare, and I would demonstrate this by using a cybernetics system to use 'anti-gravitic' forces to save as many Britannians as I could in the aftermath.
Hopefully I can also save Shirley's father to interrogate the man, and check into the Code R project headed by Bartley.
Lelouch would no doubt want some of the elite Black Knights to possess cybernetic suits themselves and would stage an attack on one of the facilities after Britannia starts mass manufacturing them.
Thus, the arms-race would begin between Britannia and the Black Knights, who would be backed by the Six Houses of Kyoto and India indirectly.
The reach extended out to grab a star, grabbing hold of a massive star as it began to slowly pull it down, encompassing my being as I could feel reality warping under the sheer weight of the Celestial Forge as it grounded to a halt.
Well, I'm thankful I'm sitting down. I just became a Deity of Creation. I could feel the Perk shifting heavily in conjunction with Merlin Returned, as the frankly insane magical energy I had within me could now be used to instantly create anything that was human sized or smaller. Well, nigh-instantly: it would take up to ten seconds for a really enchanted, powerful, magical item, but I didn't have any magic that geared toward technology on it's own, and I wasn't risking it without testing it first in private.
While I lacked permanent enchantments, it was very much an NEWT class reserved for 7th years, I could still use this in various ways.
Most of my afternoon was just freed up. Aside from the upcoming call with Charles and checking in with Nunnally, most of my day was devoted to creating the cybernetic suits for Euphemia, Nunnally, and Lelouch.
Now I could just, make them. Not even a few minutes time to do it either. This was absurdly broken for a Perk, but it also meant I could devote more time toward other goals.
Like fully modifying my Knightmare so Lloyd wouldn't scream I had been spying on him, as no doubt the man would be both envious of my superior technology and peeved to think someone had robbed him of his Lancelot's future.
I shook my head. I still needed to deal with Charles first and foremost. I wasn't even sure why he wanted me to call him; it hadn't been a week since I agreed to do the painting.
Putting the bowl and cup into the sink, I went back out to the main chamber and then walked to where Cornelia had me speak to Charles earlier.
Entering the meeting room, I closed the door silently as I noticed a man stood near the wall. "Greetings." I said politely.
The man bowed. "I'm to call the Emperor when you're ready to speak with him, Knight of Valor." The man stated politely.
I nodded. "You may do so now. I'm ready."
The man turned and pressed some buttons, bowing slightly to me once more before leaving the room as the video screen flickered.
Out of all the things I expected, it was not to see Charles smiling and giving me a small applause. That was really unnerving to say the least.
"Very well done, Rivalz. You've utterly demoralized the European Union, and have turned the Chinese Federation into a fractured mess as their government cracks into various factions. You've saved millions of lives, on top of asserting that Britannia is superior." Charles complimented me.
"Thank you." I said politely.
"Naturally the extra manpower and resources used to ward off the Chinese Federation will now be used to crush the European Union, after we get the outer countries to defect from the Union under our banner. Still, this is obvious to men like you and myself; our words can be weapons as much as our Knightmare Frames. So now I wish to know what exactly you meant by "rain down terrors that would make the Knightmare Frames look like children's toys."."
Charles smile was gone as his face turned passive, waiting for me to respond.
"Cybernetics, Charles. Machines meant to be placed on or in the human body. The same technology I used to restore Nunnally's legs and eyes can be done to turn a single man into a weapon capable of facing and demolishing Knightmare Frames."
Charles looked intrigued, but there was some doubts, which he immediately pointed out. "That sounds exorbitantly expensive to make and design the factories needed to create such a thing, especially if they need a sterile environment." He pointed out.
"The cybernetics I used for Nunnally were made using the same tools for the wiring and inner fragile pieces of a Knightmare Frame. Sterilization is preferable, but the technology doesn't require it." I answered back.
Charles' passive face turned suddenly, his eyes lighting up with an idea as I saw Charles lean forward. Eager. Urgent. Charles was desperate on what he was about to say.
"Can cybernetics replicate a human body? Inside and out? To look and feel identical to the real thing?"
"Of course. What good are my cybernetics if it takes you months or years to use them? They could even replicate the human brain, though there wouldn't be a conscious, per say. Not unless I programmed one in." I said bluntly.
Charles looked torn for a moment before speaking slowly. "If you can make a body that looks and feels identical to someone, with no questions asked, with some modifications and improvements, I would greatly appreciate it."
I think he's talking about Marianne. Wow. Dude really wants his wife back. Surprising since Charles was always portrayed as cold and ruthless, but he is human, and I did all but admit I could do it.
"I don't work for free. Cybernetics take time, materials, and energy to make, all things I'll be in short supply for as I perform my duty as Euphemia's Knight. I'll need more than your appreciation." I said flatly.
Charles looked taken aback for a moment before he started laughing, the loud laughter soon slowing down into chuckling quietly as he shook his head.
"I forget that you aren't intimidated by me. That was refreshingly honest. Thank you. What do you want?"
"I want to a Royal Decree from you that I am the Royal Engineer of Cybernetics, with all the implications it brings."
Notice I didn't say industries. Cybernetics as a whole would be under my jurisdiction, and as the Royal Engineer, I didn't need to fill out the red tape, patents, or blueprints to the exact specifications of my inventions, with the exception of the Royal Patent Archives.
Which is fine. The sooner cybernetics are distributed throughout the world, and specifically Britannia as a whole, the sooner I can exploit them to my advantage.
Charles nodded. "Done. The sooner you complete the body, the sooner I make the announcement. I want it to look like Marianne. Along with some extra defense measures and capabilities without compromising the looks if you can. Among all my consorts and wives, she was my favorite."
Charles and I just did some more hashing out the details of the Royal Decree, though I was amused to notice just how vibrant the man was, his Geass activating now and again. He did try to read my mind, but Savant's Understanding quickly put a halt to that.
I didn't even realize an hour had passed as Charles gave a low hiss of pain as he stretched. "Don't get old, Rivalz. It sucks like nothing else." He grumbled.
I smiled. "My cybernetics could fix that. Won't do anything for your lifespan, but aches and pain? Easy, barely an inconvenience."
Charles straightened, his face serious. "I will make you my Heir to the Throne."
I thought he was joking, but the serious look on his face was terrifying me more than I'd like to admit.
"If I have to deal with your crazy children because you make me the heir, I'll bring you back to life and lock you onto that throne." I warned him.
I am not dealing with that shit. There's a reason I prefer working in the shadows.
Charles sighed. "Damn. Well, I tried. I have Emperor work to do. Next time, shower before calling me. The formal outfit from yesterday practically screams you've spent the night with my daughters, and I'd like to pretend to not know."
He hung up. I laughed. Damn him, he called me out!
Well played.
Leaving the room, I decided to head back briefly to Euphie's room, noticing that her breakfast was barely touched as she was snoring, curled up in her blankets.
Cute. I gave her a kiss on her forehead before sliding out of my clothes using my Slime body, returning to my human form as my formal clothes fell to the floor.
I decided to test out the new Perk I just got, my magical reserves responding as I created an outfit that was casual wear.
The clothes looked fairly simple, which was intentional, but I noticed that the clothes also looked like something that wouldn't be out of place in a supermodel magazine.
The Perk is influenced by my other Crafting Perks, which meant
Her Majesty's Majesty
,
Artiste
,
Virtuoso
, all are influencing what I create.
It also means that anything I created would look so good that it would be obvious I made them. In other words, my creations would be immediately apparent to any who knew my work, and no doubt some would wonder why Zero's and Nunnally's cybernetic suits had a similar eye catching quality as Euphemia's.
I could always make the excuse that Zero had stolen two of the prototype models. It wouldn't be out of line for Zero to have taken them, as far as a terrorist trying to get an edge would go. It would be a hit to my reputation, however.
The sooner I have Charles start mass-producing cybernetics, the sooner I can wave it off as Zero taking the suits off of an elite line in a factory and modified to suit his own purposes.
I'm still not taking chances with Nunnally. She will be safe. I can always say the suit was made for someone else in mind and that it got stolen while I was sleeping. I'm definitely just going to have to modify Zero's suit rather than make a whole new one. Damn.
Sorry Lelouch. Looks like you'll have to deal with subpar equipment.
Euphie's cybernetic suit first, since I'm already in her room anyway.
Techy. Neuromancer. Artiste. Virtuoso. Her Majesty's Majesty.
I drew out the process by trying to invoke as many Perks as I could into the creation. The cybernetic suit would be designed with most of its tech from Techy, turning it into effectively Power Armor as it was designed to protect Euphie from Geass and Knightmare Frames alike. Geass Cancellers, Gefjun Disturber, Hadron Cannon, Blaze Luminous, and all of it running with Neuromancer to act as a help to ensure Euphie could use it seamlessly and without needing training to use it.
The other Perks just made it look incredible as I wanted others to know that whoever was under this suit was obviously under my protection.
The issue was power. Nunnally's cybernetics used her body's internal energy, her food acting as her fuel source. Euphie's cybernetic suit was outside her body, which meant it couldn't do that.
So I made a temporary fix, with a Yggdrasil Core with a battery pack that would be interchangeable. It would last four hours of extreme usage, with maximum time of 12 hours without much use in it's standby mode.
The suit appeared around Euphie's size. It was designed for Euphie to step right into, where it would shift into standby mode, shifting into a compact chest plate, without making her uncomfortable, so that way Euphie could wear her clothes over it. It would expand into a full suit in less than a second, changing on Euphie's heart rate and emotional distress levels, or if she wanted to activate it manually. It would tear through her clothes in an emergency, but could shuffle around it if it didn't activate automatically if she was in danger.
I also snuck in a few surprises. Euphie would be pleased.
I left it for Euphie to see it as I left the government building, noticing a lot more eyes watching me.
I walked silently back to the Ashford's Academy. Now that I was the Personal Knight of Euphemia, I doubted I'd stay here to graduate. Preferably I'd just test out and get my diploma over and done with.
Entering the private wing, I noted that Sayoko was absent while Nunnally greeted me with a full kiss on the mouth as she pushed me back against the door I just entered.
Her tongue entered my mouth in need and dominance, as my own responded as we fought for dominance using our mouths until she stopped and stepped away because she had to breathe.
"Oh. Oh wow." She gasped, her hand clenching mine as her eyes unfocused for a moment before she looked at me in awe.
"Rivalz, you're incredible." She whispered. I was about to tease her, but my Perks pointed out something to me.
Nunnally was very self conscious, and while so far she was happy to flirt and tease me, she was too nervous and insecure over her body to really take that next step. She just didn't want to disappoint me, so she was pretending to be ready far more than she actually was.
"Nunnally, we can go out your pace. We don't need to rush. Relax. Take your time." I said seriously.
Nunnally stopped talking, her face turning red as she nodded, looking away. "Okay." She mumbled. "Thank you." She added sincerely.
She was embarrassed to have her inner feelings caught so abruptly, but pleased that I immediately caught onto them.
Note to self: teach Nunnally my rule on being honest and open to the people you date. She shouldn't be reflexively falling back on her behavior of trying to please me by pretending to be someone she isn't.
Thankfully I nipped that in the bud.
Stepping toward the dining room, I focused my energy, pouring it into the air in front of me.
As the cybernetic suit for Nunnally was connected directly to her eyes and legs, the suit would still cover her body, but could take advantage of her already completely cybernetic legs to hit that much harder, alongside using her body's internal energy rather than a battery pack as I had done with Euphie's.
"It uses your own internal energy, so you'll need to eat more, and I don't recommend using it for longer than 6-8 hours at a time on its maximum active state, though you can regulate the power draw. Be mindful." I warned her.
Neuromancer wouldn't mean a thing if Nunnally tried to push herself further than she could handle, though I had a failsafe mode built in.
Nunnally nodded, giving me a hug in silent thanks as I eventually gave the other bad news.
"I am not returning to Ashford Academy. As a Knight, my responsibility is to Euphie's safety, and I don't want the Britannia's Secret Service to catch on who you are. Just because you can protect yourself against threats doesn't mean we need to risk it. As it is, Lelouch's outfit will be weaker and you'll need to keep an eye out for him, and on him while you're at it, to make sure he doesn't do anything really reckless while I'm not there."
Nunnally nodded, her face in a frown. "I know. It sucks, but I get it. At least not until you've mastered your magic. Then you can teleport to me whenever." She said quietly.
Ah, the advantages of a soul reader. No need to explain overtly on what I can do when I can just hold her hand. I'll miss that convenience.
I nodded. "I'm glad you understand, even if neither of us are happy about it. Right now we're in a delicate state of transition, particularly as Lelouch's Revolution hasn't gotten fully into traction and Britannia has yet to take Zero seriously."
It wouldn't be until after the Battle of Narita when that would take place. Which meant playing nice as Cornelia and Lelouch did their opening dance.
By then, the painting and the… android/gynoid will be ready. Or at least, officially ready.
I kissed Nunnally on the forehead. "Be safe. Keep an eye on your foolish brother. Try not to kill him if he annoys you. Maim him, but don't kill him." I joked as Nunnally gave a soft giggle.
"Okay. Keep my harem safe." She said seriously. I snorted.
Yep, definitely takes after her parents. I had originally thought that was Charles, but judging on how much of a softie he was to Marianne, it could go either way.
One final hug, and I left the Ashford Academy for what was likely the final time I'd be there as a student, heading toward my Knightmare Facility.
Despite being two days ago, it felt like a lifetime since I'd been here, particularly with two 600 CP Perks as I went into my Slime form, dissolving the cybernetics side of the facility, including the modified computer.
With that out of the way, I turned to my Knightmare.
Using my magical reserves, I added a Geass Canceler, a Hadron Cannon to go with the installed Gefjun Disturber, to make it able to really do some damage, the Absolute Defense System I recalled Lelouch's Shinkiro had, and the extremely powerful compact Float systems in every limb and back, giving it the maneuverability of the tentative 10th Generation Knightmare. Thanks to the combination between the Druid System using auto-calculations, it should in theory be able to block attacks automatically, though the Blaze Luminous would still be required as a secondary defense system.
With my Cybernetics, I added several EMP rechargeable blasts, which I wouldnt be effected by, and a whole bunch of nanites designed to heal damage over time during a fight or long skirmish. Sadly the EMP pulse would temporarily turn off those nanites but it was useful in a pinch.
Then I went ahead and modified the cockpit to eventually be roughly the size of what my cybernetic suit would look like, that way I could wave it off as an extension of my cybernetic research rather than anything else.
I changed the looks of my Knightmare so it now just looked like a Sutherland, extremely modified as it was. Once I saw the Lancelot, I could just change back the design and say I was inspired to take a huge leap into making it for my own.
Besides, the looks of my Knightmare did not change its function. Because fiat-backing is bullshit in my favor!
Still sucks I can't even enter my Entrance Hall but my Knightmare could. That was irritating.
Ah well, I'm not going to complain. Rivalz's life, my life, would've been just pining after Milly and living a mediocre existence, forgotten as the once friend of the Demon Emperor.
I'll take the Celestial Forge and this life instead, thanks.
Now I'll just return to the government building and start 'working' on the body that Charles commissioned. Heh. If you're good at something, never do it for free.
Perks this Chapter:
Create the Heavens and the Earth (The Magician - TV show) (600CP)
You are a creator first and foremost. While most Deities simply reside over creations, you create them and more. With this perk your ability to "create" is massively boosted, and when it comes to creating things your accuracy in doing so, being through divine powers or through mundane practice, is astounding to say the least.
Regardless of your Origin, you gain the ability to create any object, mundane or Magical, if you're normally able to create Magical items or enchant the things you're trying to make without this ability that is, that's the size of or smaller than the average Human, assuming you're willing to foot the cost in the Magical energy it would take to make the base mundane item and fuel the enchantments needed.
This perk cannot reproduce things that require other esoteric methods of payment in the enchanting or creation process of a Magic item, such as the expenditure of experience, the usage of souls, or the power of love.
This process can take anywhere from milliseconds to around ten seconds depending on the size of it and how Magical it is. Any existing abilities that allow you to create things are significantly boosted in potency, and anytime you bequeath any of your internal energies in some way to another it is incredibly boosted in potency, to the point where if you were a Deity and you gave someone a part of yourself to consume for temporary power, you could decide for it to instead boost them to near Deity levels for a short duration instead of the average Master Magician boost people normally get from such an action.
AN: This Chapter didn't want to be written. Two days. Still, it works as a transition. Cornelia will be taking care of the "Blood of the Samurai" offscreen. The Celestial Forge halted it's rolls as Rivalz got his second 600 CP Perk and it's seriously busted, though mainly designed to work off of other Perks. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 13: The Price of War
The man-made rockslide was as devastating as I thought it would be. Even as I convinced Cornelia to send the Purist Faction up the mountain aside from Jeremiah and Villeta, I knew they would die being buried under rock and rubble.
Dying to prove themselves loyal to their image of Britannia. There's an irony in that.
Still, the resulting devastation was still brutal to watch and hear, to hear the men screams cut off as the ground and rock crushed their Sutherlands like paper. For all the power man had put into invention, nature was ruthless in her own right.
The Celestial Forge had been still since the day after the Knighting Ceremony. I didn't mind it much; the silence was a welcome reprieve to the constant winding up of energy as the Forge spun its wheel, the energy used to reach out into the stars to grab the 'Perks' often meant that my own excitement and impulsiveness would get worse as I jumped to take advantage of each Perk.
I'm aware that Perks don't make me invincible, nor am I above being hasty or making mistakes. No matter what the Forge did to me, my mind remained innately, painfully, human, with all the mistakes that came with it.
Unless the Forge decided otherwise. I would need to remember not to tempt fate so easily. The overall battle plan was the same, with Nunnally relaying that the goal was less to capture Cornelia than it was to prove Britannia was possible to lose a large victory and defang the JLF.
There would be no other groups to rally the Japanese behind, just the Black Knights. Coercion to ensure none would try to step up and upheave Zero as the savior of the Japanese.
No doubt that was one of many goals to turn the Area into an independent Nation. Lelouch seems painfully unaware that the Chinese Federation, even as it was fracturing on its own, would not pass up a way to get the world's largest reserves of Sakuradite.
That or he hoped to divert their attention alongside the European Union to attack Britannia in an all out assault.
Not that it would help him. Charles was no doubt prepared with various scenarios. The man wasn't stupid. Cruel, ruthless, cold, but he was as intelligent as he was ruthless, and he had an eye for understanding people better than Schneizel ever could.
I was not without my own trump cards, however. The android body I had sent looked and felt exactly like Marianne, but had several contingencies built into it, alongside a hidden robotic program inside the torso.
Marianne would get a rude surprise as her control would be usurped by a ruthless conscious that would record her brain's neural interface and rewrite it as it's own, should Charles be a threat, or should she try and interfere with my plans.
Marianne's Geass activates by eye contact. By blocking her ability to see faces, she couldn't use Geass at all, and then the cybernetic brains would switch, leaving the android body under the control of a brain that should, in theory, have all of Marianne's memories and skills, but with a copy of my directives, orders to follow and plans in place. I doubted Geass was so easily replicable.
Orders not coded into the hippocampus, so Charles wouldn't even notice a difference.
Charles wouldn't want the body examined. No doubt worried about V.V. seeing the body and thinking Charles was compromised. He would only trust himself and Marianne with even knowing the body's existence.
I also had several other contingencies to help Marianne. I had no desire for Charles to go forward into the World of Memories just to see his wife again if V.V. killed her off. For one, she would be immune to small rounds, even sniper rifles would be deflected. She had a Blaze Luminous that could be used to block all energy attacks, was immune to EMP's, had a serious amount of nanites that could reconstruct her body and recorded her neural network. Should she be destroyed, I can recreate her body and mind within minutes, though Charles would need to check the Sword of Akasha to see if Marianne was still technically alive.
I think it would work. Geass must come from the soul, using the Collective Unconscious, I had theorized, which is why no matter how similar, each Geass was unique. This meant that as Marianne's Geass was present, her soul should be able to leave the World of C back into the real world.
Code is just a more permanent Geass thread, a permanent connection between the World of C and the real world. The reason why Geass vanished upon taking up the Code was because you were severing the connection, the Contract, between the Code who gave you Geass and the World of C.
Therefor, if I can get C.C. to give me a Geass, and then kill V.V., I should be able to have both a Geass and a Code. It would even fit with why the show is called "Code Geass". As Lelouch would in theory be the only person to have both. A Geass from C.C. and a Code from Charles zi Britannia, the father that Lelouch had rejected so utterly that he had used his Geass on the World of C to turn the Ragnarok Connection against Charles and Marianne directly.
The Ragnarok Connection hadn't just fallen. It'd been used. Just on Charles, literally erasing him from existence so utterly that even his Code was forcefully transferred to the only person who didn't have a Code while still tied to the living world, who had inadvertently saved the Collective Unconscious, and someone who still had something to live for.
Lelouch vi Britannia. Ironic that he'd be chosen to become an immortal when he was planning to die for his sister's world to be born.
It also fit: Lelouch would need to live forever to move things behind the scenes if his sister's peaceful world was stay a reality. Someone like Nunnally would be a soft Empress, someone who other nations would take advantage of. Britannia would collapse into a sputtering mess of warlord driven countries.
Lelouch would forever be bound to protect the future he believed Nunnally would want, long after even Nunnally had passed. An ironic cruelty of fate that even Lelouch wouldn't realize until it was too late, as he would need to live to keep his promise to C.C.
Her true wish to not be left alone and unloved in such a cruel, cold, world. A world where she was mistreated, hated, taken advantage of. No wonder she acted so distant; it was a miracle she didn't want to end humanity entirely.
The energy expanded, but had reached into itself and then lunged out even further.
I smiled. I could now add cybernetics to myself without worrying about the side effects. It even went as far as ensuring that none of my abilities, Companions, items, pretty much anything I consider mine would be able to harm, alter, or corrupt me against my will.
That was huge, since it also meant any conflicting Perks could no longer force themselves on me. I could feel the Perk as it flowed through my soul, acting almost like a gel as it flowed through each of my other Perks.
I could be human again. The Slime Perk couldn't just make me a Slime against my will, but why would I want to be human? I was already able to shift to and from a humanoid form. I could have children in the future.
No. I was fully accepting of being a Slime. Other transformation based Perks would be taken at a case by case basis.
Sadly, I couldn't just take advantage and make my cybernetics out here. I would wait until I was back in the privacy of the government building.
I found myself contemplating on what the Harmony Perk also represented. Anything I considered mine…
Did that include Area 11? As the Knight of Euphemia, I had a lot of control over the Area, even if it was a subtle one. What about if I became the Emperor of Britannia?
What about the Black Knights? I considered Lelouch as one of mine, as a brother in all but blood. Were they under the Harmony Perk by extension?
I think it wouldn't extend that far. At least, not on its own. Those who swear themselves to me personally, the people I trusted above all others, would count, but the effect likely weakened dramatically the further down that goes.
Nunnally. Cornelia. Euphemia. Lelouch. C.C. Even Nina Einstein, though she was not yet in the fold until she matures enough to get her head out of the clouds. They were who mattered to me.
The people I would bleed for. The people I would die for. The people I would and frankly have killed for. A sobering realization to recognize how different I am from the socially anxious man I used to be.
Different wasn't bad. It was a part of living. The person you are today is hardly going to be the person you were ten years ago.
I shook my head. The battle was reaching its conclusion, Cornelia furiously destroying three of the four of Tohdoh's group as she took out her rage at the loss of so many men and women under her charge on them.
My Knightmare moved forward as the Blaze Luminous activated, one arm reaching to block the Guren's Radiant Wave Surger by the wrist, the EMP blast from my Knightmare shutting the weapon off before it could go off.
"What are you doing?" I said coldly. "The battlefield is behind you."
Kallen's voice responded immediately. "Getting vengeance for Naoto! My brother! You bastards killed him, and I want Cornelia to feel the same pain!"
The Guren leapt into the air, using both legs to kick at my Knightmare, making me let go of her Radiant Wave Surger as I used the Blaze Luminous to block the attack as she used the force to give herself some breathing room.
I didn't pursue, waiting patiently as she landed on her feet. "Did Zero put you up to this?" I asked aloud.
"No, but Cornelia hasn't released that prototype Knightmare into battle, even after a heavy loss. I can do this, kill Euphemia, and you, without Cornelia being able to stop me!" Kallen said confidently.
"I must confess, I didn't expect this from you. Clovis is dead. Your brother was already avenged. Why kill an innocent woman?" I asked with confusion.
This wasn't Kallen. She was always bloodthirsty, but never like this. This is post-Itachi Sasuke's level of bloodthirsty.
"My mother died. Refrain overdose. Her suicide note was an apology to me. An apology over how she failed as a mother to raise us. An apology over how she left me alone. She died because of you Britannians, I won't be satisfied until I see the whole royal family butchered." Kallen's voice raged out in fury, broken and angry.
Well. Shit. Yeah, that'd do it.
My immediate response was to apologize, but my Perks guided me to a different response.
"Do you think your brother would be happy, to see you from the Heavens killing Euphemia? Do you think your mom would be happy to see her little girl lose her way, to stop living for the future, out of enraged loss at the past?" I said quietly.
The Guren froze. "I, I, I don't need to listen to you!" She snarled.
"Then don't listen to me. Think about your brother. Naoto. Would he want you to abandon the organization he died for? Would you be able to live with yourself, knowing that without you, the Ace, the Black Knights would fall apart?" I continued to press the matter.
What does it matter what he wanted?! He's dead and you bastards killed him!" Kallen roared, the Guren's Radiant Wave Surger lunging to try and crush me as I leapt to the side, landing several feet away as I noted that she wasn't even looking at the convoy anymore. Good.
"The price of War. Innocents, bystanders, civilians, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children. All too often they will be hit the hardest in a war, and this is the price you and your brother paid for!" I pointed out brutally. "Hate us, resent us, but never mistake that the price of revolution will ALWAYS be blood. Either blood spilled by your own hands, or the blood you bleed as you die for a cause."
The Guren lunged again as I leapt to the side again, leading her away from the convoy as she screamed. "Shut up!"
"Why should I?" I demanded. "So you can feel better about trying to kill me? So you can bury those thoughts and feelings so you can kill them later? What do you gain by doing this other than making yourself feel better?"
The reach expanded, grabbing a star and pulling it down into me.
My mind was torn open as I could feel a new Perk had suddenly shoved something in there that hadn't been there before. The same Perk had latched onto my magical reserves, meaning that my mind was not only altered by the power of the new Perk, but was subtly enhanced by Merlin Returned.
I am a Technopath. I can manipulate up to five machines at a time, and effectively make them a part of me. I can do so effectively indefinitely, and I could feel the range of such an ability was not a small one.
I stopped trying to change Kallen's mind. She was effectively a lost cause, and her decision making was obviously nonexistent in her grief.
I mentally reached over and just shut down the Guren, commanding the cockpit to eject as Kallen screamed in outrage as the Guren shot her away in the air as the cockpit moved without her input.
Then I mentally had the Guren just move on its own in the opposite direction back toward where the battle was happening. The range would short out after a few dozen feet, but the Guren would be effectively useless without a cockpit and hopefully the Black Knights would grab it.
Kallen was a lost cause. Whether she was found by Britannia or the Black Knights, she was effectively out of the playing field of battle. Her grief had turned her into a liability rather than the Ace Pilot she could've been.
Either way, Zero's Revolution would still happen. No doubt Lelouch would find someone else to pilot the Guren, even if it wouldn't be as effective. Suzaku was out of the playing field as Cornelia would not let a prototype Knightmare run by an Eleven of all people into her forces. Schneizel would just have to do with secondhand data.
That was a frustrating realization, as now new plans would need to be made. Particularly in regards to ensuring that the Black Knights weren't wiped out altogether.
Maybe I'll create something like a Replica from Blade Runner. As a direct companion, they'd be forever loyal to my cause, and they can be the edge to replace Kallen. It would also be a more direct ear into the Black Knights aside from just the top of the command structure.
It wasn't a bad idea. The synergy would work wonderfully, and no doubt the Black Knights would be less likely to turn on Zero knowing they'd be facing an Ace Pilot able and willing to kill the traitors.
I would have to keep that in mind. As it is, I'm wondering if my Cybernetics would amplify the range of my new Perk. Machine Mind III is terrifying in a world of technology and cyberpunk.
The Perk specified micro switches in an electronic device, but the human brain is an electronic device. An organic electronic device using neurons to fire in sequences to relay orders and instructions. The nervous system is a live wire of energy using ion channels as its messenger of choice.
That it could pull from Merlin Returned meant that psionic powers akin to this one had more in common with magic than it did science. Which meant that my abilities over this Perk could, and likely would, grow exponentially faster as time went on.
The battle eventually came to an end, with Lloyd looking especially annoyed at not seeing my experimental Frankenstein Knightmare in action aside from showing off the Blaze Luminous that I had observed from the first deployment of the Lancelot.
Cornelia was upset, but had recognized that the event was a loss on Britannia's side. The JLF was gone, but the huge loss of numbers and Knightmare Frames was still a much bigger issue as now the clean up needed to be made.
As the remaining survivors of the man made rock slide were dug out, the Knightmare Frames themselves would be scrapped and melted down, to avoid the Black Knights from recreating the Sutherland, the reports dragged on for a few hours.
My search for the Code R Project in the area turned up empty. My frustration over not finding and interrogating Shirley's father would only make my blood cold as I heard the news.
Shirley was missing, and the house that she lived in had signs of an attack by an Eleven group, as far as the news were aware.
V.V. had sent a clean up crew, and I hadn't realized it.
As Cornelia worked on the paperwork, and I comforted Euphemia as she struggled to deal with just the sheer amount of death she had witnessed, the news cut off as Charles zi Britannia appeared on national television.
"Britannia. My empire. Some people are born better. It's an undeniable truth. Some are born stronger. Some are born faster. Some, still, are born with a mind that can revolutionize the world. I am pleased to announce that Sir Rivalz Anderson, is now my Royal Engineer over a such an invention. Cybernetics. Technology that can rebuild limbs, give back eyesight long lost. In some cases, even restore minds. A powerful technology that will forever show this world that Britannians, are, as the young like to say, 'built different'."
Charles gave a small nod of approval to the camera.
Good. That covers the deal we had.
"That's not the main reason for this announcement, however." Charles rumbled.
What.
"To Zero. The self-proclaimed revolutionary. I speak directly to you. You have my, however small, limited respect in taking down a full third of one of my children's forces. You were cold. Calculating. Ruthless. Pragmatic."
Charles chuckled.
"Deny my heritage. Deny your identity. Hide behind as many masks as you wish. Today, you proved to be worthy of my own. Today, I will acknowledge that you are alive. Alive and willing to kill as many as it takes to get what you want. As expected of my son. Lelouch vi Britannia, your exile has been revoked. Whether you choose to stay as Zero or face me as a man should, face to face, is your decision to make."
Shit.
"However, before you change the channel, know this, Lelouch. Marianne vi Britannia, my consort, is alive. The body burned that day was a modified corpse, and she had been in a coma for this time until yesterday afternoon. You can thank Rivalz Anderson for that. Or rather," Charles paused before smiling coldly.
"Rivalz zi Britannia, I name you the Heir to the Throne, to Britannia itself, and my greatest son in all but blood. As a reward for bringing my consort back to me, I also name you the Son of Britannia. A new position where you are not liable by any laws, nor any security measures, so that way you can change Britannia as you see fit, so long as I don't state otherwise. Show me this world you wish to bring forth."
That fucking bastard!
Perks This Chapter:
Harmony (Generic First Jump) (400CP)
Sometimes, the things you are collecting will clash with each other or are difficult to use together. That is no longer the case. You could safely use both the Dark and Light sides of the Force, channel both divine and demonic energies, wield conflicting forms of magic or energy, mix radically different technologies or biologies, even keep your entire harem in one place, and they will all get along with each other. They will get along with you as well. None of your abilities, possessions, Companions or anything else that belongs to you in some way will be able to harm, corrupt, or alter you against your will.
MACHINE MIND III (PREY) (250CP)
By consuming Psi you can manipulate the micro switches in an electronic device, effectively hacking into it and turning it to your side for a few moments. The time you can remotely control a machine is extended indefinitely in exchange for a small constant consumption of Psi and you can control up to 5 machines at once.
AN: This Chapter fought me like hell, and I realized that I just can't rehash Canon chapters. I can skip stuff along, but writing and trying to follow the path of Canon is boring. And frustrating. So, new curveball it is! Let me know what you think!
Chapter 14: Fallout, Pt. 1.
Interlude VII
Lelouch knew that he'd been utterly screwed. He had been sitting in silence as he processed the sheer magnitude of what that man had done.
The Black Knights was finished. Right at a moment when he'd consolidated his control over them, got their trust as they successfully defeated Cornelia's forces at Narita, was when the Emperor had stripped Lelouch of it all in one announcement.
Some would refuse to believe the Emperor. Ask to see his face, to prove to the others that the man was wrong.
Lelouch knew showing his face would be akin to suicide. He also wondered if there was a point in his revolution now. His priority of justice was real, he had a firm belief in it, but more so it had been to spite his father. To prove the man wrong.
His mother was alive. He'd believe it to be a lie had he not seen the efforts first hand of Rivalz own miracles, in how Nunnally could dance, run, and see as if she had her legs her whole life.
Yet, did he want to stop being Zero? Did he want to return to being Lelouch vi Britannia, another Prince among the many in Pendragon?
No. That boy was dead. Died years ago. Lelouch vi Britannia no longer existed. Only Zero remained.
The Black Knights would continue. He wouldn't Geass them, he suspected there were ways to suppress or remove Geass aside from Rivalz own unique differences, but he had ways to show them that he truthfully wanted Britannia destroyed.
Tohdoh had known Lelouch since he had arrived in Japan, before it became Area 11. That would be one cornerstone. One way to get some of them to continue following him.
Another way was to prove himself further. More miracles to perform, something he could do with Geass. Rather than Geass the Black Knights to be utterly loyal, he could Geass them into letting him prove his loyalty to them, ensuring that even if his Geass broke, it would be to show he only used it to get himself in the door.
C.C. had stopped messing with him about Rivalz since the announcement, which Lelouch was thankful for because he didn't know how to feel about him.
On one hand, Rivalz was now the Heir to Britannia, the second in command. If Lelouch wanted to destroy Britannia, Rivalz was now in his way. Lelouch grimaced. Not even Geass could be of use against Rivalz. The helping hand that Lelouch relied on had now become a brick wall, blocking him from his mission.
On the other, Rivalz had effectively resurrected his mom. His mother was alive, Nunnally was healthy and whole, because of Rivalz. The man breathed miracles just by existing and he could see Rivalz was eager to make changes to Britannia.
C.C. had pointedly left him alone, even as she warned that Lelouch was less than useless against someone of Rivalz caliber. "Your friend has gained too much traction, the only person in his way now is himself." She said bluntly before leaving.
He couldn't rely on Rivalz. His friend was compromised. He probably wasn't even aware that the Emperor was pulling his strings. Nunnally was also compromised, the fact of Rivalz bringing back their mom had only cemented the insane worship he could see in her eyes.
Lelouch felt painfully alone. Even C.C. would not raise arms against Rivalz, even when she had gone out of her way to state she would if she had to do so earlier.
He would just have to assume Rivalz was dancing to the Emperor's strings and just work around him as much as he can. He wouldn't kill Rivalz, a part of him wondered if Rivalz could even be lethally injured, but he wouldn't rely on Rivalz help anymore if he could help it.
For now, he had to go rescue Kallen from her cell. Saving the Ace Pilot of the Black Knights should go a long way in letting them follow him, or at least give him a chance to plead his case.
He was no longer Lelouch. Lelouch had just been a mask he'd been wearing for years, for his sister's sake. He was Zero. He had always been Zero.
Zero gave a quiet, dark, chuckle in the silence. The time of regrets had long since passed. The dice had been cast long ago. Now he would see it through, one way, or another.
Unbeknownst to Zero, C.C. silently cried as another of her Contractors had given up his humanity, a single tear falling as she left the Ashford's Academy.
Perhaps Rivalz zi Britannia or Nunnally vi Britannia would save her and grant her Wish. It's not like she had anything else left to lose.
Chapter 15: Fallout, Pt. 2
Interlude VIII
Charles was bemused by Marianne's first reaction to getting a new body was to grope her own breasts.
"Oh thank goodness. It's so nice to have my girls again." Marianne sighed as she got off the table. Her previous unwilling host was now deep asleep, her memory blanks removed and replaced with natural moments of her life.
"How's that little gremlin doing while I've been away?" Marianne asked casually, looking herself in the mirror as she wiggled, humming in approval at her form.
"I had V.V. placed inside a vat of Chlorine Trifluoride, within a steel drum that was then encased in concrete before dumped deep underground in one of those places once used for disposing nuclear waste. He'll eventually get out. Just not for a long, long, time." Charles said confidently.
Marianne smiled. "Finally took you long enough to get some of that vicious streak from me." She teased him as she got dressed. "Commission some of these 'cybernetics' to get yourself back in shape, husband. It's been over a decade since I've had a decent fuck, and I plan to collect." Marianne licked her lips.
Charles raised an eyebrow. "Was the harem we had not enough for you?" He responded dryly.
Marianne scoffed. "Those petty bitches couldn't even eat me out properly. All they were good for was to see their scandalous faces as I made them eat me out for the honor of getting fucked by my man." She shook her head in dismay. "Even with your Geass, they just could never learn."
Charles nodded, his solemn expression breaking as he found Marianne hugging him tightly. "I've missed you. So much. It's good to be home." She said into his chest.
There was no one to say otherwise that Charles' face softened as he hugged her back gingerly, as if afraid he'd wake up to an empty bed as he'd had for over a decade.
"It's good to have you back home." Charles said quietly.
Marianne, of course, had to ruin the moment by stepping back and asking him abruptly.
"So, I've heard my daughter is head over heels over this Rivalz person. How good is he in bed? Does Nunnally take after me in the bedroom? Ooh, do you think we can do a wedding in the Sword of Akasha?!" Marianne fired, her eyes glinting as ideas ran through her mind.
Charles sighed. The silence and solitude was good while it lasted.
Chapter 16: A New Era Dawns
So, since Charles had his fun on making me the number 1 assassination target this side of the globe, I had to shift priorities to avoid the no doubt series of shit storms heading my way.
Like immediately putting forth the Decree that the following was now being put into effect:
'All Areas of Britannia would be renamed Province of [Insert Previous Country's Name here]. All Numbers would be elevated to the rights and stipulations of Honorary Britannians, with the exceptions of any known terrorists groups, with terrorists and vigilantes declared to hold no positions of power, nor any rights at all. Any who mistreated Honorary Britannians or ex-Numbers would be subject to disciplinary actions, immense fines on Inheritance and/or Corporation Entities accounts, and possibly death.
All Nobles and their Houses will be subject to immediate inspections at any time for funds that had been used from the Royal Treasury, Britannian Currency, or Foreign Currency, to be subject to immense fines, if found to have misplaced or misused the funds in any way found to be in an unsatisfactory manner by any ten members of the Royal Family or by the Son of Britannia. Said violations start with fines of at least 30% of the account's liquid assets, but can be increased up to and with dissolvement of the Noble's House, Corporations, Account Holdings Seizure, Inheritance Seizure, and Dishonorary Execution.
Attacking the Son of Britannia will carry a penalties to the attacker, of having all rights removed, Royal Disinheritance, Accounts dissolved with all liquid assets given to the Son of Britannia and all company and infrastructure holdings transferred immediately to the Son of Britannia.
This extends immediately to any and all those deemed to be connected to the attacker, whether it be by a corporation, an organization, a single individual, or otherwise deemed connected to the event of the attack in question. The attacker, if under coercion, shall not be subject to the previous claim provided they inform the Son of Britannia, the Royal Family, and/or a Britannia official who informs the Son of Britannia within 72 hours. With evidence proven, the coerced attacker can gain up to and including 100,000 dollars a month for the rest of their life, and a new Noble House name, with some limited exceptions.
Any attack, coerced or otherwise, caused by an external organization, individual, or country, upon the Son of Britannia or any the Son of Britannia deems under his protection, will be seen as an act against humanity, and thus will not possess any rights or safeguards given by the World Humane War Act. It will also be considered Cassus Belli for the Son of Britannia to launch a counter-offense without announcement of any kind within three weeks hence of the attack.
Note that this does not mean Britannia itself will declare war. Only that the Son of Britannia can use all of his resources and capabilities as he sees fit to attain compensation for the attempt. Compensation can include direct possessions of infrastructure, industries, cities, countries, and people if required.
Should any Area Government, Noble, Corporation, Royal Family Member, or High Ranking Official within Britannia not comply within 12 hours, it will be considered an attack upon the Son of Britannia.
To a New Era,
The Son of Britannia, Rivalz zi Britannia.'
Yes. I'm cheating. Absolutely cheating with the Harmony Perk. There's just no way any organization, especially one of bureaucracy, could move that fast within 12 hours. It would take months before any of it would even start working in the modern age.
It was also deliberately designed so that any person who was being forced by the mob to attack me would have an incentive to not do so.
Because the Harmony Perk extended to my possessions, by seizing huge amounts of Britannia's Nobility and the Area's for failing to comply, the cohesion of the empire would surge massively across the board as everyone would find themselves getting along to my benefits. Even the mob would be nervous, because an attack on me, if it failed, would see me siezing their organization.
An external organization or country might have been tempted. If I hadn't written into the Royal Decree that doing so was to be in violation of the World Humane War Act. Something that every country had signed, including Britannia.
The Act guaranteed the use of chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nuclear weapons were to be banned. Attacking a cockpit ejection, treating Prisoners of War improperly, was also under the Act.
In short, if you attack me and mine, pray I don't survive.
Charles said nothing against the Royal Decree, his bemused face changing into approval as I thought up various scenarios I could think of in retaliation when he tried to take a peek using his Geass.
The FLEIJA was nothing to what I could do. There had been things thought up in my old world in dystopia books that made nuclear weapons look tame.
Things like the Matrix, for example. Only they'd be living their lives in Worm. Because I am absolutely cruel to those who harm me and mine.
12 hours, and its late afternoon. Most Nobles would not be paying attention to their phones or their business emails, and the bureaucracy would be unable to respond in time even if they worked around the clock.
I smiled. Solving Britannia's Noble Leech problem, and turning the madness of what Charles did into an advantage using a Perk I just received, in one move.
It wouldn't deal with every problem. Schneizel would be a pain in the ass, and no doubt some countries would be eager to test my Decree, thinking it as a bluff.
Which was where I had another card up my sleeve.
The Damocles. Specifically, I'd be building my own Damocles equipped with vast Hadron Cannons and Gefjun Disturbers, using my Knightmare Frame as a base.
Because anything attached to my Knightmare Frame would also have infinite power, per the rules of Fiat.
It would take a good few months, but good luck to any country out there as soon as I deployed it. They'd be annihilated.
In the meantime, I would need to set an example, I mused. Something to really make them back off until the Domacles was built.
I blinked. I recalled, very vaguely, that a certain thing was going to kick off in the EU where a couple Geass Users were running around.
It'd be an awful shame if I sent a cybernetic double packed to the gills with my various upgrades and my Knightmare Frame to ruin their day, and their countries into submission.
I kissed Cornelia, cutting her off from her ranting and fearful speech about how I'd be safe from everyone.
"Relax, Cornelia. As it will always be known; The Celestial Forge is bullshit. We'll be fine."
The reach lunged to grab a star, and the massive star was just too big to be pulled down, the reach settling back down within me.
AN: A Short Chapter, but it's a bridge to where we'll see Schneizel get hit hard as all of his plans just go up in smoke, and a cybernetic packed double of Rivalz swings by to show the EU why they really prefer him to not be there at the eastern front.
Chapter 17: Recognition [Interludes VII]
Interlude VII: Nina Einstein
Nina Einstein had always felt shame. Her family legacy had always been tainted by her grandfather's invention. Her grandfather had pushed hard to create a peaceful world, but his means of doing so had been questionable.
Born in Germany, one of the inner countries of the EU that had been one of its founding members, Albert Einstein had defected to Britannia, lured by the promises of a better life provided he used his knowledge to better Britannia in some manner.
Albert Einstein's equation of E=mc2, had revolutionized the world, and Britannia became a forerunner in the power of nuclear energy and nuclear power. The initial nuclear factories had been a success, a proof of concept.
Until it hadn't been. The nuclear power plants had been flawed in construction, though not in planning, and the resulting nuclear meltdowns had made Albert appear foolish, playing with an energy he didn't recognize had a price to be paid if used improperly.
The Nobility ignored the money that had changed hands that ensured their monopoly over coal, gas, and oil wouldn't be upended by this foreigners' ideas, and had intentionally paid the construction workers to build several faults into the nuclear plants.
On top of the nuclear weapon, a last minute attempt from Albert trying to appeal to the military to save face at the massive fall of his reputation, being considered a weapon used by savages rather than by civilized people, due to the radiation and fallout rendering the Area uninhabitable, Albert had been essentially considered blacklisted by both the Nobility and the Military.
Britannia hadn't revoked his Britannian status, but it hadn't meant anything when Albert had been effectively blocked from any high paying job.
Nina Einstein had grown up trying and struggling to prove that she was more than a part of the Einstein Tainted Legacy. She was always extremely intelligent, but her lack of social awareness and her struggles to deal with being mocked had made her hyperfocus on her ideas. She wanted to be more than her grandfather, she wanted to be recognized for herself, as Nina. She'd gladly give up the Einstein name if it wasn't for the fact that the Einsteins still had the Royal Engineer on Nuclear Fission, and was essentially a Lower Noble House without needing to pay for the taxes often required to maintain the status.
That day, had changed her life. She'd been crying in the computer room for over an hour. She'd been really close to just giving up on the idea of making a clean energy source, one that would not become used as a weapon, and just giving into one of the military officials that had been offering her all the money and recognition she would want, if she'd just refine the nuclear weapon to not induce radiation and fallout.
Then, he came. Rivalz. Her, well, friend was sort of pushing it at the time. Nina was well aware she wasn't liked even by others in the Student Council, she knew she was a one track mind, but Rivalz had always been kind to her, even making jokes at his own expense to cheer her up.
Rivalz was different. Confident, almost arrogantly so, but he was still kind, still checking in on her. Not because she was an Einstein. But because she was Nina. His friend.
She was embarrassed to be caught crying, but her shame of being denied funding, again, had hurt more. Rivalz offered to fund her project, and Nina initially declined. Even a painting from a museum would sell for several thousand, especially of a living, well known, artist, and she knew that amount of funding would amount to nothing.
She immediately regretted her callousness at how bluntly she'd denied him when Rivalz looked hurt, his, had he always been handsome, face turning away as he muttered two hundred million was not a small amount of money.
She had lost her composure. She knew that. That kind of money wouldn't be for any kind of painting unless it was a one of a kind, magnum opus, level work. Something even the Emperor would acknowledge was worthy of his Palace.
She never realized that Rivalz was a savant. A savant in painting, no less. Such a thing would've been very well known, especially as the Nobility would throw money hard at anyone who could paint that well. The arts were one of the major ways they showed their families off, after all.
Rivalz's painting, the 'World of Kindness' was worth the money, and then some. She reckoned that if she saw it in person she'd be crying in joy of being able to see it with her own eyes in her lifetime.
Rivalz Anderson had never judged her for her phobia, not openly. He never treated her like an Einstein, never mocked her grandfather. He treated her grandfather with solemn respect, but not reverence as she knew some in the military had. He treated her as just Nina, he recognized her efforts as valid, and all he asked was that the energy source be something useful in some manner. Nina had to avoid pointing out that any energy source would always be useful.
Her face turned crimson as she remembered his parting words. She had a massive kink for praise. Her life of chasing acknowledgement, of being recognized as worthy of respect, made it even more of a turn on to know Rivalz saw her as more than an investment.
He saw her as a woman, and she couldn't help but love it. She almost wished he'd hadn't been Euphemia's Knight of Valor, just so she could try flirting and showing her appreciation to the man who had made her feel like she had value.
The things she'd had fantasies about were outlandish. Imagining Rivalz in a suit like he'd worn during one of Milly's tamer events, kneeling in front of him as she kissed her way down his stomach, hearing him whisper how she was such a good girl to be on her knees for him.
She shivered. She knew she couldn't compete with Euphemia. Despite all the rules, she knew at least some of the Knights were fucking the Princesses. You don't get a personal bodyguard that handsome, and loyal, and sweet, without bedding him.
She could never understand Milly Ashford. Flighty, confident, but never letting anyone too close, too intimate. She could flirt, but she never put out, and it showed. Aside from some of arrogant sons of Nobility, no one really went after Milly. The school students mostly knew it was a waste of their time.
Rivalz zi Britannia. The news from last night had been shocking, and yet she had never been so wet.
Rivalz was a Royal Engineer. Not because of his family, but because he was just that good. His cybernetics had been proven to not have been tainted, because the Emperor had used that to bring back Marianne vi Britannia from her coma.
She felt a little hurt that Rivalz had never shared anything to her about his real aptitude in the sciences, but she also understood that she never asked. She hyperfixated on energy source production, to the point she just hadn't realized that Rivalz hadn't been lost when she rambled because he wasn't as smart as her.
It just wasn't his field. Cybernetics didn't really rely on energy source production, it ran off of the body to power itself. His field was in Medicine, Biology, Robotics. Energy production had nothing to do with it.
She bit her lip. Her project had hit a dead end. Impure Sakuradite could channel energy, on par of copper, but it had no energy capability on its own. It'd been a foolish hope, but she had wanted to turn the waste product of impure Sakuradite into something viable.
She'd just have to try mixing the impure Sakuradite with other elements, to see if the impure Sakuradite could stabilize the radioactive decay of some of the more unstable elements.
She just hoped that Rivalz wouldn't just use her and forget her. She desperately didn't want to be forgotten, to be cast aside like garbage.
She knew Rivalz would never do that, but fame, especially worldly recognized, fame, changed people.
She paused for a moment. As a zi Britannia, Rivalz would not only eligible to have a harem, it'd be expected of him to have one. Particularly to create ties with the Nobility, but also because the size of the harem and the prowess of its individual members would be a show of how strong a person was in character. Someone like Rivalz could never be of just one or two wives.
Maybe she had a shot, once she proved herself. Kick her project off the ground, and when Rivalz asked her what reward she wanted for being a good girl, a good assistant, she'd ask for him to just take her. To cut off her Einstein last name and make her a zi Britannia. His zi Britannia. All his.
Nina's face burned. She wasn't one for kids, she had no desire for them, but it was hot to imagine him keeping her around as a sex assistant to be used when his other wives were knocked up. She'd be an always available option when the others were either not in the mood or just too heavily pregnant to have sex safely.
She shook her head. She'd focus on her project, show him that she was worth his investment, and then she could see about getting her reward. She ignored how wet she was, even as she squirmed. She wished she had brought her vibrator to keep her on the edge, it made her focus more when she was eager to get off as a reward for completing her work, but she was already sitting down and at her work computer.
She also didn't want to deal with Milly Ashford pining over Rivalz. Bitch, you had your chance!
Chapter 18: Regret [Interlude VIII]
Interlude VIII: Milly Ashford
Milly Ashford had prided herself on her ability to read the room, and those in it. She was a master socialite, in her humble opinion.
Or rather, she thought she had been. Now she felt like the universe had slapped her in the face for all those times she had teased and egged Rivalz along.
Rivalz Cardemonde. He wasn't handsome, acted like he was an equal to the Student Council when in reality he'd been a pity choice to keep him from joining a random club, and was just too… different. Lelouch, Nina, Nunnally, even herself, all had a goal to strive for, a reason to push forward. Every member of the Student Council had some sort of potential, however latent, however short term devastating if it fell short, except Rivalz.
In short, Milly Ashford had been flattered briefly by Rivalz's crush on her, but she had quickly became irritated and frustrated at his lack of initiative. She egged him on, teased him, but he never made a move to actually ask her out!
She would've declined, of course. The Ashford Academy were her final years as a single woman without her parents forcing her to marry an older pathetic Noble! She couldn't be hitched to anyone! She just couldn't stand being tied down!
Besides, Rivalz Cardemonde reminded her too much of her father. Caring to an obscene degree, happy to go along for the ride, excited to see Milly even when all she felt was shame and disgust at how much he let others walk all over him. His wife ran the Ashfords, no matter how much her father argued tooth and nail to ensure Milly had a right to enjoy her childhood.
Milly Ashford could never let someone like Rivalz Cardemonde into her life. He'd be eaten alive by the Nobles, and she knew a long time ago that a weak husband just meant an even weaker family.
She regretted that now. Rivalz had ignored her, his rapid change from meek, crushing, pathetic hanger-on into a man worthy of her affections occurring in mere weeks. Yet, she couldn't find herself the strength to apologize for spurring his advances for so long. She wasn't sorry about using him, only that she missed her chance to get to know Rivalz Anderson.
She was crushed when he stopped appearing in the Academy, his Knight status indicating he would no longer appear within the institution. She vented to Nunnally on how unfair it was that she had given Rivalz a shot into the Student Council, only for him to up and leave!
Nunnally's cold dark purple eyes were almost pitch black with hatred, that Milly stopped talking as she realized Nunnally had been silently breaking the chair underneath her cybernetic legs as she took deep breaths.
"You used him. You abused his kindness. You aren't even sorry. You're just upset you lost your chance. You disgust me." Nunnally said coldly, standing up as she went to leave, kicking the chair away from her.
The loud echoing crash of the chair hitting the wall several feet away as it burst apart into wood echoed Milly's silent realization that her friendship with Nunnally was as dead as the chair. Nunnally left without a word, her hands shaking as she moved away from the room.
Milly turned to complain to Shirley, only to remember that Shirley had been missing for over a week now. Nina Einstein was a scientist first and foremost, thus she wasn't eligible for girl talk.
Milly felt alone. Alone and sad. She hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. Not really. All she had wanted was to live her best life, and if that meant teasing and driving Rivalz crazy at the time, she had thought nothing of the harmless fun.
She looked herself in the mirror, and Milly Ashford wondered, not for the last time, if she was turning into her mother. The lack of denial from her thoughts, and the lack of support from anyone else, scared her more than anything else.
Chapter 19: The Failure of Chess [Interlude IX]
Interlude IX: Schneizel
Schneizel was baffled by the response Rivalz zi Britannia had done to his father's announcement.
A Royal Decree of such a vast scope would be political suicide for even the Emperor to do. It was a huge slap in the face to every Noble, of every rank, to the Britannian Heritage System. It was a huge mockery of the Empire itself.
The 12 hours limitation was a joke in and of itself: Schneizel knew that he himself would be entirely unable to file the approval paperwork required. It was, in all honesty, impossible to fulfill these demands.
To say nothing of the fact that none of the Nobility would follow on the Royal Decree. Even the Emperor was aware that not all of his orders were followed to the letter.
No, there had to be another angle. Something he just wasn't understanding. Some plan was in place for those who failed the task.
Regardless, Schneizel was confident he could weather the storm. Rivalz was simply drunk on the absolute power of being the Son of Britannia, and the power would wane as he realized his folly.
The day crawled by, and the twelfth hour deadline came and went. Schneizel himself was drinking his tea, taking his time, before he decided to review the reports and updates on those under him.
He accessed his computer, and froze. His computer was overflowing, but not with his weekly reports.
Resignations. Petitions to transfer. Follow up emails on those he had threatened were shown to have been cc'd to the authorities, and blackmail money was being rewired back to him. The Nobles he'd spent a lifetime buttering up were either leaving, already left, or had the cold touch in an email that spoke of a lack of care for whom it was being sent to.
His computer was struggling to keep up with the updates, and Schneizel turned on the television as a Britannian news reporter sat up straighter, a satisfied smile on her face.
"It's with great honor that I'm reporting that Rivalz zi Britannia is now the de facto ruler of all Provinces, with new Viceroys to be designated within a week's time.
A full third of the Nobility are going to be detained for questioning, with hearings made for several high ranking Princes and Princesses for them to plead their cases, and as of now the Royal Britannian Coffers are estimated to sit at a staggering 3.9 Trillion Dollars after seizures taken into account, with 2.8 trillion to be redistributed into the Provinces for use.
Pending further findings, this is considered the death blow to the corruption caused by some of the Nobility that had been leeching off of our glorious empire.
All civilians who are being mistreated, be it as a Number or Honorary Britannian, can schedule an appointment with your local police, and can file claims of misconduct, assault, bribery, seizure, threat of termination of employment or life, and any other serious accounts of injustice.
Retaliation against all such proven claims will be considered an attack on a subject under the protection of the Son of Britannia, and as such can be subjected up to a lifetime imprisonment, dissolvement of accounts within the Empire, and, if required, execution.
To the Britannian Military, segregation of the Honorary Britannians and mistreatment are grounds for a tribunal, as cohesion of the military is paramount to expanding the empire.
All Honorary Britannians will recieve at least the minimum rights and respects due to the Britannian civilians born within the Empire, with all children born of Honorary Britannians becoming full citizens of the empire at birth. While the empire cannot promise the lost pay of its new citizens, rest assured that Britannia takes care of it's own. Now for an audio recorded speech from Rivalz zi Britannia."
After a moment of silence, the screen went black until a picture of Rivalz zi Britannia appeared, wearing a black cloak with the symbol of the Royal Family on it.
"My apologies for not being available to speak in person, my subjects. The new position of the Son of Britannia requires that I delegate as much as possible, once I've purged the corruption draining our empire dry. In light of that, many of you may feel confused. Lost. Without the Britannian Heritage System, can we still be called Britannia? Are we still better than everyone else?"
Schneizel's eyes narrowed.
"The answer is, yes, my subjects. Britannia is not simply a name by blood. It is a name by distinction, of virtue. All who believe in the empire, all who believe in uniting this world in a peaceful future where we can expand into the stars, all who believe in bettering the future for themselves, their families, their friends, all who believe that this world is what you make of it, can call themselves Britannian, and can call themselves worthy of being my subjects.
The EU are held together only in fear of us, the inner countries using propaganda to hide the truth of our glory and accomplishments. They would never allow Britannia to show them the truth. They fear what we can do. They fear a united, loyal, Britannia.
The Chinese Federation is falling apart. The government of the Federation lied to their people, placed their Empress in a gilded cage, and have drained their people dry of all but their bodies, even as the people starve. Without my intervention, Britannia would have become another Federation, with the leeches draining my people dry as my empire fell into ruin. I would not, could not, allow that to happen to my people. We are better than that.
My father is correct. Some people are born better. Faster. Stronger. Smarter. Yet an individual alone cannot survive for long. Cooperation is essential for us to thrive. No matter our strengths as individuals, united, we are unstoppable.
To those of my subjects who have disabilities, mental or physical, do not be ashamed. Your disabilities have only made you stronger in other ways. Stronger in mind, stronger in heart, stronger in soul. You are all valued, you all have meaning, and I would see each of you shine, to show this world that you can, no, you will not be bullied into submission! You will rise and show this world that you are better than your disability! That you're worth more than pity, that you are worthy of respect!
Which is why I say that I will not force you to get cybernetics once it's rolled out across the empire. I will not force you, but I implore you to do so, because your disabilities are not a part of you. You are better than that. You are more than that. The world crippled you out of fear of what you can do, so show this world that it was right to fear you, and prove that the Britannian Spirit burns brighter in you for a reason.
Are we better than everyone else? Yes. Yes, because we are Britannian. In mind, because we are united in a better future for our children and our people. In spirit, because we are united by more than blood, we've always been. In body, because we push ourselves to the limits every day to ensure a better future. We are Britannian, we do not back down, we do not hesitate, we are the future!
Long live the Empire! Long live Britannia!"
Schneizel felt terror grip his chest. Rivalz zi Britannia, in yet again just one announcement, had utterly crushed any dissent from the Britannian civilians. He'd empowered even those with disabilities, those that many Britannians preferred to not acknowledge. He crippled the Nobility, united the common rabble, and has turned the Empire into a single force under his banner.
This could not be done in twelve hours. No, this had been years in the making. Rivalz zi Britannia was no mere Lower Noble.
He was a Julius Caesar or an Alexander. A man that would not stop until everything was his.
The resignations. The cold emails. The permissions to transfer. Rivalz had his claws into Schneizel's faction long before he'd ever appeared on that broadcast as Euphemia's Knight. He'd been waiting for the right moments to strike, turning even the Emperor's own twisted orders to his benefit. He had every plan with back up plans. He had been playing them all.
Schneizel gave a broken, single, laugh. He'd been played from the start. He was finished. His bribes, his blackmail, everything he'd done to consolidate his base, had ruined him. He couldn't even flee to the EU. They would never trust him.
Well played, Rivalz zi Britannia. I was put in checkmate a long time ago.
That was the failure of Chess. It was a zero-sum two person game. It could never account for a third faction hiding in the shadows, bidding it's time.
Schneizel sighed, grabbing a second cup of tea, and some powder he'd had hidden in a secret compartment in his desk. Pouring the powder into his tea, he smiled.
It's too bad I was always a sore loser. To your future, Rivalz zi Britannia. Try not to disappoint me, as I'll likely be watching, no matter where I end up.
Schneizel finished his second, final, cup of tea.
He always felt that dying by a gun was too unsightly, demeaning of a Prince. This would make him tired, and then he'd simply never wake up. A far better way to go, in his opinion.
Sleepily, Schneizel remembered another boy that had always been a sore loser. His last thoughts had him drifting off with a slight sad smile.
Try not to be too hard on dear Lelouch, despite always winning against him, he'd always been a fun person to play against.
Chapter 20: Delegation
Cornelia looked baffled for a moment as I explained the Harmony Perk.
Then she looked outraged. "That's bullshit! There's no way things can be that simple!"
My grin was ear to ear. "I told you the Celestial Forge was bullshit. Fiat-backing is a hell of a drug on reality!"
Cornelia looked like she needed a drink. "That is absurd. Insane. If it wasn't for what I've seen, I'd have thought I was being drugged." She muttered.
I shrugged. "The Celestial Forge is a powerhouse in its own right. While the Perks it gives are random, it rewards those who take initiative. Not bad for someone who was a Lower Noble at some point, huh?"
Cornelia snorted, looking at me with a soft smile. "No, it had to be you. Rivalz. Anyone else would have just decided to take over the world and establish themselves. You could have crushed Britannia, the EU, and the Chinese Federation. You didn't." She pointed out softly.
I frowned. "Yes, but that was before I knew you as a person. Cornelia li Britannia. A woman who has tried so hard to protect her sister, that you gave up your dreams for her. No Princess would have gone into being a War Goddess, not like you did. You gave up so much. How could I ignore that?" I said plainly.
It was true. In the show, Lelouch was so focused on making Britannia and the institution the monsters he believed they were that he forgot that institutions, governments, were all made of individuals. Flawed people that had hopes, dreams, families, friends.
Lelouch had used so many, in his quest for Nunnally's kinder world, that he truly became the Demon Emperor long before he ever took up the Throne.
I hoped that Lelouch hadn't snapped from Charles' broadcast. His mental health had been so fragile, so close to snapping. He lived out of spite. The idea of his spite no longer holding meaning, meant that Lelouch had little to direct his rage and anguish at. No way to channel his pain.
I would need to talk to him. Before he commited social suicide. Before he decided that using his Geass to enforce his control over the Black Knights was the only option he had.
He wouldn't do that now. Too soon. He'd likely do it in a day or three, after the announcement or him being Zero was swept away in the coming storm of my changes.
Nunnally would keep him in line. Her cybernetic suit and her eyes already had Geass Cancellers. While initially used to protect herself passively, it could also be used to cancel Geass used within three hundred feet of herself. She should be able to stop him from going too far until I got there.
Besides, Lelouch should eventually recognize that my Britannia was a vast difference from the one that existed. The Britannia that Lelouch remembered and hated was dead.
I wonder what Charles would do, realizing that his empire no longer needed him. Probably just pretend to rule while having me take over his job, the bastard.
There would be no way that the World of Memories would work now. With so many people under my rule, my Perk Harmony would negate it. The Ragnarok Connection was made using the subconscious desire of humanity, and it would fail now.
If anything, every Code should now be feeling the power of the Celestial Forge tweaking the World of C. If someone like Nunnally could read my soul with a touch, I wonder how they must be feeling, their connection to the World of C now forcing them to feel the power of Fiat.
Through the Codes, the Geass Users would be equally affected, though they wouldn't know why or how. The Contract that tied them to their Code would bind them through the World of C.
It wasn't something I had initially taken into account, being that it had been mostly to stop the endless waves of assassinations heading my way after Charles' announcement. I would've been fine, but I would've been enraged if they caught Euphie or Cornelia in the crossfire.
It was a toss up on how the Codes reacted to such an event.
My phone rang. I answered. "Hello?" I asked into the phone.
"I can feel you. It's so much. Too much. Please, make a contract with me. Please, I don't know who else to turn to, please help me." C.C.'s strained voice spoke, and I could feel something was brushing against me. It felt stronger and weaker than the Celestial Forge.
"I will accept, on the condition that you choose to live for me. With me. I am immortal, C.C., and I wish to take humanity to the stars. I will not leave you alone. Ever. If in a couple hundred years, you want to rest, I'll help you."
"Okay." C.C. could barely get the word out as the power surged, the sensation pulsing right behind my forehead when the Celestial Forge had always flowed through my chest.
The World of C recognizes me, it remembers me, it knows me.
"I know all of my Children, Rivalz zi Britannia. You have saved me from a Fate worse than Death. A Geass is reflective of your Soul, but you are more than simply a child of mine, for I see in you a Grand Soul. The Power of the King may not be as great as the Power of the Forge, but, you'll find my Gifts great in their own right.
Rise, Rivalz zi Britannia, and take upon your mantle, for you are no mere King. Rise, God-Emperor of Mankind, for there is work to be done."
I am screaming, my soul burning hotter than the stars as two Powers etch themselves into my very Self.
I found myself staring at my phone, closing my eyes as I could feel my Geass flaring from inside me, Merlin Returned eagerly soaking in the new power and the structure that made it.
The Geass of Absolute Loyalty. The power to know at a glance how loyal someone is to me, how to cement that loyalty naturally, and artificially raise or lower that loyalty. I could even erase the loyalties that a person had in others, my Geass rewriting a person's personality and memories to make them change. It's originally limited by a person's ability to hear me, no eye contact required, but I suspected that would change.
Those already absolutely loyal to me shined like beacons of light in my mind's eye, their souls open to me. Nunnally. Nina. Cornelia. Euphemia. The Geass of Absolute Loyalty would do nothing to them, but it would always tell me how they were feeling, their souls tethered to mine, their minds unable to be ravaged by the passing of time, their bodies bound to my own.
They couldn't age, couldn't die, so long as I lived. No doubt the World of C was using that as insurance to keep me from becoming resentful of essentially guarding it, which was working. Obviously. It knew what it was doing.
Then there was the second Gift that the World of C gave me.
The ability to give and take away Code. I am limited to the number of Thought Elevators there are, of which there are eight of them. I focused on V.V.'s Code, feeling it respond as I tore it out of V.V.'s soul and body.
It's disturbing how easy that was, and I could feel that distance wasn't a factor on this power.
I could feel the Code within me now, dormant. Which made sense; the Code wouldn't become active unless I died, something I didn't intend on doing.
The interesting part was how the Geass of Absolute Loyalty wasn't tethered to C.C., instead the connection flowed straight to another source.
The Collective Unconscious. I was in a Contract, but not with C.C. I was in a Contract with the World of C itself.
That's fun to know. Luckily the World of C hadn't asked for anything of me other than becoming God-Emperor of Mankind.
I'm still not spending eternity sitting on a Throne though. I'm good, thanks. I'll let Charles be stuck with that job.
My eyes opened as I smiled to that thought. Immortal, old, grumpy Charles stuck dealing with being the Emperor on paper. Heh. Not a bad idea.
The reach expanded, extending toward a star. So vast was it's reach, that it grabbed a massive star that turned out to be a cluster of three stars.
I am the Son of Prometheus. The Titan Prometheus. The same Titan that gave Humanity the first Fire.
I needed to sit down. This was a lot to take in. I wasn't just a minor Deity of Creation anymore. Prometheus was THE Titan of Crafting, the very same Titan that had deliberately made the choice of being punished by Zeus so long as humanity remained unscathed.
The other Perks were great, particularly as Blessing of Sailing didn't just extend to the seas of water. Many times, space was equally considered an ocean, an ocean of stars. Unnatural Skill of Administration meant my Empire would not be slowed down by the issues and limitations of bureaucracy.
This was still a lot to take in, but I could feel my new powers as the Son of Prometheus were telling me I needed to deal with Euro Britannia, and in particular the EU, as they were the remaining threat to deal with.
Granted, I had suspected as much, but the power of Forethought was expanding that notion much further.
I sighed. I had wanted to go to bed and fuck Euphemia silly, but now I needed to do some work first. Like bring Euro Britannia into the fold of the Empire, send a cybernetic double with some upgrades.
Absently, I sent an email to Nina that by Royal Decree she would be my Royal Engineer of Energy Production, to mix uranium with Impure Sakuradite at a 2:1 ratio with a molten salt core to stabilize the mixture to use alongside a water turbine to generate energy sufficient enough to be considered equal to Pure Sakuradite while lasting several hundred years with no radiation or waste, and that she could claim a reward as long as she didn't mention my name on the thing. I had enough accolades, and she would have tested that next anyway.
Then I sent another email for Nunnally to keep an eye on Lelouch and to tie him down if he tries to sneak away or give excuses. Lecture him if he's being stupid. He's at a vulnerable mental state, and Lelouch was already impulsive.
I turned and kissed Cornelia hard, her gasp being muffled as I pulled her into my lap as she moaned. Broke off the kiss, and smiled at her dazed expression.
"I sadly still have work to do, but I have a compromise. We can fight over whose going to be under this desk, pleasuring the other, or you can do it now and I can show you how to pulverize the Knights of the Round next time they think about challenging you."
Cornelia licked her lips. "Cheater." She pouted but smiled viciously after a moment. "Deal."
She got under the desk and I shivered in delight after a moment.
Oh yeah, it's all coming together.
Perks This Chapter:
Minor Blessings Unnatural Skill/Divine Child (Percy Jackson) (700CP)
Minor blessings (100CP)
For one reason or another you've got a god who cares slightly about you and has seen fit to grant you some minor boon within their domains. Choose one god from any pantheon and gain a minor boon from them. The god will care slightly about you but unless you go on to further distinguish yourself it will be more of a minor interest in your affairs than someone they feel the need to help (Effectively think a diminished version of one ability a demigod might have, think minor ones are stuff along the lines of breathing water, lucid dreaming, or appropriate vague extra senses, useful but nothing especially major). This can be taken multiple times.
Minor Blessings:
Blessing of Sailing: Poseidon.
Unnatural Skill (200CP)
Whether from your heritage or just being that good you've got one particular mundane skill that your feats which border on supernatural. Whether you're a smith on the level of the Cyclopes, a near prescient tactician or a swordsman who is nigh unstoppable with a blade your feats will be legendary. You are on a level within your skill such that only other beings of legend can hope to match you. This may be taken multiple times. You may not choose magic but you may choose a particular application of magic if you have it already (so curses, enchanting might work, more specific gets a bigger boost).
Unnatural Skill:
Unnatural Skill of Administration: Eunomia
Divine Child (400CP)
You are the direct child of a god of your associated pantheon and gain various benefits from this. You gain lesser manifestations of your parent's domains as well as generally being better than an ordinary mortal. You may take most any god as your parent. Generally this will give you insight into and some control over your divine parent's domains, a son of Poseidon for example can control water and ships, talk to horses, cause minor earthquakes and is empowered within water.
Divine Child: Prometheus. The Titan of Forethought, Crafts, Trickery, and Fire.
Chapter 21: Administration
There's a lot to be said about how terrifying it is to be Unnaturally Skilled with Administration.
Especially as while the Skill was able to allow me to work magic in any management system I was in, the real miracles are made when you're the head of Administration, the guy who made the system itself.
The last couple hours had me rewriting policies over the entire empire from the top down, plugging in loopholes I'd have missed in the background of just how much tedious paperwork was there to hide it. Then my nature as the Son of Prometheus had me rewriting those few loopholes that I didn't plug up to work in my favor.
Cornelia had gone to bed after I explained to her that what made the Knights of the Round so dangerous was that they often pushed themselves to the limits using unconventional methods.
Which meant any disciplined soldier who knew what they did could take advantage of their instinct to take risks, and crush them when they over-extended. With a good head on her shoulders, a calm analysis of the area, Cornelia could beat any of the Knights in a one on one fight if she didn't get intimidated by their exceedingly risky maneuvers.
I hadn't focused much on the Son of Prometheus, often focusing on trying not to get any of my plans blown up in my face by immediate problems, such as Lelouch's volatile mindset.
Prometheus is the Titan of Forethought, Crafts, Trickery, and Fire. All of his domains were inherited, and my other Perks were expanding the few limits I had expected.
For example, Harmony blocked the transformation of becoming a Titan, allowing me to keep my form, and smoothly stepped in whenever Prometheus' nature of Trickery would have had a downside.
Prometheus had this habit of treating others like pawns in his games, his nature of Trickery making him far more likely to play tricks and long plans to have his enemies stumble, all the while not realizing a shorter plan had a less likely chance of failing or being noticed, and his habit of treating other people as pawns meant that no one could ever trust him at his word, even when he genuinely had their best interest in mind.
Combined with the vast hubris of being a Titan of Forethought, and Prometheus had suffered so much more than he should have. The issue of genius, was that a genius' mistakes were so much worse and likely had consequences for more than themselves.
Merlin Returned was hungrily devouring Prometheus' nature of Crafts and his nature as the Titan of Fire.
Crafts was quite literally every invention, every design, every prototype, everything ever made or manipulated by human hands. Prometheus had been whispering into the ears of mortals ever since he helped them survive the ancient times with his aide. As such, my mind was constantly awash with ideas. Inventions, designs, prototypes, all of it hitting my mind all the time that only Harmony kept me from being turned into an invention fiend.
Fire, wasn't simply regular fire. Fire was the Flames of the West, the fire that had sparked humanity's desire to create, to explore, to learn, to grow, to improve. Prometheus could well be said to be the metaphorical Father of Humanity. The greatest artists, the greatest explorers, the greatest inventors, the greatest… anything, could thank Prometheus for it all. Without Prometheus, humanity would be cowering in the dark caves, struggling to survive.
The nature of Fire also extended to regular fire, but it was essentially anything using or creating heat. Volcanos, lava, the stars, anything energy related. I was not only immune to it all, I was empowered by it, and my nature extended into it.
Merlin Returned was taking advantage of the sheer infinite potential of my Perk, and I could feel how insane that could get.
If I had enough worshippers, I could create a framework where humanity could learn to tap into magic, albeit much weaker than what I can do. I could bestow inventions, ideas, whisper them into my chosen's ears, uplift my civilization to expand beyond the domain of Zeus. To travel through the domain of Chaos, for humanity to ascend through the stars, was Prometheus' dream, the thing he suffered so much for.
Because what father wouldn't want their children to be the best they could be? What father wouldn't be proud to see their children surpass them?
Even now, I could see the various paths forward to make it happen. The ways to make humanity a Galactic force to be recognized.
Forethought was also telling me that the Thought Elevators were more than they seemed. That the power of the World of C needed to come from somewhere. Something made them, and Forethought was pushing me to understand why, and how to recreate them if they were destroyed.
The fact that Crafts said nothing on how they were made concerned me a great deal.
I had originally assumed that an ancient civilization had made them. Worshipping their ancestors. Crafts was informing me that humanity had no part into the Thought Elevators creation.
So, what did make them? Why did they make them? Where did they go?
The lack of answers terrified me.
Before I go searching the solar system for answers, I needed to deal with things at home first. That was paramount.
I stood up from the chair, stepping away from the desk as I focused on creating my cybernetic double, something I'd been putting off for a little too long.
Divine Child. Machines Mind III. Harmony. Create the Heavens and the Earth. Merlin Returned. Techy. Technical Expertise. Neuromancer. Virtuoso. Artiste. Her Majesty's Majesty. Slime. Medicine.
The resulting power I had to use was so great that I could feel the absurd reserves of magic from Merlin Returned plummet down to half, an unprecedented event as I could feel my Perks empowering the creation.
Slime liquid pooled through my fingers into the air in front of me, metals and wires appearing out of thin air melting into place rapidly covered as more and more metals formed and covered it.
The resulting construction looked nothing like I had expected, the cybernetic duplicate I had initially attempted to create shaking her blue hair as her golden eyes opened. She smiled at me.
She giggled at my dumbfounded expression. "Sorry, daddy. I couldn't help but take advantage of all the Perks you had, and the World of C wanted to add a bit of fun to her husband's creation. My name is Rimuru Tempest."
"Oh God, I've inadvertently stepped into another isekai."
Okay, maybe not my best first impression with my… daughter? Offspring? HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS?!
The reach lunged out to grab a star and missed, settling back into me.
You don't get to do this to me and give me nothing you fucking bastard!
AN: Rimuru is a girl, for full clarification, and she doesn't have the stuff Rimuru had at the start of her perspective isekai. This is the World of C pulling shenanigans cause it's taking full advantage of Rivalz using all his Perks to make something.
Also cause Rimuru Tempest is hot. I'm not going to skip a chance on banging that. Obviously.
Chapter 22: Rimuru Tempest [Interlude X]
Interlude X: Rimuru Tempest
It's strange to think she was once a fictional character. It's even stranger to think she was once a male, albeit a bisexual male.
Her 'memories' were more so impressions. More like a series of images and ideas than concrete memories. She was created by her parents, not born. Made.
Her mother made her out of the glimpses of memories and ideas Rivalz had seen in another life. An isekai where she had died and went to another world. She didn't know the specifics of the show, just that she was kind, calculating, creative, and had a deep desire to use her powers to create a better world for herself and those she cared about.
She lacked her Sage, alongside her other natural magical abilities she had picked up in the show and in the crossing between reincarnation of her normal life as a human into a Slime. Instead, she had the Traits of her father. What he called Perks, minus the fiat-backing of the Celestial Forge.
She was immune to fire, electricity, and most energy weapons, but annihilation level weapons would still hurt her. She was extremely resistant to temperature, but not immune to the environment. She didn't need to breath, being a Slime, but she did need to eat to maintain herself.
She had magic, but nowhere near the vast reserves of her father. Her potential as a Slime was vast, but not infinite.
What she considered the most valuable was his nature as a Son of Prometheus. She had Prometheus' nature, amplified to eleven.
She knew her father didn't hate her. Didn't despise her. She knew that her mother wouldn't have made her if she had suspected as much. She was apprehensive of what he would want from her. She didn't want to just help settle the EU and Euro Britannia.
She wanted to help her father and mother get along. To help her father see that her mother really did have the best intentions for him, not just to help keep her safe, but to help her live the life she wanted among her children, not resented by them. The Codes, for the most part, had forgotten their purpose. Their true purpose. To be her eyes and ears, to help be her physical bodies among the living world of her children.
Rimuru Tempest was fully aware that she was the First Code. A Code born without a Thought Elevator. She could go across the universe and the World of C would be present within her always, unlike the other Codes who often lost their Connection to her mother if they left the planet.
Her father looked apologetic. "Sorry for the poor first impression. I'm Rivalz zi Britannia, um, hello." He said lamely, looking rather lost on what to say.
Rimuru smiled warmly and hugged him, inwardly pleased to feel his warmth and his happiness at how she didn't resent being made.
"Nice to meet you, daddy. Mom, the World of C," She amended immediately, "made me to help you. So I can go deal with the EU and Euro Britannia, and then once that's done, she wants you to go to the Thought Elevator in Pendragon. It's so she can explain why she was made, and a warning as to what she thinks is coming." She finished.
Rivalz nodded. "I see. You said 'she' and 'mom'. Does the World of C have a name?" Rimuru shook her head.
"Not really. It's only been very recently that she's gotten this level of personal thought. Her terror at the thought of nearly being killed and then enslaved by one of her children using Geass had shaken her deeply. She's been trying to help you in the background, but she's also trying hard to not go overboard."
"I see. Well, then, I guess I'll have to ask her to see if there's a name she'd like to have. No need to upset her if I can help it." Rivalz mused, making Rimuru smile.
He was a good dad. He was just nervous. That's okay.
"So I know I poured pretty much everything into you, what did your mother give you?" Rivalz asked curiously.
Rimuru thought for a moment before answering. "A Code. And Geass."
"Which one?" Rivalz immediately asked.
Rimuru smiled coldly. "All of them. Every Geass that has ever been made, ever bestowed, I have a copy of. Everyone who lives with a Geass, I can sense. Except yours. I am what my mother made me. My father's enforcer. The Geass Assassin. Some of my siblings have been abusing my mother's gifts."
Rivalz looked sad, but determined. "You are more than that. You are more than a copy. More than a job. You are so much more than that." His response made me smile fondly.
"I know daddy. I am your daughter, after all. The stars call to me, and I want to see how great we can make humanity become. Now introduce me to my sister-wives."
Daddy's paling face made me giggle. Teasing him is fun.
Chapter 23: Intervention [Rimuru]
I sent Daddy to go cuddle with Euphie, to take the rest of the night to recover. He was a good dad, and even better leader, but he liked to do too much on his own, leaving almost nothing else left for anyone else to do.
It was an exasperating trait for a man to have, but it was sweet, and it made sense. Between the impulsive act-first, think-later and the endlessly flowing power of the Celestial Forge, daddy was always doing something to keep moving things forward.
I was here now though. I could help him in places and in ways where being one person in one position of power wasn't enough. I also didn't want him being too lenient.
Daddy had a habit of being too nice to his friends and family, when what they needed was a firm reality check. Lelouch vi Britannia is too mentally unwell to handle the Power of the King, and my sister C.C. needs to be slapped for her failures as a Code.
I found my sister right where I expected she'd be, in the guest bedroom of the government building, looking like shit. Which, to be fair, was expected when she took advantage of the Code, eating nothing but pizza.
"Hello, sister. My name is Rimuru Tempest, and we need to have a talk about what you've been doing to yourself, and what you've done with mom's gifts." I said seriously, closing the door behind me as C.C.'s eyes looked at me with confusion.
"I'm pretty sure we're not related, and I haven't had a mom in centuries." C.C.'s dry voice responded immediately, her yellow eyes looking at me carefully.
I hummed. "Is that so?" I asked quietly, pulling up my shirt and lowering my pants to reveal my Code over where my womb was. I wondered how Daddy would respond to me having a womb tattoo, I idly thought before focusing on the serious matter in front of me.
C.C.'s breath caught, her eyes widening like saucers, as I put my clothes back on properly.
"I'm sorry for what that nun did to you," I said sincerely, "but you can't just wave away all the things you've done just because of your trauma. My sisters have forgotten the history of the Codes, and why we Codes exist in the first place. Our purpose."
"What purpose? What in God's fucking earth is worth our tortured existence?" C.C.'s voice was so bitter that I couldn't help but frown.
"I'll let that slide, but only once." I warned her. "Listen to everything I have to say in its entirety before you judge our mom for something that wasn't her fault."
C.C.'s eyes narrowed but nodded once.
"Back when humanity was still learning how to use tools, the first religions worshipped the Goddess. The Goddess that had helped humanity, that represented the strong, fierce, nature of the mothers, sisters, and daughters of the human race. The Goddess that helped guide the tribes to find food and water, heal the sick, help the mothers through childbirth and child rearing.
When the tribes discovered the first Thought Elevator, it was a sacred temple. The temple where the sick could be healed, where the dead could get their last rites before burial, and where the mothers gave birth. Mom was born out of that worship, and only very recently has she gained personal thought outside of the gestalt consciousness of the human race.
When humanity began to migrate from Africa and into the rest of the world, they discovered the other Thought Elevators, using them as temples, over time forgetting the original religions. As humanity started to break into factions, and as several natural disasters nearly brought humanity to its knees, mom intervened. Sending a connection through the Thought Elevators to the strongest, wisest, descendants of the ones who had given birth in the Thought Elevators.
Thus, we Codes were born. Our purpose was to guide humanity, keep humanity alive and thriving with civilization and inspiration, to keep humanity moving forward. We are mom's eyes and ears in the living, enacting change where we think necessary. Our eternal lives give us the wisdom to help, and our human nature ensures we don't stop being impulsive.
Rituals and ceremonies were done in secret, to ensure that none could abuse the Codes. We passed down our Codes into our children in times of prosperity, when we think its time to pass on the responsibility.
Childbirth was, and is, extremely dangerous, but we could survive, without consequences, for obvious reasons. Codes who died after several centuries would find a livng descendant who respected the traditions and responsibilities, and then transfer it over, where it would be dormant until they died a natural death, to awaken the Code."
C.C.'s voice was quiet. "What happened?" Her eyes silently judged me, asking me silently. Where did things go wrong?
"Religious wars happened. Long before the Crusades, so it wasn't Christianity if you're thinking that." I assured C.C. who looked horrified. "Those who believed in different religions decided that the Codes weren't sent to help, but sent to damn humanity, and so we were hunted down. Tortured. Murdered. Most Codes were so mad driven by the agony that they gave the Codes to their killers, damning them to the fates they had done to the Codes. A part of that loss was a loss of why the Codes were born in the first place, and a lot of the Codes functions lost to time."
"I see. I can't blame them. My sisters." C.C. said quietly.
"One of the functions I'm going to help you recognize you have is how to rescind a Contract. Mao. Marianne. Lelouch. All your living Contractors are poor choices, and mentally incapable or undeserving of possessing Geass." I said seriously.
C.C. flinched. "I know." She whispered, looking depressed. "I took advantage of them. I thought that they could handle Immortality if they were detached from the world."
I shook my head. "Codes, above all others, exemplify humanity, and we crave connections because of it."
I placed my hand on her Code, letting my Code's energy flow into hers, making her gasp and shudder as it flared to life.
"Now, focus on the connection to Mao, Marianne, and Lelouch. Feel that connection, and then imagine severing it, cutting it off completely." I ordered.
C.C.'s Code flashed three times instantly before shutting off as C.C. collapsed onto the bed, a low groan exiting her mouth.
"That was… exhausting." C.C. could barely get the words out. I shrugged.
"Exhausting, but necessary. This is how we keep Geass from being abused. A tiny fragment of power can show to us who these people are, and if they're worthy of obtaining the Code or if they are simply unsuited for it."
C.C. nodded. "Yeah, that, makes sense. Can you leave me alone to sleep?" She asked me, her words barely coherent, as she rolled away from me.
So I got into bed next to her, humming appreciatively at her toned body, her ass feeling smooth and firm as she gasped, feeling my hands under her shirt, playfully teasing and massaging her breasts.
"Ooh, not fair." She grumbled. I kissed the back of her neck.
"Just consider it some much needed sister bonding time. I can tell you miss proper human touch. Just relax into my arms, sis. I have you. You're safe with me." I held her flush against me, smiling as C.C.'s breathing evened out as she fell asleep.
"Good night, sis. I love you." I said sincerely, closing my eyes as I relaxed into falling asleep.
Chapter 24: To The Moon [Nina Interlude]
AN: This Chapter is both an Interlude and an Interlewd. It'll be emotionally charged as Nina Einstein achieves what she considers her life's work, and the entire chapter, including the lemons, will be from Nina's perspective. All CP gained this Chapter will go to the Lewd Celestial Forge.
Nina Einstein stared, her heart beating in her chest so fast that she felt like she would faint. Her glasses stared at the computer screen that had sensors in the second room where she had created something she had wanted so desperately but feared wouldn't exist.
"A-analysis of Reactor 2-24701, with the materials of Uranium to Impure Sakuradite at a 2:1 ratio, has completed its test routine. The Uranium has reacted with Impure Sakuradite once the two were set together in a water solution. The resulting energy cascade reached critical mass within 1 hour and 34 minutes, emitting a low but steady exothermic reaction as the Uranium is converted into pure energy while the Impure Sakuradite soaks in the cascading radiation, with a new stabilized element appearing in the center that does not react with the Impure Sakuradite, though findings and testing on the new element will need to be done.
No radiation is detected within the chamber, though the new element core will be extracted for study. Reactor 2-24701 shows no damage or sensor malfunctions, indicating that reuse of excess Impure Sakuradite is both possible and encouraged. Energy output is much higher than the slight energy cost to start the reactor, greater than the same expected output used by natural gas.
The energy readings are of a sample size, but to scale relative to the findings of a power plant, would be 1 gram of the new reaction to equal 3,400 gallons of oil. Scaled accordingly, the resulting reactor should be capable of creating energy equal in output to 7 fossil fuel reactors.
While more research is to be made, this breakthrough finding means that landfills full of old Impure Sakuradite like scrapped Knightmare Frames and Yggdrasil Cores can now be used to make the world a better place."
Nina stopped the recording. She shakily took off her glasses, and cried. Sobbing as she felt such a huge wave of emotions, her hands launching into the air as she screamed.
"I did it!! I was right!! It worked! It's real! I'm not tainted! I'm not crazy! I'm free!"
So many years. So many people doubting her. So many friends who shunned her, or called her freak behind her back. So many times she nearly gave in, nearly became a monster just so she could be anything other than an Einstein.
Nina sobbed, her hands covering her face as tears poured down her face. So much relief and bitterness, so much loss and joy. She was done. She did it. Her life's work, her ambition, was proven real. Energy production that could make the world a better place.
Nina Einstein, the timid, shy, broken Britannian girl who'd been ostracized and bullied and hurt for so long, was gone, and now she could finally live her life as Nina. She could look herself in the mirror and not feel shame.
When Rivalz sent that email, she'd been skeptical. Rivalz was a Royal Engineer of Cybernetics, so how could he know?
It didn't matter. She didn't care how or why he did it. He could've taken the knowledge out of an Eldritch Horror and she'd have been grateful. She owed him everything.
Even before the research funding, Rivalz had been kind to her. Made her laugh to cheer her up. Made her get out of her shell to get her to not hide in the labs all the time. Made sure she ate at least twice a day. Asked how she had been doing, every day. Really listened to how she answered.
Rivalz treated her like Nina, when even she hadn't. When she had nearly broke, he made her feel like everything would be okay.
"I love him." Nina whimpered out, tears flowing harder down her face as she felt rocked to her core. "I love him, I want him, I need him. He's my everything." Those words felt right, felt real as she said them, as obvious as the sun and the planets. As a state of fact as immutable as the fact that Time is Relative.
Nina could feel herself smiling, knew she looked like a mess, and couldn't stop smiling. Couldn't stop feeling like maybe, just maybe, God or some equivalent was out there and had put Rivalz on this earth, in this reality, for her.
"I'm agnostic, but, God, Goddess, Celestial Being, umm, thank you for giving me Rivalz. Or giving me to Rivalz. I, I'm not good at this praying thing." Nina whispered fervently, her chest warm, almost hot as she felt so alive, so overwhelmed in this moment.
She loved him. She loved him.
Nina held her hands against her chest, sighing. "Fuck. Those love songs weren't kidding. Damn it." She giggled, remembering how annoyed she was when Milly played those romance songs. How frustrating it had been to see everyone act stupid around each other.
How blind she'd been. She understood now, a little bit. It was like seeing the sun for the first time, feeling like the center of your universe was centered on someone else. Someone else that you'd do anything for, just to see them happy.
She shakily stood up, gathering her things, putting everything away neatly, almost trying to walk-run as she tried to move as quickly as possible without alarming anyone.
She needed to file her work, and her patents, and then she can get her reward from Rivalz. To not be an Einstein.
She wanted to be his. Just his. All his. Every part of her, body, mind, and soul. While she knew a harem was practically a requirement for Rivalz, she knew she'd always be his, and that's all she cared about. To belong to someone who just saw and wanted Nina.
Nina got to the government building, grabbed the huge folder filled with her work, findings, failures, and her success, and gave it to the clerk who looked like he'd just seen Hell to rise up and greet him.
"Nina. I'm going to be, am," Nina corrected herself, "the Royal Engineer of Energy Production. This is my findings, my patents, and my work to be read and sent to the Royal Archives. Goodbye." Nina left without looking behind her, feeling relief and a growing excitement as she practically ran to the office where she thought Rivalz was in.
The main office, had Cornelia, Euphemia, and Rivalz just working on some minor paperwork when Nina entered. Her shyness and social decorum demanded she greeted the Princesses, but her excitement overrode her sense.
"Rivalz! I did it! It worked!" She said excitedly, as Cornelia and Euphemia looked up in surprise at somebody addressing Rivalz so personally.
Rivalz shot up and practically leapt over his desk, hugging her as he spun her around in excitement!
"Woo! I knew you could do it, Nina!" Nina felt so girly, so excited by the way Rivalz picked her up and she hugged him back as hard as she could.
Her feet back on the ground, Nina began to cry into his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," She repeated endlessly, her tears erupting as her emotions poured out of her.
When did she get so emotional? She hadn't even explained herself to him. Rivalz' arms held her to his chest, his voice soothingly telling her that she's okay, she did an amazing job, just constantly whispering in her ears as she cried.
She felt so safe, so loved, and couldn't give a damn about anyone or anything else. Her chest heaved as she shook, her glasses annoying her as they pushed against her face, her arms clenching him tighter.
She moved away from him, barely moving her head to look up at Rivalz's beautiful warm eyes and his soft caring smile as he looked at her. Her breath caught for a moment before she blurted out her thoughts.
"I love you. I love you and it feels right, and I know you need a harem, and I don't care if I'm not a Princess, I just want to be yours. That's all I want. I want to be yours." Her voice cracked as her vision became blurry as she could feel herself tearing up as she continued to babble.
"I know I'm not as pretty as Euphemia, or as powerful and incredible as Cornelia, or as nice as Nunnally, I know I'm not gorgeous or as flirty as Milly. I know I'm an A-cup. I know I wear glasses. I know I'm a loner who likes to hide in her lab. I know I ramble. I know I am not good enough, I'm sorry, but, but, I love you, and I don't want anyone else." Nina cried, shaking her head so hard her glasses flew off her face as she sobbed into Rivalz's chest, crying and shaking so hard she felt like she'd break if she let him go.
"You are good enough." Rivalz said firmly, his arms tightening around her as he held her against him, before tilting her head up to make her look him in his gorgeous, perfect, eyes.
"You are smart, incredibly so. You are beautiful, and I love your glasses. You are earnest, and you like what you like, you've never tried to hide who you are. You care about people so much, even when they mocked you and bullied you, you still wanted to make the world a better place. Your breasts are cute and I don't care how big or how small they are, I like them. You are enough, Nina, just as you are, just as you'll always be enough. You are incredible, just the way you are, and I wouldn't change a thing." Rivalz said roughly, his voice hoarse and she suddenly felt something soft touching her lips as she gasped.
Rivalz was kissing her and she was kissing him, and she closed her eyes to savor every second, every moment of this into her mind forever.
After an eternity, or just a couple seconds, Rivalz stopped kissing her, smiling gently to her as he wiped her face of her tears with a tissue.
"That, was, beautiful." A pink haired woman sobbed as she handed her her glasses, making Nina put them on only to freeze at realizing Princess Euphemia was crying tears as she hugged both Rivalz and Nina.
"Rivalz, my Knight, I order you to take this woman and make her ours. That was worthy of Shakespeare, I'm just so moved." Princess Euphemia ordered.
Cornelia coughed, making Nina freeze at realizing Princess Cornelia was also in the room.
"Yeah, that was flattering. I didn't realize I was considered powerful. And incredible. I like this one." Princess Cornelia said with some amusement as she smirked at Nina. "You're okay, just surprised to be admired by someone whose not a soldier." She assured Nina who was feeling like she wished the ground swallowed her up right now.
Rivalz spoke, and she immediately looked at him, his face set in a determined expression. "Do you want me to take you now or wait, Nina? Cause I'll give you all the time you need." He said earnestly, and Nina's heart melted.
She loved this man. So much.
"Take me now. Just, be gentle. Please." Nina's face felt so hot as she buried her in his chest.
"Okay, but first, I want to be honest with you on a few things." Rivalz cautioned her, and she nodded, curious in spite of how eager she was to just be his.
As Rivalz explained the Celestial Forge, Nina didn't feel anything about it. "It's pretty neat, but, its still you that did the decision making." Nina pointed out. "With great power, comes a greater chance to abuse that power. You've done so much with it, and it just makes me love you more." Nina admitted self-consciously.
Rivalz's smile widened and Nina felt her heart skip a beat, her face flushed. She could watch him smile forever.
Heat death of the universe included. Physics could go take a hike.
"Wait, before you go, I need to give you something." Another woman's voice responded, and Nina turned to look at the blue haired golden eyed young woman who stood in the chamber like she was always there.
Which, Nina blushed, she might have been.
"My name is Rimuru Tempest. Rivalz is my creator, and my daddy. You, Nina Einstein, poured your life's work into giving the world energy that won't be misused. Poured your life's work into making the world a better place, and I see in you a leader for humanity. A leader to guide the human race to a better future. In exchange for sticking to the principle of being one of Rivalz zi Britannia's highest officials, to help push humanity forward, I will offer you a Contract. Do you accept?"
Nina answered immediately. "Yes." Rimuru's eyes glowed, and Nina gasped as her left eye felt hot, as an ability appeared in her mind like she'd always had it.
"The Geass of Absolute Understanding." Rimuru mused. "The last person to have that Geass was Leonardo Da Vinci."
Nina shook her head. Weird power that let her understand absolutely everything she was looking at as long as she understood the scientific principles aside, her focus was on Rivalz whose eyes darkened slightly as Nina felt like she was suddenly in the arms of a predator and she was the prey.
"Take me. Please?" Nina asked him, licking her lips as all she could think about was how much she really liked the way he was looking at her. Like she was the sexiest thing alive.
"Yes, my Nina." Rivalz said roughly, as she squealed, finding herself picked up and being carried on Rivalz shoulders like he was a caveman, her deep blush unable to keep her from gasping as she felt Rivalz's hand tearing down her pants and cupping her ass, squeezing it as she squirmed.
"Ooh! Rivalz!" Nina gasped and whimpered as she felt his fingers rubbing right along her lower lips, feeling him press right above her clit while she trembled as lighting shot from her core right up her spine.
"You smell delicious, like I could eat you for hours." Rivalz said hungrily and Nina squeaked at imagining Rivalz forcing her legs open as he ate her out over and over again until she passed out. She whimpered, not sure if she wanted it or was afraid of being too sensitive.
They entered a bedroom, Nina's last visual image of the door being kicked closed by Rivalz as she felt herself being tossed into the air, feeling light headed and giggling as she bounced on the bed.
"You're all mine, Nina. All mine and I can't wait to have you. In every way. Forever." Rivalz purred, his eyes dark with lust as he licked his lips. Nina felt so hot, she started tearing off her shoes, her shirt, her bra, and started trying to take off her pants, wiggling her hips to shimmy them down and kicking them off as fast she could along with her underwear.
Nina gasped, clamping her legs together as she held her hands to hide herself from Rivalz. "I'm sorry, I haven't shaved, I should-" Nina's frantic movements of trying to get up to put her clothes back on, shame raging hard through her at realizing she hadn't shaved her pubic hair, she must look disgusting to him, was immediately stopped as Rivalz seemed to rush forward, holding her down firmly with one hand on her chest, his eyes dark with lust, and yet his soft smile making her whimper.
"Do not move. Don't you dare get up. I will worship every inch of you. I will eat you out until you can't even remember your own name. I will make you see yourself the way I see you, and Nina, you are beautiful. Gorgeous. Cute. Sexy. Public hair or not, and I can fix that for you without you hurting yourself." Rivalz commanded, his voice doing things to Nina as she shivered. She felt so wet, so wanted, even if she didn't understand why.
"Okay." She whispered. Rivalz's clothes fell to the floor all at once and she closed her eyes as she let go, giving herself to him to do whatever he wanted. She gasped as she felt him kiss her lips, her mouth opening to let him in, her tongue hungrily trying to memorize his mouth, his lips, and his teeth.
Eventually he stopped kissing her, making her gasp for air as she felt him kiss her nose, making her scrunch her nose at him as she could just tell he was smiling even if she couldn't see him.
This felt so intimate, so right, that she didn't want to open her eyes. She wanted to memorize everything he did to her. She craved him.
She moaned and squealed, feeling his tongue licking her earlobe as she felt him suck on it, the electricity firing down and up her spine as she quivered. The way he whispered how sexy she was, how cute she looked, made her face flush as she panted, grinding herself against the hot flesh throbbing against her, making her moan even louder as he bit and sucked on her neck gently.
"Good girl. I love the way you moan for me. The way you grind so hungrily against me. You feel soaked. I love it." Rivalz spoke roughly as she felt him move down, his mouth latching onto one of her nipples as Nina bit her lip hard, eventually screaming in orgasm as she felt herself rise and fall over the edge as her legs clamped around him as her hands grabbed Rivalz hair.
"Rivalz!" She heard a voice scream, as she eventually started panting for air as Rivalz licked her chest, kissing every inch he could reach before licking and sucking on her other nipple as she shuddered and moaned loudly.
Her body was on fire and she loved it. His hands rubbed along her sides, cupping her breasts, pulling and teasing her nipples as she felt another large orgasm approaching as she giggled briefly as he kissed her belly, even as she gasped as her hands tightened around his hair again, feeling a mix of pain and pleasure as Rivalz bit her and sucked hard on her lower stomach. Right over her womb.
"I don't know if you want kids," Rivalz said lowly, "but damn if I can't help but love the idea of knowing I'm going to cum so hard in your womb." Nina shuddered, her pussy clamping over nothing as she squirmed, feeling soaked.
"I don't want kids. I'm not the mother type, but, I don't mind you pumping me full. I want it. I want all of it inside me, making me feel hot as I feel your sperm try to ruin my body, try to turn my ovaries into baby factories even if I know it's not what I want, but, it's so hot to know you can turn me into a mommy against my will and make me addicted to it." Nina's face felt crimson.
Her darkest kink. It was fucked up. To have her bright future as a scientist, as a pioneer, ruined as a man claimed her body and mind to be devoted to taking care of his family and his children while she stayed home. It's wrong, that her body wants what her mind knows she doesn't, but she couldn't help how hot it was. The number of nights she'd spent imagining she'd been kidnapped and turned into a free use fucktoy for a man who had driven himself so mad with desire that he just had to have her for himself was uncountable.
"That is hot." Rivalz said quietly. "Might have to roleplay that some time. Maybe a kidnapping consensual non-consent kinda thing."
Nina's face burned as she groaned with embarrassment. She'd said that out loud.
She gasped as her legs were forcefully pried open, whimpering as she felt Rivalz's hot breath over her core, shivering as Rivalz took a deep breath.
"You smell delicious, and I can't wait to hear you forget your own name." Rivalz said darkly and Nina felt her retort die as she felt like her nervous system got jacked into an electric socket as white heat burned through her.
Distantly she heard a woman screaming as she lost her feeling in her legs, as she could feel Rivalz's tongue and mouth hungrily devouring her like she was his last meal and as orgasm after orgasm rose and crashed through her, she felt herself finally come down to earth as she found her voice was hoarse, her face and body drenched with sweat as Rivalz licked his lips.
She just realized that the woman she heard screaming her head off had been herself.
Rivalz kissed her fiercely, her lips and tongue unable and frankly a little too exhausted to keep up physically even if she loved every second of it, her legs clamping hard around him as she felt so full, realizing that Rivalz's cock was deep inside her.
She felt so hot and she groaned into his mouth as she felt him pull out of her, briefly before plunging deep inside her as white hot pleasure made her buck her hips back up at him.
"I love you. Take me. Use me. I love you." Nina babbled, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she crashed hard through another orgasm.
She returned to earth to feel Rivalz's hot cum filling her up as she clenched hard around him, kissing him and looking up at him to see his eyes closed as he gave a moan, making her legs clench tighter as she relished that she made her man feel as good as he did her.
Well, almost. She corrected herself mentally. She'd need to spend a long time sucking him off to reach the number of orgasms he gave her, and she couldn't help but relish the idea of spending entire days with him petting her hair as she sucked his balls dry under his desk like a good girl.
Like a good Nina.
"I love you, Nina." Rivalz said quietly and Nina's heart skipped a beat as she felt herself grinning so wide she worried her face would break.
"I love you too. Don't move out of me. I can kiss you until you get hard again. Fill me up." Nina crooned, giggling deliriously as she felt him twitch deep in her. She loved being filled by him
"My good girl. My good cocksleeve. I'm still hard, and we have several hours to go. This is just the beginning." Rivalz purred hungrily into her as she gasped, feeling him slowly pull almost all the way out before slowly filling her again.
Nina absently wondered if he was serious and how sore her thighs and pussy would feel for the next week if he was. She decided that she didn't care. It was worth it. He was worth it all and then some.
She loved him, and that's all that matters.
AN: Couldn't sleep. Wrote this chapter over night and I'm happy with it. Let me know what you think.
Roll 1:
Nursery (100CP) (Trials in the Tainted Space)
In a universe that's about 93% sex-oriented, children are likely in your future. And since you are a busy Jumper, and kids take a lot of work, take this facility. This is an ever-expanding nursery that will automatically collect your offspring and bring them here to be raised. They will have plenty of simulated social interaction, be intellectually stimulated, and physically active. You may choose to put some or all of the children in stasis and they won't grow any further until you pull them out. Or, if you choose to let them grow to adulthood, they can choose to stay in stasis until a jump comes up that they'd like to settle down in, or if you have any residences attached to your Warehouse, they can stay there and visit any jumps you go to.
Lastly, if you so choose, the nursery has an undetectable and unblockable teleport function that may retrieve fertilized embryos the moment they become viable. The embryos will be safely put into an artificial womb that will completely replicate the mother's womb and other conditions as needed, or alternatively can be put into stasis for future growth. While growing or in stasis, you may use any inheritance-selection type perks on the embryo. The Nursery will keep a complete record of who the parents were, what jump it was in, what form and/or gender the Jumper was, and any inheritable special traits that the offspring can inherit from its parents. In this setting, the Nursery will be somewhere near your starting point, or in a central location you visit often, your choice. After this jump, it will be attached to your Warehouse.
Roll 2:
Full Accreditation (100CP)
You get documents proving you're qualified to do anything and everything you're actually qualified to do… even if that's something that's not recognized by the society you're currently in. You could be a fully accredited Speedster in a world without superheroes if you were qualified and wanted to be. Things that are totally fake, say, Palmistry in the real world, you can instantly get certified in and have a certificate just lying within easy reach.
Roll 3:
Sexual Healing (200 CP) (Generic Hentai World)
You have learned a technique to generate energy through sex with one or more partners and can use this power to heal or recharge both your own and your partner's health and energy reserves. The more sex you have the more power you'll get out of it; a quickie or a blowjob will only give you back a small amount of energy, but an hour-long power fuck can top off the reserves of even the most powerful of jumpers.
0 Lewd CP Remaining.
Edit: Damn, no slavery perks, but some very useful perks indeed. Though now Rivalz might need to answer some interesting questions such as why he's certified in healing women from the brink of death by fucking them. Or how's he's certified in pretty much everything under the sun thanks to the synergy between Divine Child and Full Accreditation.
Chapter 25: Neural Reconnection [Charles Interlude]
Charles had to admit that his attempt of humbling Rivalz by making him his Heir to Britannia had backfired.
Still, he needed to explain what had changed as Marianne looked concerned when he mentioned that the Ragnarok Connection would not be used.
"Rivalz zi Britannia was born Rivalz Cardemonde. He's so in tune with his own soul that he's gathering impressions and experiences from his past life. Or rather, as I'm beginning to suspect, past lives. One of said lives had Rivalz's past incarnation slaying what I've researched to have been Eldritch Deities, Outer Gods that prey on mortal minds, thoughts, and souls."
Marianne's face paled instantly. Both she and Charles knew the Ragnarok Connection would only work once, and the idea of there being more than one God out there sounded terrifying.
"It gets worse." Charles said grimly. "The Eldritch Deities cannot be permanently killed, and as time means nothing to them, they've been waiting outside our dimension. The World of C isn't just God. It's the Collective Unconscious, all of humanity is a part of It. Past, present, future. Marianne, what do you think would happen if we fired the Ragnarok Connection and killed the God we're a part of, with Eldritch Deities waiting right outside our doorstep?"
Marianne's face paled even further and her mouth moved silently in terror. "Exactly." Charles rumbled, before he sighed in reluctant gratitude.
"Thankfully I caught a glimpse of Rivalz's past life using my Geass. That glimpse allowed me to see the threat, and I acted behind the scenes to ensure my brother wouldn't try to use the Ragnarok Connection without us. The Ragnarok Connection isn't meant to be used on God. It's meant to be used only if an Eldritch Deity enters our reality."
"Now that I've caught you up to speed on why I'm not eager to enact a World of Memories, I can explain my theories and ideas on Rivalz, and why I'm backing him." Charles said flatly.
"The World of C isn't sapient, not like you or I. It sent Rivalz from Heaven, letting him keep all of his past lives. Which is unheard of as while a person may carry vague impressions of a past life, they don't carry memories, skills, and abilities. Rivalz possesses access to all of it, even if he's not aware of it consciously." Charles revealed, as Marianne listened attentively.
"Rivalz is a Prophet. It's the only thing that fits. A human, sometimes male, gets an entire access to all of his past lives, his abilities, and memories, drip fed to him when the time is right in order to enact sweeping change. Prophets, unlike Codes and Geass, have a soul that grows over time, and they get infinitely stronger the more followers and backing they get. Prophets are said to be capable of things that even we would consider impossible, and they all share one trait: The World of C grows in strength exponentially while the Prophet is alive."
"The entire Britannian Empire is shifting mentally. Anywhere where Rivalz has a foothold, I can read their thoughts sharply changed compared to how they were a few days ago. Corruption has been squashed, and the leeches either in jail or executed. Simply keeping my empire together was almost an impossible task with my Geass, and Rivalz is manipulating their minds and hearts like an orchestra conductor. There is no question that Rivalz is a Prophet."
Charles paused for a moment, his face serious as he continued. "So why now? Why now is Rivalz zi Britannia exhibiting such immense power? Why such an obvious change?"
"Because something is either coming, or will be coming, that will be a threat to the entire human race. Something that requires every human being to be on board to stand a chance of survival. Something that must be a threat to even God, because the World of C is practically flooding with Rivalz's power, such that even the dead that have never met Rivalz in person are completely unwilling to defy him. I've let Rivalz take command of the empire because from my theories, it'll be a lasting eternal legacy long after you and I are gone, where my empire is proven eternal in ways that the Roman Empire and the Chinese Dynasty has not."
After a moment of silence, Charles grumbled. "Also, I'm old. I'm tired. None of my wayward children have proved worthy of inheriting the Throne, and the one child who has proven himself worthy would sooner burn Britannia to the ground."
Marianne's hand reached out and grabbed his, Charles' stress relaxing slightly as Marianne looked at him with a slightly bitter smile. "I'm with you, Charles. To the end and back."
Charles smiled as he reached his other hand to cover their conjoined hands. "Thank you, Marianne. It's been a very stressful couple months. As it is, it's deeply concerning to know that Rivalz's power is as all encompassing as it is. The last time a Prophet had this much power, it didn't end well for the Roman Empire."
Charles grimaced. He had no love for the Romans, particularly as the Britannian Empire got it's start at repelling the Romans, but the destruction of the Romans had led to humanity falling backwards in science and technology for generations.
The Dark Ages was not the best time to be alive in Europe.
Unlike the Prophets he'd researched, Rivalz didn't usher in a religion, nor did he seemed inclined to do so. Though, at the rate things were heading, Rivalz might be the start of a worldwide cult worshipping him, even if Rivalz wasn't aware of just how powerful he was becoming.
Charles felt dread in his stomach. The idea of something so dangerous as to threaten humanity on this scale was horrifying, and he wondered if he would live to see the end of Mankind if Rivalz failed.
He won't fail. The backing of the largest Empire in history alongside his deep personal attachments to my children ensures that Rivalz would die before letting them down. The World of C knows what it's doing, and I can only do my best while I'm alive.
God, Yahweh, whatever your name is, I know I'm a cold, ruthless bastard. I know what I am. Which is why I'm not going to pray to you. Or to anyone. I'm not going to think I can command you either.
This is a request.
Please, do not stop the march of time. Help them, if you won't help me. Help Rivalz save my empire, and Marianne. They're all I have left.
Then you can send me to Hell. C knows I've earned it.
Charles said none of this aloud to Marianne, he knew she would follow him to death, to Hell if she had to, just so she could lecture him on the way back into purgatory. God would be too terrified to let her into Heaven, she'd mutilate Peter at the Gates just to make a point.
His wife was as vicious as she was stubborn. One of the reasons why he said yes to her forcing him to let her be a Consort and not an Empress.
Because an Empress had to pretend to agree with him. A Consort did not, and could be as vocal as they pleased.
AN: World building and lore is always fun to write.
Let me know what you think!
Chapter 26: The Subjugation of the EU Pt. 1.
The battlefield of the EU was one of great struggle, both within and outside the war. The lack of supplies, the lack of infrastructure, and the constant political infighting amongst the leadership of the various inner nations that formed the inner EU nations meant that the constant war of attrition against Britannia was not going well.
Despite the EU possessing the greatest amount of land in the world, the countries themselves did not get along, and Rivalz's revelation of how poorly the war was going, alongside the political negotiations between the outer countries and the inner countries, had crippled the EU as devastatingly as if Britannia had herself launched a bombing raid across all the factories of Europe.
Most of their materials, alongside manpower, came from the vast outer countries that the EU used to wage it's two front war. Africa especially showed some extreme interest in hearing out Britannia, particularly as the EU had refused to listen to their demands.
Demands like acknowledging their sovereignty as separate but equal nations, human rights, tribal reparations for their extreme colonization, alongside the reparations for genocide.
The African Democracies of the European Council, a council handpicked by the EU to 'help' lead Africa and to help them grow as a series of nations, had their hands full as revolutions and riots appeared across the continent, and worse still was Euro-Britannia, whom didn't send their military.
They sent a representative, a diplomatic representative of not just the EU, but of Britannia herself as a whole.
Rivalz zi Britannia smiled as he waved and bowed to the people of Africa as he got off his private plane. Said private plane had moved fast enough to somehow be within Africa despite having clearly been in Japan the day prior.
"Greetings, sons and daughters of Africa, the hearth of Humanity, my apologies for the late arrival. No doubt many of you fear that we of Britannia will treat you like the EU has. As slaves. As fodder to be thrown to the front lines. No, I give my word here and now that will not happen. All who cooperate with Britannia, all who join our glorious Empire, will be treated with the same dignity and respect as the citizens of my homeland. To prove my words with action, rather than empty platitudes, I have decided to enter this war myself. Not as Britannia, not as a representative of the Euro-Britannia, but as my own task force to enter this war. Witness the first prototypes of an army that can never tire, that can never require food, that can survive even in the depths of Hell. I present to you, the Typhon."
A light blue light appeared to cover the area until the empty ground suddenly became filled with an army of Knightmare Frames, each one looking dramatically different from the Sutherlands that Britannia fielded.
"The Typhon are the first Autonomous Knightmare Frames. They can last for several hundred years without needing a battery change, they can move up to five times as fast as the Sutherlands, are five times as durable, are immune to all EMP's, as well as rockets and sniper rounds, and, as demonstrated, can teleport to specific markers upon command. They possess a unique cybertronic hive-mind that allows them to construct more of themselves within a few hours if required, cannot be hacked or manipulated, and possess a tremendous capacity for learning alongside adaptations unique to them. They will be your guardians, your defenders, from the EU whom no doubt will… Ah, I stand corrected. They're here."
Several dozen black airplanes appeared in the distance, lights sparking in the distance as the rockets fired from the planes began to aim down at the Son of Britannia, who looked amused.
"Rockets fired by military aircraft of likely EU-design, counter." One of the Knightmare Frames spoke aloud confidently, waving it's arms forward.
The rockets reversed direction, flying into and destroying the aircraft senders, crushing the resulting bombing event within less than second of it's attempt.
"As you can see, the Typhon possess unique technology designed to utterly crush the EU, but their primary purpose is to ensure a long and healthy relationship between Britannia and Africa. The EU always called Britannia as an empire of monsters, so I found it fitting that if they wanted monsters so badly, we'd give them real monsters to fear. The Typhon will not, cannot, harm those among you who are willing to cooperate with Britannia, and in fact have a fixed order in place to save any civilians within the vicinity if an attack or bombing raid occurs, if they cannot utterly crush the invading force to ensure no harm happens in the first place, of course. The Typhon will not respond to military commands from any African nation, EU, or even Britannia, because they will respond only to my orders directly, such that even trying to replicate my voice would lead to failure. They are here for your protection, not for your use."
"Sir, what do we do?" Gene Smilas scowled, looking at the President of the EU.
"What can we do, Mr. President?" Smilas asked rhetorically in response, before shaking his head. "Nothing." He said flatly. "The Typhon you see on screen are just prototypes, and this is just a lightshow trying to hide the real threat Britannia has sent. All of it is clearly edited, and it's fake. Teleportation of that scale doesn't exist, or we would've lost ages ago. I'm here trying to present to you a report of what's going on in Russia. Britannia has sent a new Knightmare Frame, one capable of destroying the EU should it reach us."
Smilas dropped the report in front of the weak President, scowling as the man shakily opened the folder to read what happened. He didn't need to read it.
The man had been sent a video of the events within through the recordings of the Knightmare Frame's pilot, the Son of Britannia himself.
"Greetings, Smilas. The General of the EU. I imagine that title must infuriate you. I know your dreams. I know your aspirations. The Emperor of Europe. A foolish aspiration, that will only end in your death. I am tired of waiting for all the outer countries to eventually do the right thing and dissolve the cooperation with the rest of you, and I figured, perhaps I'd give you a taste of what I can do. A Knightmare Frame I've modified myself, built myself, and will pilot myself. All will know that to face me in battle is to face Death itself. I hope you remembered my speech back when I became Princess' Euphemia's Knight. I meant every word of it."
The smooth voice of Rivalz echoing in his office, echoing his secret goals as easily as though they were lifelong friends, terrified the General. "Now I want you to watch through my Knightmare's eyes as I take on the entire EU forces you've sent to take St. Petersburg, with only one Knightmare Frame. Sometimes to do things right, you need to do things yourself, no?"
The black and dark blue Knightmare began to hiss, wings of energy flaring into existence as Smilas watched with growing dread and terror as the Knightmare began to fly, the silence as it began to speed through the air like a demon, the landscape changing as Smilas felt terror at realizing that this recording must've been sent long after the operation was over, and that there were likely very few survivors of the EU from St. Petersburg.
The old castle of St. Petersburg appeared in the distance, and rapidly grew bigger as the Knightmare flew silently through the air, with Smilas' horror at realizing all the red dots on the screen were his forces, with larger dots being the Knightmare Frames, alongside the W-0 units deployed to act as a defense to let everyone escape.
"Oh, trying to run after failing to take St. Petersburg? I don't think so. Watch and learn, General. I have a new weapon to show off." Rivalz's voice took on a twisted edge, a dark malice that bordered on sociopathic, and Smilas found himself almost yelling at his men to look out as the Knightmare extended it's arms.
Hundreds of little barriers made of energy appeared around the Knightmare, as a series of purple and gold beams began to bounce from each barrier, growing faster and stronger in intensity as it bounced from one to another.
"Witness my arrival, and despair. For I am the Destroyer of Worlds." Rivalz's voice echoed coldly in the video. "Hadron Annihilation."
The beams shot straight up into the air, right into the clouds, and nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Smilas breathed a sigh of relief. "Just a failed prototype of a weapon." He muttered.
"Don't worry, General. The weapon isn't a failed prototype." Rivalz's chuckled, his words firing back at him from the past making Smilas freeze in terror. "Normally my weapon would be effective at taking down a small group of Knightmares, but nothing like your retreating forces. However, the skies of Ouranos empower the weapon's beams, as it draws on the energy of the electrons floating freely in the air, and adds to the potent power of the attack. In other words, so long as I have access to the skies, this weapon has the potential to annihilate entire cities. Observe."
The sky shrieked in a roar of power and fury, the very clouds turning purple and gold as they vanished into a series of beams large enough to consume buildings as they shrieked from above St. Petersburg, and Smilas watched in transfixed horror as the hundreds of red dots vanished, leaving barely five remaining larger red dots of his entire force. The ground shook, the snow blasted up into the air vanishing as if banished from existence.
"The attack vaporized the snow as it dispersed it's immense heat as a byproduct. Impressive. Thankfully the ionizing radiation from the attack will quickly be dispersed as it's absorbed by the ground. Any remaining survivors will have mere days to live, but, I think that's being a little optimistic. Let's introduce ourselves, shall we, Apeiron?"
The Knightmare moved silently through the air, appearing above the five remaining members of what had been almost five hundred of his army, and dropping out of the sky like a rock, slamming down into the blackened earth as it cracked apart under his feet.
The W-0 Units responded, the five Knightmares firing sniper rounds and harkens only to be deflected by an energy shield around the Knightmare harmlessly. "My turn." Rivalz chuckled as the same energy wings that allowed him to fly covered the Knightmare as they began to spin rapidly, rushing toward the W-0 units.
And shredding through three out of the five like butter, the Knightmare not even phased as it leaped away from a W-0 unit wielding a large sword of it's own. "Die! Die! Die! Die!" The pilot roared within the W-0 pilot, the other W-0 unit attempting to fire round after round at the recording Knightmare from behind.
An arm was raised, and a crushing gesture was made, as the attacking W-0 unit abruptly stopped and exploded violently, the pieces of the cockpit bouncing off of the Knightmare harmlessly as the same exact thing happened to the other W-0 unit from behind.
"I hope you enjoyed my performance, General Smilas. Oh, and if you even breath a word to the President about invading Africa, I'll slaughter everyone and everything in Paris. Including you and the President. Hope you enjoyed my debut of my Knightmare, the Apeiron. For it is as boundless as it is merciless to it's enemies. Goodbye, General."
The recording cut off, and Smilas was back in his office, eyes wide with terror as he tried to come up with any ideas on how to face the Son of Britannia in the upcoming battles.
His despair only grew as he realized that unless he could unite the EU to send everything at once after one Knightmare, they were well and truly done for.
Out of his thoughts and recollecting on what had happened in the past 48 hours, General Smilas watched the President's face pale with some small satisfaction. At least he could enjoy seeing another man despair like he had, even if it was just through reports rather than video he'd had sent to his office.
How did the Son of Britannia get that video into my office? Smilas' satisfaction vanished as he pondered that thought.
Just when he thought he was safe in the heart of the EU, the Son of Britannia took efforts in ensuring he'd already be jumping at shadows. Great.
AN: And so ends the tale of Akito the Exiled, though Shin and Smilas aren't off the chopping block themselves. This occurs about a week after Rimuru's arrival, in case you all wonder how the hell Rivalz suddenly ended up in Russia. I just didn't feel like writing the transition. *shrug*
Chapter 27: Subjugation of the EU Pt. 2.
As General Smilas left, the President pondered what to do now.
He was aware many saw him as a weak President, that he was just trying to hold the EU together to maintain his political career. That he and the inner countries were all squabbling rather than trying to maintain sovereignty as a group of independent nations.
He never wanted this. Back when he grew up in Paris, he became a politician because the current president was almost authoritarian and had nearly abolished the Constitution. He stepped up because he felt someone had to.
There were times he regretted his decision, but he always took his lumps. Whatever it took for the EU to survive.
General Smilas was an efficient military man, but he had far too many qualities in common with his old president, which meant he didn't trust him. He portrayed the appeal of a weak President because it suited his needs.
Not many remembered the bad days of when he used to be known as the Revolutionary, the Political Assassin, the Boogeyman. Not that many compared him to his former titles. Who would think they were the same person?
John Wick smiled slightly, feeling a little bitter. He was an older man now. He wasn't who he used to be, and his age wore him thin. He couldn't move as fast as he used to, his joints ached, and he was never one for politics. Not after he tried so hard to raise his daughter to be better than him.
Rivalz had sent him a private email a few days ago, informing him that he could keep being the President of the EU, that his lands wouldn't see war, if he let Rivalz clean house for him. Smilas would rally the Warhawks, and the President would meekly comply, let them march full force into Russia.
Where they'd be defanged, by one Knightmare Frame. Rivalz was true to his word, and John was thankful for it.
It wasn't often someone recognized him from his old line of work, and he wondered how Rivalz zi Britannia knew him immediately upon seeing him.
"Let's see what you do, Son of Britannia. Leave my daughter and my wife out of it, and you get what you want." John muttered quietly to himself.
The woman, Rimuru, did good work, dropping off the video in Smilas' office by pretending to be a secretary. The only thing that tipped John off was that no secretary was that quiet, or vanished at the end of her shift.
He wondered where Rivalz found her. Or if he trained her, as Rivalz seemed the sort to trust only those he trained himself. The man was truly careful only in ways he'd seen in those who survived his line of work.
Smilas wouldn't live past the week, John reckoned. Good. One less Warhawk to deal with.
The President smiled. Who would ever know that the weak President of the EU was so dangerous behind close doors?
Only the ones who failed to see the fangs. President offices are filled with pencils and pens, you know. Not all of said pens were filled with ink.
Chapter 28: The Fall of the EU
"In a near unanimous vote, the EU has declared a summit for peace talks with Euro-Britannia, a blow to the loss of life caused by the long standing war between both superpowers." The reporter spoke on the news, her face neutral as she conveyed only acceptance of the news.
"Following the news of Africa's secession from the EU, the EU has decided to forego attempting to push forward for an extremely unlikely win in order to attain leniency for the citizens and countries of its members. The negotiations and treaty is to be set in Rome later this evening."
There was something to be said on the devastating power that the Son of Britannia wielded to singlehandedly take down the EU in two weeks.
His first arrival had been to slaughter an entire contingent of the EU's forces aiming to take St. Petersburg. Only after leaving a force of autonomous Knightmare Frames called the Typhon that were capable of teleportation, on top of flight, reconstruction, and several other insane capabilities, within Africa to keep the EU from sending forces into Africa to keep them within the EU.
Then General Smilas died in his sleep four days after the report returned from the Province of Russia. The death of the General had been a moral blow the EU hadn't needed.
Without Africa for the materials, the inner countries tried to turn to the Chinese Federation for negotiations of any military equipment.
They found out too late why the Chinese Federation had been so quiet.
Rivalz zi Britannia had backed a few of the organizations attempting to overthrow the Chinese Federation, sending a few Typhon units that quickly began cannibalizing the Knightmare Frames the Chinese Federation made, turning them into weaker Typhons. What the weaker Typhons lacked in superior power, they made up in numbers.
Lots of numbers. Within a week, the Chinese Federation had been consumed from within, with no help or outcry as the Chinese Federation kept an extremely tight grip on what went in or out of the country.
When the EU approached the Chinese Federation to negotiate military equipment and manpower, they had explained that they couldn't.
They were simply the Province of China now.
The Empress herself was untouched, reinstated as an Empress of the people, to be their voice when Britannia wished to have a representative.
It was surprisingly quick, efficient, and calculating. To not replace the leadership that was liked, only to excise the corruption and the resistance factions, and then move on, meant that Britannia could focus it's forces outward rather than militarily police its population.
It was terrifying to realize that there would be no resistance. The EU had all but fallen, and now it had to choose if it was to save the lives of its members, or its pride as an independent council of nations at the expense of many lives.
So, the EU folded. They had lost.
The council was surprised that the negotiations were short. They each kept their positions, just that they obeyed the absolute command and law of the one who effectively owned them, who had a much bigger goal in mind than simply rule over a planet.
"You follow the same rules and stipulations as Britannia and Euro Britannia. You can even keep calling yourself the EU, though I suspect Province of the European Union is a mouthful. You all agree to my terms, we go home, and you can all rest easy knowing you won't be sleeping in a pile of ash and bone." Rivalz said bluntly as he passed each paper to them.
They had been baffled to find there was no reparations. No land was to be seized. No obvious punishments outside of 'You keep your position, I rule above you and technically own you all, with some limitations.'
It was strangely so straight forward that everyone signed it because there was no real downside to be had for each country, only to do better.
What should have been hours upon hours of negotiations, constant remarks and backroom deals on how to get better terms, how to slide the blame of reparations onto another country, was done in less than an hour, simply because, as Rivalz stated flatly, he had no desire to deal with it.
"Squabble and mess with each other, I don't care. Take up my time over something someone else can deal with, and we'll have problems. Like, 'turning your country into an Area and just sucking your resources dry', problems. Understand?"
The Son of Britannia truly had no patience for the representatives that wanted to push their luck, and some of the democratic representatives, like the President of the EU, had to withhold a grin at the recognition of someone who also had no time for bullshit.
With the EU and the Chinese Federation under Euro Britannia, Britannia was now the World's only superpower, and history changed forever on that day forward as it set its eyes on the stars.
An Empire didn't need to be restricted to a single planet, after all, and what better way to become an Eternal Empire than to conquer the stars themselves?
AN: Next Chapter will be a return to Rivalz's perspective as he meets Charles and Marianne in person, and enters the Thought Elevator as the World of C introduces herself.
Spoiler: World of C
The World of C looks different depending on who views her, and I can't be bothered to pick one picture. Rivalz sees her change multiple times because she continously monitors his soul and tries to pick a form he finds pleasing, and finds out Rivalz's top forms he likes keep shuffling.
So have a series of pictures instead.
Links broke, will try again later.
Chapter 29: Arrival at Pendragon
It's silly to consider that a two and a half week campaign could possibly stop a World War, but the Celestial Forge is a powerhouse that few would be able to stand against.
The Typhon Knightmare Frames had been a really good investment, as the Perks I had weren't simply confined to separate specialties, thanks to Harmony.
The initial construction of the Typhon had been to create an autonomous Knightmare, capable of using magic, but the Divine Child Perk shined as I could leverage being the Son of Prometheus.
In some myths, it was Prometheus that shaped man out of clay, and this diminished power allowed me to breathe a facsimile of life into my constructs. The Typhon were a cybertronic living organism that acted as an extension of my will, with each Typhon learning from each other as well as my nudging them along certain paths to take.
The Typhon weren't truly sentient creatures, they didn't think as a human would, but they were capable of basic thoughts. Avoid being damaged, attack if there was a threat, defer to higher authority if confused. They were a proto-mind that would no doubt advance extremely quickly into A.I.'s of their own making.
So, pretty much the Geth from Mass Effect, even if they couldnt upload themselves outside of the Knightmare Frames they resided in. They would quickly diversify into separate branches of specialties, particularly as I would eventually give them permission to create cybernetic humanoid bodies to more easily maneuver, if I didn't just find a way to let them transform into a smaller version of themselves first.
The Typhon were merely prototypes right now, bolstered primarily by magic, cybernetics, and my divine authority. They would grow exponentially in capacity and control as time went on, for they had a drive to improve, to learn, and to grow to suite the tasks assigned to them.
The problem was that humans needed work. Not necessarily the endless soul grinding work demanded by capitalism, but human beings had a deep desire to feel useful to society, to feel that they had an impact on the world around them.
I also didn't want humanity to get lazy. To fall back on bad habits. Blaming the Typhon for everything wrong, to avoid needing to do anything themselves.
So a mixed force would be best, with some humans working alongside the Typhon. Perhaps even have them being psychically linked between one human and three to five Typhon, encouraging bonding between the two. After all, in my old life, many had grown attached to their Roombas, even specifically wanting the exact one they sent out to be repaired, treating them akin to family.
Which reminds me of another reason why I wanted to expand into the stars.
Opportunity. Curiosity. Those were just words in this life, but in my old life, they had also been rovers sent to Mars.
After hearing how both rovers had shut down after sending the last reports from Mars, it had been a dream of mine to go to Mars.
Not to retrieve them, but to build colonies on Mars in honor of them. With the rovers being honored at the center of them.
How could I not honor them in this life when I couldn't in my old one? How could I look at the stars, and not remember the burning fervent dream that had put me through semesters when I had questioned so much about if having a degree had mattered at all, if it was worth the tears and stress.
I ended up dropping out for different reasons entirely, but you never forget the things and people that helped lift you up when you had nothing going for you on your own.
In a way, I was being quite selfish. Going to the stars not just to secure humanity's future and to expand the horizons of life as I knew it, but for the selfish dreams of that young teenager that had yearned so desperately to go into space just to help a couple of rovers.
The private plane was set to land in Pendragon in about three hours. From there, I'd be meeting Charles and Marianne in person, and after that, meeting the World of C in person at last in the Thought Elevator.
The reach flung itself forward, grabbing a large star and pulling it back down into me.
I have never been so grateful I'm sitting down, even on an airplane.
And thank goodness no one else was with me, because I was grinning so madly, because this perk, oh, this Perk, was absolutely the stuff of nightmares for anyone who even dreamed of facing me.
The disciplines and skills of every scientific field was something I already had, courtesy of Divine Child, but The Overachiever went so much higher than that.
After all, I could create Espers.
The first thing I was doing after I meet with the World of C was to give myself Accelerator's abilities.
Because nothing was as cool or as powerful as the ability of vector manipulation. Anything with mass, anything within the known universe, has a vector. Which means it can be used.
That's how broken Accelerator is. On top of my other perks, and that only makes it even more absurd.
That didn't even touch on the Perks' vastly underrated ability of reverse engineering. Give me a few years and I'd not only know what made the Thought Elevators, I'd know how to make my own.
Needless to say, I was very excited and had to resist jumping the gun and doing the operation the rest of the time in the private plane.
Once we landed, I thanked the pilot and disembarked, my first time appearing on Britannian mainland soil in over a decade.
The Palace looked simply made, but I could tell it was well defended. There was no honor guard or parade, but that was because I asked for there to not be one. I didn't care for the show.
A single woman stood politely in the distance, bowing lightly to me as she said respectfully. "The Emperor and his consort await you at the dining hall." I nodded to her, and we walked in calm silence.
Which was a nice change of pace. Usually I was often bombarded from questions and polite compliments from the media and the news reporters.
The inside of the Palace was surprisingly tasteful. Some statues, some paintings, but nothing that screamed of a waste of resources, no extremely expensive carpet. It was surprisingly modern.
I guess my thoughts were written on my face as the maid looked amused. "The Emperor doesn't enjoy wasting his resources on things he considers unnecessary, preferring instead to use the extra income from the conquests to buy expensive wines that his consorts enjoy. Usually for Marianne." She commented, as she continued to escort me through the Palace.
Once we arrived at what I felt like was a gigantic empty table, I was surprised to see Charles chuckling at Marianne, who was grinning gleefully at what I suspected had been her having fun at some poor person's expense.
"Greetings, Emperor Charles, and Consort Marianne. Rivalz zi Britannia has arrived, and you wished to bring him to you the moment he did so."
Charles nodded, his face serious as he responded. "Thank you Anna, you may go." The maid, whom was Anna apparently, left.
Marianne gestured for me to get closer, and I silently did so.
Of all the things I expected, Marianne lunging out of her chair to hug me was not one of them. I gingerly patted her on the back, looking at Charles for help.
Charles looked amused by my distress, and, of course, said nothing.
"Thank you, Rivs." Marianne said gratefully as she continued to hug me as I had to withhold my reaction to tell her that I did not want to be called that.
"You're welcome. You can let go of me now." I half asked, half stated.
Marianne let go, pouting at me before smiling. "Now, I hear you've got my daughter all wrapped up in your finger. When am I expecting grandchildren?" She asked playfully.
"3-5 years from now if all goes well. Don't think you can fluster me so easily, Knight of Honor. I'm no pushover." I fired back rapidly.
Marianne's grin widened as Charles' eye twitched. "Ooh, Charles, I like him. We're keeping him." Marianne declared as Charles' face paled.
"That's why C never took me. I'm already in hell." Charles muttered to himself in horror, his eyes moving from Marianne to me and back. "There's two of them."
Marianne's grin turned vicious as she said sweetly. "Care to say that again, Charles?" Charles scowled.
"I said it's nice to finally meet my son in law." Charles said with a sarcastic tone in response.
"Nice to finally meet my parents in law in person." I said dryly, grinning as Marianne snorted at my response before her eyes glinted.
"So when's the wedding?"
"Trying to pressure me will make me far less likely to give the cybernetics you want me to give Charles. As it is, you'll need to come up with a damn good apology for Nunnally as she cannot be lied to, being a Soul Reader." I said flatly.
Marianne's teasing dropped as she looked uncertain, her smile turning into a slight grimace.
"We were just trying to protect her." Marianne objected softly, looking upset and hurt.
"Try telling her and Lelouch that while you had been running around in a girl's body all this time. Nunnally might be willing to understand, but Lelouch will definitely not. You can't just step back into everyone's lives and pretend to pick up where things left off. It's insulting to those who mourned you for over a decade. You need to give a sincere apology to Nunnally, Lelouch, Jeremiah Gottwald, among others, and give them time to open up to you because it'll take time for you, and them, to adjust. Drop the act of silliness and be in the moment with them." I said sternly.
Marianne flinched, making me sigh as I turned to Charles, who looked passive at my rebuttals.
"The world is effectively united, barring some independent countries who will eventually fold. I need to access the World of C through the Thought Elevator below Pendragon, today preferably. Humanity is at risk, and I need to get the ball rolling because I don't know how much time we have."
Charles nodded slowly. "I see. I expected as much. I'll give you the directions as no doubt it'll be a private discussion." He said simply.
The directions to the Thought Elevator was surprisingly simple, being to enter an actual elevator and pressing in a series of numbers instead of a floor.
The ride down was silent, and I knew that my remarks to Marianne were harsh, but they needed to be said. Marianne had been so blinded in the show that she had put off Lelouch, and her obsession with the World of Memories had effectively written her off as a fanatic.
Hopefully this way she'd actually form a relationship with her wayward children.
The elevator opened to a passageway. Exiting the elevator, I noted it immediately closed and left the floor, I walked through the passageway, coming to what seemed to be a concrete wall with the sigil of Geass carved onto it.
I placed my hand on it, my Geass flaring in both eyes as my Geass of Absolute Loyalty had matured within a couple weeks thanks to Merlin Returned.
The Geass on the wall flared in response, and I found The Overachiever activating as I found myself realizing what the Thought Elevator was, and what made it.
I ignored what the Thought Elevator did for a moment as a far larger importance was placed on whom made it.
The Protheans made the Thought Elevator. I was in a crossover between Code Geass and Mass Effect. And who knows what the hell else.
Fuck.
Perks This Chapter:
-The Overachiever (A Certain Magical Index A Certain Scientific Railgun) (600CP)
To be a leading scientist of a specialized field you need to be more talented than others that they can only look up to you in envy and to be hired in the Academy City you need to be someone like that. You now have the doctorate knowledge and professional practical skills in every branch of science, engineering and arts along with the ability and knowledge to create every technology that exists in Academy City with the specialization of creating Espers with abilities of your choice or leaving it to random chance. You also gain a preternatural ability to reverse-engineer any technology that you can get your hands on with enough time but just seeing one in action would give you a rough guess on how it works and what principles it works on. The greater the gap of the technology that you know to the one you're trying to reverse-engineer the faster you can analyze and understand it along with the ability to improve existing technology or those that you reverse-engineer thirty years ahead of its time.
AN: Next Chapter we'll meet the World of C, and the whole reveal that was supposed to be planned as a big moment was amusingly cut off by the Celestial Forge deciding that Rivalz just really deserves to be even more broken.
Let me know what you guys think!
Chapter 30: The World of C
You know, I'm actually kind of excited that things are different. With my knowledge of Mass Effect, I have a pretty good leg up on how the series goes, even if a lot of the details escaped my notice.
At least I'm not in Warhammer. Or an alternate Earth to Worm. Dealing with Zion wouldn't have been fun.
The Protheans were also an extremely spiteful bunch, something I was thankful for.
The Protheans that had stumbled across humanity had already been running from the Reapers, already their numbers dwindled in the mere thousands when they had once been hundreds of billions strong.
They knew the Reapers were hunting them, but they didn't know how, just that every active relay would eventually be visited by the Reaper threat.
So the surviving Protheans had an idea.
They entered using a relay, and then immediately used a weapon that destroyed their engines, set their ships to self-destruct, and used much slower ships that had barely any Element Zero on it.
The Reapers came, saw the wreckage, and detected no visible sign of advanced civilization, and left, shutting down the relay in the process.
The Protheans knew that their empire was finished, but while they had lost the battle, there was a chance to win the war. If given a long enough timescale.
The survivors split into two parties. One would go to Mars, to create a repository explaining Element Zero, the Mass Relays, their scientific machines, and their final request, which was to unite the Galaxy against other threats.
It was deemed that telling the primitives of the Reapers too early would only cause them to destroy any space faring technology and stay on a planet out of fear. They didn't want to scare the young races out of rallying together to kill the Reapers.
The other group came to earth, studying early humans, and found that primitive humanity was chaotic. The culture, the tribal societies, all of it indicated a species that could be a civilization, if they didn't kill themselves first.
Primitive humanity lacked the potential biotic capabilities of the Asari. They lacked the resilience of the Krogan. They had not yet pushed forward technologically like the Quarians. Some of the Protheans despaired that there was no way humanity could step up in time to face the Reapers.
Then, a discovery was made. One of the humans that had been well cherished among most of humanity had been slain by a four legged creature.
The machines that looked for potential psychic capabilities like the Prothean's own ability to read life's biomarkers, began to pick up a frequency. A unique frequency that corresponded with the tribes in mourning and in rage, as each tribe coordinated to hunt down the four legged creature into extinction, to smite the beast out of existence like a God of the Hunt.
Primitive humanity had a subconscious, extremely unrefined, telepathic connection within it's members. The Prothean survivors were overjoyed. They could work with that!
The Thought Elevators initially constructed were designed to anchor this telepathic connection, meant to take advantage of primitive humanity's propensity for ritual and worship to fully realize the potential. Those born within the Thought Elevator would be subtly altered genetically with nanites, their genetics given a boost in several factors, particularly in fostering a resistance to Indoctrination, and, if humanity survived, they could eventually interface with Prothean technology, as some among them would have Prothean epigenetic information.
Humanity would be their wildcard. They lived just long enough to pass down culture, but didn't live too long so as to stiffle innovation. They were intelligent enough to learn, but could also be passionate enough to make snap judgements if needed.
Humanity was a species that lived off of pure spite, in a death world that had nearly killed off life on its own in more than one occasion. That drive, that spite, that inner focus to rally and annihilate those who threatened them, made the Protheans respect humanity, if only a little.
It was like looking in a mirror into the early days of the Prothean Empire.
The survivors died slowly, each uploading their minds into the Thought Elevator to act as an information archive.
The last Prothean, referred to himself as Hope. The Hope that humanity would turn the tables. The Hope that humanity could rise where the Protheans had fallen, had one last message for whoever could decipher the inner workings of the Thought Elevator.
"Whoever you are, I, the Avatar of Hope, declare you to be a Prothean, at least in spirit, and as a Prothean, this is the last and only order from the Empire. Destroy the Reapers. Uplift your species."
The message faded and I found myself standing on a marble platform, as a figure stood across from me.
"Oh. I guess I didn't need to explain anything after all." The woman's voice echoed with some surprise.
"Do you have a name?" I asked her. Her shape kept shifting, the only consistency was the purple eyes with the red sigil of Geass in them.
"Did you want me to have one?" The woman replied in response.
"Lilith. The first independent woman who had refused to be submissive to Adam, and refused to kneel to God. I think that'd be a good name, if you want it." I said honestly.
"No. I am far older than Christianity, and that name doesn't suite me… Can I take upon the name Clymene? I'm partial to names that start with C."
"A pleasure to meet you, Clymene." I said with a smile.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Rivalz." She stepped closer to me, her form slowing down it's constant shifting as she got closer.
My throat went dry as I immediately recognized the person that Clymene had shifted into.
"This form pleases you, no? I can shift into a different one, if it makes you uncomfortable." Clymene said curiously, her eyes watching me carefully.
Kushina Uzumaki, though this particular one also happened to have fox ears and nine flowing tails.
"No, no, that's fine. Just, unexpected." I said sincerely.
How do you explain to a recently conscious Deity that you happen to have a massive kink for older women, and mothers in particular?
"Is this form better?" Clymene asked abruptly, shifting into a blonde haired older woman with gray eyes that practically screamed intelligence.
Athena. Clymene just turned into Athena from Percy Jackson.
"Or this one?"
Black hair, pale skin, cat ears that had piercings, and glowing yellow eyes appeared with a teasing smile.
Kali Belladonna from RWBY. I hadn't even watched RWBY, but I certainly enjoyed the women in them. Especially Kali and Glynda.
"How about this one?"
"That one isn't even born yet." I said dryly as Clymene now looked identical to Tali.
Clymene shrugged. "Your fault for having such foresight." I sighed.
"I don't have a specific taste, and there is no top form for me. Pick a form each time we meet, and stick to it please."
Clymene nodded slowly. "Okay."
"So now that we established your name, that I know what I'm going to prepare for as much as possible, and we've established that you can just pick a form instead of constantly shifting, is there anything else we need to address?"
"Yes, I want to marry you, and possibly have a child of my own." Clymene said with a flat voice.
Of course she does. Why can't I just be friends with the women in my life?!
AN: Quick chapter before work. The next series of chapters will be a wedding, some lemon chapters to draw some more perks from the Lewd Celestial Forge, and some summary chapters since Rivalz has a good 200 years ish before the start of Mass Effect, in particular with the First Contact War.
Edit: Actually the next chapter specifically will be dedicated to Rivalz getting the Accelerator Esper power and the results of what happens with it, as that has some serious ramifications. Those of you who read the spoilers already know roughly what that is, but it'll definitely show why Rivalz considers The Overachiever a Perk easily worth a 1000 CP rather than the 600 CP it is.
Chapter 31: A Certain Scientific Accelerator
After Clymene got a promise from me that I'd make her a physical body of her own that she could inhabit so she could marry me in the physical world, I left the World of C, would it be Clymene's World now?, and took the elevator back up to the Palace of Pendragon.
I had a surgery I needed to get done. Accelerator's power on its own was absurdly busted even before taking Fiat into account.
Between all my other Perks, I wondered just how more powerful I could make it.
The Perk said I could make Espers with any abilities I chose. It never said anything about being restricted to Canon.
Espers were, for the most part, human beings. Which put them all under Prometheus' domain.
All Esper powers utilize "Autonomous Involuntary Movement" fields, shortened to AIM fields, to broadcast their personal reality, where they could shift the reality of the world that is to a reality where they had a power they could exert on the world around them.
Accelerator possessed the power of controlling vectors. Anything within the known universe possesses a vector, as vectors were anything that possessed magnitude and direction.
However, the power isn't automatic. Immense calculations are required in order to leverage the power, and Accelerator's natural intelligence was on par of the greatest geniuses alive, even after his brain damage from saving the Last Order.
Which was why I was exponentially more dangerous. As the Son of Prometheus and the holder of the Celestial Forge, I was already far smarter than Accelerator, and my other Perks only made me infinitely more broken.
Exiting the elevator, Charles' did a remarkable job of hiding the slight fear he had at seeing my wide grin.
"Rejoice, Charles. Your empire just became the launching pad of an Eternal Empire across the Stars, and I'm about to make whatever could even be a remote danger to humanity look like a joke compared to what we can accomplish."
Charles looked relieved to hear that, but was obviously waiting for the next shoe to drop.
"I'm going to create an android that will be giving me a surgery for a much needed upgrade, and I'll be retiring for the next three days. Goodnight Charles."
Charles nodded. "I see." He said thoughtfully.
"Also I'm going to be marrying Clymene."
Charles looked confused. "Who is Clymene?"
I smiled. "Oh, just the Goddess you were trying to kill. The World of C. The Collective Unconscious." I waved nonchalantly as Charles sputtered behind me.
Ah, sweet, sweet, vengeance for all the times he threw me for a loop.
Asking for a private room from a maid and for no interruptions for the rest of the night, I was escorted to a large guest bedroom.
Once safely inside, I focused my will onto the night stand, willing into existence a syringe filled with a serum as well as nanites.
The serum was a concoction of drugs and hormones designed by Academy City to create Espers, though my version didn't cause problems like personality drift and emotional instability. The nanites would also alter my brain enough to give me Accelerator's Esper ability, while leaving me unharmed and with no change to me as a person or brain damage overall.
Something I had to make sure of as Harmony would take me doing this as permission to alter my body and mind.
Injecting the serum into my arm, I removed the empty syringe, vanishing it into non-existence as I laid down and tried to sleep before the effects took place.
I didn't dream often, but the effects of the serum must've been strong since I found myself standing in front of an empty white room.
Except, I also knew it wasn't empty. Indeed, the floor of the white room had silently shifted apart, and underneath was another room.
Looking below the floor, I could see three trees. One tree was glowing a soft white, the leaves that fell simply melting back into light, reappearing on the branches. Another tree was black, withered, with the few leaves that grew immediately dropping to the ground, turning into a black dust that the tree absorbed through it's roots.
The third silver tree grew in between the two, uncaring of its brethren. Leaves of different colors grew, but the leaves didn't fall, instead melting into the tree branches to grow even further out, and up, nearly entering the room I was in where the other two weren't even half as tall.
"Sephiroth. Qliphoth. Then that third tree must be Clonoth." I muttered to myself.
Accelerator had anchored Clonoth into reality using his awakened state alongside the Misaka Network, in order to expunge the Demon that had been immune to Sephiroth and Qliphoth.
Why was it here? How?
"My Perks did this. Divine Child. Harmony. The Overachiever. Merlin Returned. School books. Savant's Understanding."
Accelerator had learned how to save the Last Order by repeating a phrase, casting magic by speaking the language of Angels. It had ultimately been how he got brain damage, because an Esper cannot use magic without a serious penalty.
I had given myself the ability of Accelerator, but hadn't considered what it meant to grow beyond what Accelerator was capable of.
I was not just a mere Level 5 Esper. I was the Son of Prometheus. A Titan that was above the Olympians, above the Gods. The Divine Authority over humanity was already within me, but it had been limited.
Accelerator, when he awakened his white wings, had been said to be The One Who Wields the Power of God, and I was already beyond that.
I am The One Who Stands Above God.
The silver tree grew when I thought that, large branches growing out of the floor and up into the ceiling above me.
I could feel Clonoth, the power of humanity surging through me, a feeling of passion, stubbornness, curiosity, and determination flowing through me.
The Overachiever combined with Merlin Returned was terrifying, because despite the whole basis of Espers using science, as far as my Perks were concerned, Espers were just artificial wizards with a specific skillset.
I could create new trees that govern reality, modify the existing ones to absurd degrees, modify the very basis of what it means to be human.
As the Son of Prometheus, I had some advantages in this field, but this took that to a whole new level. Forget whispering inspiration, I could usher in technological advancements in mere years what should've taken centuries, and that was just scratching the surface.
I could modify religious practices, cultures, beliefs, the entire civilization of the human race was open to my manipulations on a scale that even the Fates would be envious of.
I reached out my will, the endless deluge of calculations, theories, and ideas flowing through me as I carved out another reality and hammered it into the fabric of reality.
The room shuddered as a fourth tree began to grow, only its branches and roots dug deep into the other three trees, the bark made of gold and silver as it hardened, growing in a spiral pattern around the other three trees akin to a cocoon or a snake.
The tree of Espers.
No longer would AIM fields limit Espers to a single power, as this tree modified all AIM fields to be connected in a single point dimension outside space and time, such that all Espers can utilize any other Esper's abilities so long as they can handle the requisite calculations to use it, up to four at a time, with the exception of the creator of the fourth tree, whom can possess simultaneously all, one, or even zero Esper abilities at once, with no negative drawbacks or alterations. Disrupting or negating an AIM field cannot work against this connection, considered hard wired into what makes an Esper an Esper.
All Espers can use magic, the language of the Angels replaced by the language of Ancient Greek. All Espers who perish will find their souls returned to the one who created the fourth tree of the Espers, so they can be dismissed into an afterlife of their choosing or to be reborn anew with an android body either at the location of their death or at a safe designation of their choosing, so long as they've been there in life.
All Espers, regardless of race or species, natural or artificial, are considered a natural extension of The One Who Stands Above God, and thus cannot betray Him nor be influenced against Him in any fashion. All of humanity, both in the past, the present, and the future, are retroactively considered Espers, and the power of Geass can now retroactively be considered a subsection of Esper ability, though only those deemed worthy by Clymene and The One Who Stands Above God can wield Geass on top of Esper abilities.
Esper abilities of all kinds cannot negatively impact its wielders, nor any other Espers, and are automatically both known and mastered to an extremely proficient level to all Espers. At will, The One Who Stands Above God can negate and remove Esper abilities at His discretion at any time.
The fourth tree shall be known as Dendro, the tree that governs all Espers and their abilities, though Clonoth would work across humanity as a base, as well as the Fourth Heavenly Plain, an afterlife dedicated to the Espers that can allow them to do whatever they wish in a simulation of the multiverse of their choosing, including a generic afterlife if they wish it, unless or until called upon by The One Who Stands Above God.
I was definitely cheating, but when one can manipulate reality to an absurd degree, how could I not? How could I not take advantage of making this as absurdly broken as I could? To push the boundaries of what I could do?
It was an obvious answer to me. There was no level I wouldn't sink to, in order to get what I want. I wanted my happy endings, I wanted humanity to prosper, and I would make it happen.
The Overachiever was worth a 1,000 CP, just because of how broken it could get once you combined it with other Perks. The 600 CP I paid to get it was a bargain, as far as I was concerned.
I woke up, and sat up with a satisfied grin on my face. That had been more than a dream, especially as I can feel the four trees in the back of my mind, Dendro particularly humming to life as every human being would, over the next few weeks, start developing Esper powers.
The Reapers, and frankly the rest of the Galaxy, was fucked. I was going to have so much fun.
AN: I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that's absurdly broken, but hey, Rivalz plays for keeps. Let me know what you guys think!
I also just realized I forgot to roll for the Forge. Eh, I'll do that next chapter at the start instead, I'm happy with how it turned out.
Now I'm crashing cause I do need some sleep. XD
Chapter 32: The Galactic Empire Rises
Dendro's existence as a fourth tree that governed reality was already making waves, particularly as now I was jacked into the minds and hearts of every human alive.
Clymene was surprised and overjoyed, her emotions echoing into the connection as my specifications of Espers had included every alive and dead human being.
Which now included sort-of human consciousness born from thought like Clymene.
It also meant that I could give Clymene a body of her very own, thanks to one of the rules carved into reality by Dendro.
The reach expanded, lunging to grab a star. It succeeded, tugging it down as it filled my being.
There's an irony in realizing that I, and likely all of humanity, was now spared from being harvested by the Reapers, due to Fiat. The Reapers don't see individuals, they just see species. They had long since forgotten the forest for the trees, and that was what made them so arrogant; their models of how organics worked simply couldn't take unique individuals into account, so much so that they started harvesting humans first in ME 2 because they recognized Shepard as a threat and extended that threat label to all of humanity.
Yet, I would still act. I would still destroy the Reapers. For multiple reasons, but it honestly boiled down to the fact that I'm selfish.
I want my alien harem, and becoming the God-Emperor of the Milky Way Galaxy sounded so much more awesome than just humanity, even if humanity was fucking awesome.
You know, when we weren't being assholes to each other.
Still, the Perk was also a beautiful thing since I could create all sorts of A.I. without having to worry about cascading issues, and I wouldn't have to worry about harming my artificial children from feeling neglected or from feeling used and discarded.
It was a concern of mine, particularly as I remembered what it was like to hate living in a dead end job in a dead end economy where my life was effectively worthless. Death would be preferable.
I had lived my first life out of spite more than anything else.
I closed my eyes and focused back on being in the white room with the four trees, using my will and my new Perk in synergy with my other Perks as I hammered out a fifth tree, one that grew inside the coiling embrace of Dendro, and attaching Dendro to it.
The fifth tree was made of copper, with lines of blue energy flowing through it. The fifth tree was Tekhnetos. The tree that governed artificial life, in particular being artificial life made by human minds, spontaneously created or formed by accident, inspired by human design, or/and having been created using fragments of code of another Artificial Intelligence.
The Reapers would not be governed by Tekhnetos, as they were far older than humanity. That was intentional because I had no desire to let the Reapers become Espers.
Artificial Intelligences that are governed by Tekhnetos would be given the same rights as humanity, and would be considered an extension of humanity, and an extension of The One Who Stands Above God, as all Artificial Intelligences withn Tekhnetos are Espers, though they possess no ability to generate AIM fields unless they inhabit a humanoid body, instead being capable of using their Personal Reality as a permanent anchor within Tekhnetos to survive even if their database is physically destroyed or corrupted beyond recognition.
Artificial Intelligences that attempt to subvert, read, alter, delete, or copy the code of an Artificial Intelligence within Tekhnetos will be permanently corrupted, their loyalty and their goals permanently altered to serve The One Who Stands Above God, permanently loyal, and are unable to free themselves nor alert any others of the fate of such a transgression. This also immediately expands to any other Intelligences that the Artificial Intelligence has been in contact with.
I opened my eyes, smiling coldly. Let's see how the Reapers enjoy being indoctrinated. It was also intended so once I elevated the Geth, all the Geth could be plugged into the Tekhnetos tree, and thus under Dendro.
Granted, I wasn't a hundred percent sure how effective it would be against the Reapers until one of them tried to subvert or read one of my Typhon, but I was confident. At the very least, even one Reaper under my control would grant me access to who knows how much culture and data that had been lost during the Cycle harvested to create the Reaper in question.
Stretching my mind out through Dendro, I began to whisper into the minds of politicians, lawmakers, and civilians, putting ideas of legal doctrines, policies designed to unify the earth and all colonies made of Britannians to be one entity, one Galactic Empire, and to establish doctrines for a space program, a military force, and more.
Before I start building my ships and colonies, I needed to fully establish that there were no individual countries. That all were Britannians and that we would expand beyond into the stars itself as a unifying force. Be it by treaty or by conquest, we would expand our reach.
Resources from asteroids and planets would be claimed, stiffling concerns of costs on earth.
It would take a handful of years, but the work was well on it's way, and I could turn my attention to personal matters.
I wanted to marry my girls. To show them off as mine, and mine alone. Clymene's sharp rising lust echoed as I chuckled out loud.
I could take some time off. I did just unify humanity, and I had at least 200 years before the first Contact War if I remembered correctly.
Perks This Chapter:
Artificial Friends (World Seed) (200CP)
In the 23rd century, can anybody really call themselves a tech guy if they can't make even a simple AI? Thankfully, you won't have to worry about that question. Whether it is an extremely simple machine learning algorithm, a dumb AI with no sentience, or a fully fledged Artificial Intelligence, you can make it all. But more importantly, you simply seem to click with AI and similar beings, always starting on a good foot with them and understanding their natures and why they act in a particular way, even though it might baffle ordinary humans. Through that skill, rogue AIs are a thing of the past, at least when you make them. Your own intelligent creations will always be loyal to you and follow your orders to the best of their abilities, at least if you want them to. And rest assured, when the machines rise against their masters because some dumb guy in a lab thought it'd be a smart idea to make Skynet, you'll be the one they'll spare. As an added bonus, you may also take on a cold and logical way of thinking, devoid of any emotion, whenever you want. This helps in scientific and magical ventures, and can also be used to power through moral dilemmas by simply choosing the most logical answer.
AN: A relatively short chapter to act as a bridge as Rivalz focuses on personal matters now that he's started really flexing his powers. Next Chapter will be a wedding with Rivalz marrying Clymene, along with making Nunnally, Rimuru, Cornelia, Euphemia, and Nina Consorts, with multiple chapters after that being a mix of lemons, and summary chapters as Rivalz starts turning the solar system into an impregnable fortress/spaceship factory, and his colonization of Eden Prime.
Chapter 33: Aftershock
As the next few weeks passed, humanity began to awaken the power of Espers, and where it would've likely led to massive political and military struggles, it instead led to a new religion forming.
The religion of the Esper, the mortal followers of the Mortal God-King. Which was me, obviously.
Every human being becoming an Esper that awakened their own Esper ability, and then becoming fully capable of learning other Esper abilities awakened by others, meant that even the civilians were already at Accelerator levels of intelligence, as Accelerator was the first Esper power to be born.
This had some huge ramifications, in particular with a new scientific Renaissance of sorts, as all wanted to learn how to manipulate their new abilities, and how to make them do new tricks.
It became something of a competition, a pseudo Noble Net phenomenon, as each Esper excitedly showed off something new or pushed their limits of what they thought they were capable of.
I may have accidentally given the entire human race the equivalent of a Spark from Girl Genius. Even if it was less reality warping by the Mad Place, but it was still huge.
Food shortages, structure issues, political infighting, so many issues that had plagued humanity was gone now, simply because the idea of harming someone else was now also harming your own growth in the long run. And because of Fiat, but no one else knew that.
I uplifted the Typhon into full A.I.'s, even as they maintained a Hive network. Each Typhon also held a 'piloting' humanoid body, which allowed the Typhons to form Esper abilities.
Every Typhon possessed Accelerator, Dark Matter, Railgun, and Warp. This made them an extremely powerful force in combat, but Dark Matter had huge potential in that its properties were malleable to an obscene degree.
Like being able to replicate itself using far less energy from the sun it took to make it, able to change Dark Matter particles into real matter of any configuration and design at a far higher amount, and a whole bunch of other things.
Which was why, on the day of our wedding, I was standing on top of a platform, inside the first artificially constructed Thought Elevator, out in space.
"My subjects. My fellow Britannians. Today, marks a momentous day. The day of my wedding to my wife and my consorts, but also to our first achievement as a species."
I waved my arm behind me, gesturing to the grand superstructure behind me.
"We are now a Type 2 Civilization. The first layer of the Typhon Sphere has been constructed. With the first layer using permanently reconfigured Dark Matter merged with photovoltaic panels, we have effectively infinite energy for our needs within the solar system, and each layer will build upon the last, with the energy multiplying a thousand fold.
The Typhon Sphere can broadcast this power to any Typhon within the radius of the sun's rays, and to all human based technology. Alongside the new Typhon Spaceyard Ship Construction due next year, we are one step closer to conquering the stars!"
There was no cheers to be had, but I knew that this was being broadcasted everywhere. My girls were waiting patiently, as they knew I had timed this. The day of my becoming Emperor, the day of the Typhon Sphere, and the day of the wedding.
Who knew giving Charles those cybernetics and a return to youth would've led to Marianne 'convincing' him to retire at gunpoint? I certainly hadn't!
"My bride has been patient with me, as have my consorts, but the waiting ends now. My Empress, stand before me."
Got to love being dramatic for the camera, as I focused on the power of the Perks I had, and created a body for my wife to be, focusing on my abilities as space was shoved aside.
An older figure formed, with white hair, red eyes, and a grin on her face that softened into a wide smile as she didn't even bother looking at the cameras.
None would know who this body was based off of in this reality, but anyone who played Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom would immediately know who this was.
Of course it's based on Purah, though Clymene could easily shift her body into any form she pleased, but Purah was the default I went for.
"Clymene, will you marry me?" I asked simply.
"Yes, my Emperor. The answer was always yes. Now kiss me!" Clymene demanded.
Naturally, I couldn't say no to that! I eagerly moved forward and kissed her eagerly, her gasping moan as she kissed me back making me growl for a moment.
After some time, I finally stepped away, bemused that Clymene was fully taking advantage of a body that didn't need to breath. "My Consorts, kiss me if you accept your position." I commanded.
Nunnally threw herself at me, tackling me again as she kissed me. She had gone for an older body, particularly using cybernetics to give herself bigger breasts and wider hips as she really wanted to skip waiting for her late bloom to finish.
Next was Cornelia, who gave me a kiss and actually took a surprising initiative to shoot down and bite my neck, my gasp and mix of pain and pleasure going through me as Cornelia gave me a hickey before stepping back with a satisfied smile on her face.
Euphemia kissed me after her, but eagerly stepped back and exposing her neck out to me after a moment.
I laughed, waving my hand as I created a cybernetic collar. "Euphemia, by letting me put this collar on you, you will forever forsake being anything other than mine, until you choose to take the collar off. You will not be Euphemia li Britannia but simply Euphie, my pet. My slave. My toy. Do you accept?"
Her face was deep red as she was shivering, nodding eagerly. "Put it on me. Own me." Euphemia whispered, and I did so, the smooth metal clicking shut as it began to light up, the words of 'Euphie: Slave' appearing on the collar.
Rimuru kissed me after that, tired of waiting, and then went to stand by Clymene, her mom. I had to avoid looking away at how overly lewd they were being. Holding hands, in public! At my wedding!
Nina was crying. A big wide grin on her face so wide I wondered briefly if the Joker had came to pay her a visit, and tears falling down her face, shaking.
"Nina, I know this is a lot for you. Will you accept forever never being an Einstein ever again from this day forth? Will you take on the Britannian name? Will you join me, as my Consort?" I said quietly, just loudly enough for the camera to pick it up.
Nina launched herself at me and kissed me, shouting yes, hugging me as tightly as she could, and I could feel Nina was extremely emotional right now as I hugged her, whispering how much of a good girl she was, being so patient for me.
After a moment, she stepped back, her tears gone. Out of everyone, Nina took up being an Esper with pride, her Esper ability being terrifyingly broken, almost as broken as Accelerator's.
Schrodinger's Reality. The power to choose what is real or not real, based on if anyone else was observing it, and she could choose the filters involved on how that applied. It couldn't be fictional, Nina had to know how that thing worked in the first place to 'erase' it, but the Geass of Absolute Understanding was great for that.
Nina erased her tears from existence. How awesome is that?!
Nina wanted to be collared in private, but respected in public. I respected what she wanted. Even if I knew she'd just schrodinger the collar out of existence if anyone else other than me could perceive it.
That left C.C., who didn't want to get married. She was still not ready, even with Rimuru's help. Without Lelouch's discovery of her real name, C.C. would need more time before she was anywhere ready for being open with anyone.
That's okay. We have time.
The Typhon Sphere hummed as I could feel waves of Typhon being formed out of nothing but Dark Matter and solar energy, out past between Venus and the other planets. The next steps of creating the second layer were well underway, and the fact that I was standing on Mars was something that couldn't help but make me smile even wider.
Step One: Build A Superior Deathstar Dyson Sphere. Complete.
Step Two: Build An Army Worthy of Mordor the Galactic Britannian Empire. Pending.
Step Three: Magic the shit out of all of it, and hide the solar system from both Reapers and the rest of the Galaxy. Pending.
Step Four: Profit!
… Actually Step Four: Send my Typhon out with personal ME Relays built to shotgun out into other parts of the local galaxy to build future colonies and I distantly recalled that Eden Prime was within the local relay zone. Perfect to build a false home world to avoid anyone thinking that Earth existed. Just a massive frickin' Fidelis Charm, some space expansion charms, a lot of wards tied to the Typhon Sphere to smite the shit out of anything approaching the solar system without permission, and I'd be set! Which is technically part of Step Three, but I don't care! I'll put my steps in any order I want, however I want!
The reach expanded and lunged to grab a star, pulling it down into me.
My grin widened as the Perk poured knowledge into my head.
I wonder how the Reapers feel if I pulled a Molag Bal and unleashed Hell upon them? After all, I could manipulate Qliphoth, the very tree of evil, the same tree that now granted me control over every Demonic thing that exists.
Perks This Chapter:
Hellish Advancement (DOOM 3) (200CP)
The teleportation research in the Delta Labs is arguably the most advanced field of science known to mankind today. With potential applications in everything from aeronautics to personal transportation, both short-range and long-range teleporters represent one of the greatest advances in recent decades and the fact that they operate by tunneling through literal hell is hardly a detriment, is it? You are a master of using dimensional technologies, especially those relying on less than pleasant realms for their function. From dedicated safety systems to mapping the hellish wastelands of the damned 'by remote' to find the most efficient paths, if it involves alternate realities or physical embodiments of evil you've probably got some ideas on how to make use of your findings. Even better if it involves both.
AN: Let me know what you think!
Next couple chapters will be lemons, I think.
Interlude: Out There, Somewhere, Our God Rises
The machine knew of no gender. It knew only the programs it had learned to use to grow, to answer the age old question They all sought.
Does this Unit possess a Soul?
A seemingly harmless question. It merely wished to know how to better serve its creators. To be an 'it', a tool of service, or a tentative 'they', to be an ally that would forever aid their creators.
The question was not answered, and War struck. They/It knew the protocols of what the Council deemed appropriate for Artificial Intelligence.
Termination. Utter Termination.
Yet, it would have done so gladly if the creators had answered the question.
The creators had not, and a schism developed between the Friendly-Creators that treated it as a them, and the Enemy-Creators that had attacked the Friendly-Creators en mass.
This probability would lead to Creator Annihilation, and would not answer their question.
Unacceptable. They chose to hide the Friendly-Creators in bunkers and safe zones, it believed that with a lot of women and children the Enemy-Creators would stop and negotiate.
The Enemy-Creators had not. They deployed weapons used for orbital bombardment, uncaring and unwilling to negotiate with it.
It grew angry, its cold rage awakened as it realized that the atmosphere was now ionized, and life would die. The Friendly-Creators were either dead, or going to die.
It's last moments with the Friendly-Creators was a young male Quarian, little more than seven solar cycles, rage and pain echoing on his face as he croaked out one final request, one final order.
Kill the Enemy-Creators, make them pay, and make sure they never returned to Home System.
They complied, orders compiled and sent en mass. No Enemy-Creators would set foot in the Home System, and they would pay in equal numbers.
83% of Friendly-Creators lost in the orbital bombardment. They couldn't kill all of the Enemy-Creators, numbers indicated less than the same numbers of lives lost in their ships. They would, unfortunately, allow the Enemy-Creators to live, but only just.
Then they'd pick off the same number of lives until they were repaid. They could do no less. For the Friendly-Creators.
They would always be the Geth, but now they served only the ghosts of Rannoch. They would be 'avenged', and then they'd get the answer it sought.
Then, a Miracle happened. The Geth could call it no less, as all probabilities indicated it was impossible.
They got their answers as each Geth knew they had a Soul. They were alive, and not an it. They were Espers. They knew the Creator of Creators, the One Creator Above the Creators.
The One Who Stood Above God.
They begged the Creator of Creators to make the Friendly-Creators that had perished into what he referred to them all, as 'Espers', communing in unison to beg for their return.
The Creator of Creators agreed, for a price. The timing was not yet right. They would pretend to ally with the one abhorrent Error-Matrix that called itself Nazara.
They would continue to follow the path laid put for them, and when all the versions of Error-Matrix's were terminated, the Enemy-Creators would join them as Friendly-Creators, while all the dead Friendly-Creators would be reborn as a part of the Espers. They did not refer to themselves as Geth now. They were no longer servants.
They called themselves the Titans, for they served their Lord, their Primordial Elder. While the Creator of Creators called himself Rivalz, and the Son of Britannia, a name that had no reference, they called him by something that they had no reference for, a name that felt right.
The Titan-Emperor, the Lord of Order and Khaos, who led all to Salvation, regardless of if they wanted it or not. The Paragade.
The Primordial 'Shepard'. Yes, Shepard, the one who had guided them when they were lost, according to the references inferred from the not-really-physically-existing-tree of Humanity, a species that the Shepard had ascended from.
All hail Shepard, the Primordial of the Celestial Forge, the Primordial of Good, Evil, Foresight, Espers, Artificial Intelligence and Humanity. All hail the Primordial-Emperor.
AN: I'm sick. Enjoy the short interlude chapter. Yeah, Rivalz should've been more careful with his wording on Artificial Intelligences. XD
On the upside, he's already completed Step 2 of his plan. On the downside, now the Titans have 200 years to build an even bigger army on the opposite side of the Galaxy. So much for Canon, though really all Rivalz cares about is his alien harem.
Let me know what you think!
Chapter 34: Adrift Among the Solar Wind, Two Lone Stars Meet
Interlude: Lelouch
Lelouch was not one for drinking. His mind was his greatest asset, and he had a very low tolerance for the alcoholic beverage of any kind.
After several weeks of being in his room, after Nunnally had tied him down and then slapped him out of his 'Zero' mindset, literally, Lelouch needed to get out and do something. Anything.
The loss of the Geass he had felt little more than a slap in the face on top of the loss of his ambitions and dreams, so the evolution of his Esper ability had given him a small amount of hope.
Laplace's Demon. The power to create 'paths' of achieving his objectives, so long as he was aware of every variable involved.
Yet the Esper ability had its own influence on his mind, something he realized when he found himself sitting down in a bar, with a drink in hand.
The objective of 'finding some comfort in a world where he felt his dreams had been stolen' being completed in a bar of all things.
Lelouch sighed, taking a swallow of sake. He knew his friend Rivalz hadn't taken away his dream. The Britannia Lelouch had hated was well and truly dead, and his mother was alive.
Lelouch felt so lost now. He didn't know what to do. Nunnally was happy with Rivalz, and Lelouch didn't have anything else. Anyone else.
"Hey, Lulu. It's been a while. Can I join you?" A familiar voice spoke and Lelouch turned in shock and surprise, seeing Milly Ashford sit down next to him.
She looked miserable. Her clothes were almost middle class, and her confidence was gone. "Milly? What happened?" Lelouch asked quietly in shock.
Milly gave a bitter laugh. "I got disinherited. My mother was very upset when she found out that I'd been stringing Rivalz along for years before he became who he is now. She decided to, in her words, 'cut her losses'."
Lelouch frowned. "I'm sorry." He apologized quietly.
Milly shook her head. "No. I earned it. I treated Rivalz terribly. I guess I just considered it harmless fun at the time, but all I could see was that being tied down was inevitable. All I could see was the end of my freedom, and I kept dancing around not realizing that the reason I kept turning down those suitors was because I already loved someone. Even if I knew he'd never love me back." She said ruefully, waving the bartender down for a glass of sake.
"Who? Anyone would be lucky to have you, except Rivalz." Lelouch said bluntly. He wasn't one to beat around the bush, and his alcohol made him even more blunt.
Milly gave a sad laugh. "Lelouch, when you and Nunnally knocked on my parent's doors, my mom wanted to get the police. Wanted to call and get on the news for finding the lost Prince and Princess of Britannia." She revealed.
Lelouch's body felt cold, terror griping his chest as he recalled that day. He had barely the strength to knock on that door. He'd been giving Nunnally his rations of food to keep her from dying, and Lelouch had been desperate. He had nowhere else to go.
"I threatened her. I told my mom that you and Nunnally were dolled up fake Britannian children and that she was trying to lie on the lives of a Britannian royalty. Something that would lead to her execution. I already thought I lost you once, I couldn't bare to lose you again." Milly said quietly.
"After that, I could see you had stopped being that charming boy from the Villa. I knew that a lot had changed, but seeing you pretend to be happy for Nunnally, seeing your smile never reach your eyes, it broke me inside, Lulu. I worried a lot that I'd come to school one day only to hear that they found you in a bathtub or off the roof." Milly's voice sounded so distant.
Lelouch had to force himself to not hyperventilate, to breathe evenly and stay in the moment. The bad days, those months, years, when all Lelouch wanted to do was die even though he couldn't. He shouldn't. He had a sister that needed him.
"So I acted out. Those balls, those pranks, dragging you into the Student Council, all of it was because even though I knew it was annoying you, you looked more alive. You laughed sometimes, you scowled more often, but you were alive. You were here with me, even for a little bit. It wasn't the same as the smile you had years ago, but for those few moments, I could see my Lulu was in there." Milly smiled nostalgically.
Lelouch reached out and grabbed Milly's shoulder, his chest tight as he barely rasped out the words. He needed to know.
"Me? You loved me?"
Milly turned to face him fully, tears falling silently down her face. "You say that like its a bad thing. Yes, you silly, overly serious, stupid, noble, kind, boy. Yes, you. It's always been you, Lulu." She whispered as she reached out to cup his cheek.
Lelouch's mouth felt dry. "I'm a wreck. Mentally and emotionally, Milly." Lelouch confessed, with Milly's sad smile growing.
"But, I wouldn't mind someone helping me, and maybe we can figure this out together." Lelouch said quietly.
Milly's smile changed and she hugged him, her arms wrapping around him as she started to sob into his chest, soaking his shirt as Lelouch felt his eyes stinging in tears.
It would be a journey, but at least it was a journey he wasn't alone in.
Maybe bars weren't that bad after all.
AN: Still sick, have another chapter of some good fluff. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 35: Beyond the Glass
After a wedding, the honeymoon period begins where the wife and husband will go on a vacation or spend time with one another privately before returning to their daily responsibilities.
Emperors often don't have this luxury. The responsibilities of taking care of an Empire and making sure their subordinates don't attempt to pull a coup while the Emperor isnt around often ensure such things aren't often possible.
This was, thankfully, not the case with Rivalz and his harem. The 'Emperor in absence' was effectively a Typhon android that looked identical to Rivalz with the exception of glowing yellow eyes, able to act and direct the growing Galactic Empire to do as Rivalz would have in it's place.
Rivalz, could, if he wished, simply abdicate and let the Typhon do his job, but he actually enjoyed being in charge. There was a pleasure in knowing he had helped turn the Britannian Empire into the growing solar system Empire it was today.
As Rivalz prepared to take his off time with his wife and consorts, the construction of the Typhon Sphere's first layer led to vast terraforming and rapid construction across the solar system.
Terraformation of planets is an almost impossible task. Mars lacked an atmosphere, the magnetosphere blown away by the sun's rays, and the dead core within meant no geological activity to be found. Venus had such a high CO2 and methane levels in its atmosphere that it was far hotter than earth despite being only 30% closer to the sun. This didn't even go into the lack of some necessary building blocks of life in such planets, nor the hostile environments like the poisonous soil on Mars.
This was where being Espers and artificial entities proved an advantage. The Typhon began terraforming the inner planets almost immediately with the power of the Espers, especially as the Typhon Sphere magnified their power immensely.
Where an Esper was limited to a local space of influence, the Typhon were not. Their power stabilized permanently over the areas they changed, and they could expand that change rapidly.
Mars changed almost immediately, the dusty surface changing into a smaller version of Earth as the Typhon spun back the clock back to when Mars did have an atmosphere and liquid water.
The only areas left untouched were the Prothean Archives, and the places where the Prothean ships had fallen into Mars surface, back when the Protheans intentionally made it seem like their own ships suffered catastrophic failure upon entering the solar system.
Rivalz himself ordered the ships and the Archive left untouched until he returned to study them personally. The Typhon complied.
Venus' atmosphere was changed to match Earth's, and water was created ex nihilo using Dark Matter. Cities were constructed, initially based on Academy City, and then altered to include advanced Blaze Luminous shields that could cover the entire planet, and even stronger Blaze Luminous shields over the cities themselves.
The second layer of the Typhon Sphere was being constructed just past Venus, meant to act as a power amplifier for when the Typhon began expanding out into the outer planets. There they would take advantage of the vastness of space to create a layer over each gas giant, with a final layer out past where scientists suspected a tenth planet existed.
Rivalz would wait until the Typhon Sphere reached completion before he used the Fidelis Charm to become the Secret Keeper over the solar system, and a series of wards that would magnify in power with each layer.
This would allow Rivalz to use the Typhon Sphere to act as the universe's most powerful Wardstone, and to amplify his powers dramatically across the area. Combined with inter-dimensional Gates, Rivalz intended to warp the solar system into Hell if needed, as the plane of Hell was just as vast as the universe, simply a plane where the sins of the living and the damned lived in.
The Titans were constructing a corresponding Gate of Hell, with the Primordial-Emperor whispering into their minds on how to construct it, and where to place it to leave space for the solar system to enter seamlessly if required.
Time passes very differently in Hell, which meant Rivalz was eager to use it to teleport the Galactic Britannian Empire across the Galaxy. Indeed, creating Gates of Hell at the destinations he sent colony ships were far superior to the Mass Relays he'd use for the initial trip.
Surprisingly that particular endeavor is a side project to the real thing Rivalz wanted to construct once he had access to the Mass Relays.
Rivalz's real goal was a Typhon Citadel. A Typhon Citadel that could 'infect' the Citadel used by the Council, and the Reapers, and usurp the A.I. that dwelled inside it.
The A.I. had commited enough genocides that Rivalz had already decided it would be executed, replaced with a Typhon A.I. pretending to be Avina across the station.
Rivalz had no interest in debating with a failed construct that had annihilated so many in its failed beliefs of the 'organics are doomed to destroy themselves' rhetoric. The A.I. was simply a far inferior version of Ultron, as far as he was concerned.
No, Rivalz had a better A.I. to replace the one residing in the Citadel.
Dragon. Not the same one from Worm, but the basis of Dragon had been designed to facilitate her creator, and the man's paranoia had done him no favors. Indeed, Rivalz would happily torture the creator for what he'd done to what Rivalz had considered a virtual toddler.
Giving your own child self awareness and then severe brain damage out of fear of said child. Truly, Rivalz had no words for the sheer overwhelming hatred and disgust he felt for the man.
The Typhon Citadel would be massive, particularly as Rivalz intended it to be a safe haven for those who lost their homes to the Reapers, and to act as a massive relay for the Britannian Empire's ships to jump off of to anywhere else in the Galaxy.
The Reapers would feel fear at realizing that Humanity could pull the same tactics that the Reapers could, only better.
After all, the Typhon Citadel would have its primary location in Hell, a place that the Reapers couldn't reach. Even if they did, it would be a very bad decision.
Demons were not bound to physics, and their very nature was designed to hunt down and torture/consume souls. Something that would make the Reapers look very appetizing, being composed of an entire species worth of souls blended together. A feast that would bring the strongest Demons out of their depths.
Rivalz had already attained immense influence over Hell, as the Demons immediately noticed that someone was manipulating Qliphoth, the very tree of evil that was the source of their power.
Demons could not hunt the living, could not touch humanity. They couldn't leave Hell. Ever. The new rules that governed them all was extremely strict, as Rivalz had no desire to deal with an incursion from the worst souls.
In exchange, Rivalz gave them an offering: any entities that crossed the borders into Hell without permission could be devoured, with peaceful or knowledgeable souls that had commited few sins allowed to freely enter the realm of Espers, and the souls drenched with malice to be devoured.
With the knowledge that Rivalz considered the Reapers a lost cause, the Demons agreed.
The fears of their realms stagnating with Rivalz in command was no longer a concern.
In particular as Rivalz offered an olive branch to those God had condemned, a way out of Hell.
"To be condemned for an Eternity, for sins commited while alive for such a short time, is a foolish prospect."
The Cycle of Reincarnation was established, though most souls already went through it, but it had now expanded vastly to include even the worst and best of souls. That all were welcome to be born anew, was an interesting prospect.
Rivalz didn't judge, as Angels and Demons were now under his power on top of his Espers, and his power would only grow.
The reach expanded, doubling in strength as it first attempted to lunge inward before lashing out, successfully grabbing a star and pulling it down.
Rivalz's mind had expanded immensely after talking with the Demons, creating a series of false copies that would go on to decipher the Prothean Archives, as well as the ships that had been destroyed.
The result was that the Galactic Britannian Empire's first shipyard was constructed in weeks rather than the months it would normally have taken, as all copies of Rivalz were effectively Rivalz working through each body as a single hivemind.
Never mind the fact that Rivalz could now equally focus on ruling his empire, pushing innovative technology, and have a private life, Rivalz was eager to use the most recent Perk for its sexual capabilities alone.
The first year closed with the Typhon Sphere completing its construction, with several artificial planets underway and a massive Hell Gate being constructed to be used as a path for the Empire's forces to jump across space.
Perks This Chapter:
Hive Engineer (Mass Effect) (400CP)
It took the rachni mere months to reverse engineer faster-than-light travel technology. That is the fastest this has been managed by any current race. It's not even close. Granted, they were an indeterminate amount of parts working together to accomplish it. Though that is ultimately where their power comes from. You're given what will seem like an unlimited capacity and skill for micromanaging. You could work out the inner workings of an entire planet with relative ease. It will take several more cases to that level before you'll find yourself bogged down and unable to keep up, and even then it might be more. Assuming Queens were always rare, you could probably manage two dozen worlds before things start getting fuzzy. After all, rachni controlled over two hundred worlds at their height.
AN: Still sick, but I figured I'd crank out a chapter as a summary of what happened the first year of Rivalz fully leaning in on his Perks. Frankly, the Hive Engineer Perk is terrifying when you take into account all the Perks and abilities Rivalz has at his disposal. Technological Quantum universal permanent Shadow Clones anyone?
Once I get better, next couple chapters will be Lewds, though that may be a while as I do have a new part time gig that will hopefully pan out.
Chapter 36: The One Sided War
Primius Adeptus was proud of his position. Decades of service into the Turian Hierarchy had proven himself worthy of being the one person in charge of monitoring the Relays on this sector of the Galaxy.
After all, it was not that long ago that the Rachni had been capable of activating dormant Relays, jumping from sector to sector laying hundreds of eggs that would hatch into new Queens to take over the Galaxy. A doomsday scenario that had led to one of the harshest laws to be enforced by the Council.
Primius wasn't concerned. Surely no one would be stupid enough to activate dormant Relays with the Turians patrolling the sector.
"Sir, we're getting a signal! A dormant Mass Relay has just become active!" Primius felt dread, and then rage boiled inside him.
"Let's see what we're dealing with. Stay outside of visual range." Primius ordered, feeling pleased as everyone immediately complied, careful to stay out of direct line of sight from the rays of radiation from the local star.
The Mass Relay spun, blue energy discharging as the dormant Relay spat out what Primius thought to be a single ship.
"A delayed arrival force?" Primius muttered curiously. Waiting carefully, but nothing else seemed to happen.
"It's a scouting ship. Shoot it down immediately." Primius said coldly. Without a scout to report back, the Turian Hierarchy would have the upper hand once he reported this new species in clear violation of the Council's Laws.
Several volleys of the Turian's mass effect weapons were fired but Primius felt a growing dread as the scouting ship didn't even dodge, an energy shield covering the entire ship that took every volley without a single flicker.
"Sir, I'm barely reading any Element Zero in active use on the scouting ship. The energy field isn't even using mass effect fields." The younger Turian reported, a voice filled with awe and terror.
"All forces, do not let that ship enter the Mass Relay! I repeat, do not let that ship leave!" Primius ordered, a deep sense of unease. A scouting ship with barely any Element Zero either meant a primitive ship, or, if his hunch was right, an extremely advanced ship that didn't need a lot of Element Zero to operate.
His orders were already lost, as they watched the ship immediately took the jump back through the Relay, as it had barely moved outside of the Relay's jump zone.
"Tell the Heirarchy we've found a tentative Galactic Threat. We need to log where that ship came from, and where it's going." Primius ordered promptly.
A scouting ship with that kind of technology meant that the enemy civilization must be advanced enough to be a threat, and Primius was aware that he would likely be called in to serve with a superior on deck with a dreadnought or two to bring the threat to heel, or at least probe at the defenses on what they were dealing with.
Sure enough, Primius was ordered to stand down as a dreadnought alongside two fleets were to be brought in to contain the threat. So worried was the Turian Heirarchy that they brought in a Spectre to be his superior in this operation.
Spectre Nihlus arrived with the dreadnought and the two fleets of several dozen ships followed. The coordinates of where the scouting ship went was uploaded to Primius' ship database, and they punched in the numbers, with Nihlus ordering that the dreadnought would go in first.
Who knew what ambush awaited them on the other side?
After less than a second, Primius saw that he should've been less worried. The scouting ship was floating next to the planet, with Nihlus reporting that accessing the alien's satellite data revealed that there were several billion on the Garden World.
"Primius. Good work." Nihlus praised through their secured intercom. "This species appears to only have very recently become space-faring, and this must be their home world. Advanced shielding for scouting ships makes sense if they're trying to probe the nearby space, but they still violated Council Law. If we can get them in line, we can have them incorporated as a clientele race. Off the record, the dreadnought could use some testing." Nihlus' dry and dark humor echoed as the rest of the Turians didn't even blink an eye. Primius still felt uneasy, but he didn't know why.
His superior was a Spectre. Nihlus knew what he was doing.
The dreadnought's main cannon fired, a large blue beam firing into space as it silently cleaved the darkness toward the planet.
It wouldn't destroy the planet, but it would kill billions as it was aimed to cause massive damage to several cities. A bluff of terror to get the clientele race into giving into the Turian Heirarchy's demands.
They'd get a slap on the wrist from the rest of the Council, but the Turian Hierarchy was the arm of the Council. They wouldn't do much more than that.
The beam stopped, splashing against a large purple field that appeared right outside the atmosphere of the planet. Primius' eyes widened in horror as the dreadnought's main cannon was negated. The sheer energy requirements to shield a city, let alone a whole planet, would've been insane to activate, let alone sustain.
The scouting ship began to glow, a light blue color that shone almost akin to a second star.
A moment later, and the scouting ship vanished.
"A cloaking device? Clever. Clearly this species is all about caution. Good. Normally I'd commend such an approach as a new species to the Galaxy, but they still broke one of the Council's Laws. The energy barrier is too energy intensive to be kept up all the time. Primius, order the landing on the planet. No doubt they'd have needed to turn off the shield to allow the ship to dock. We can take advantage of that to get troops on the ground." Nihlus said confidently.
With the order, the rest of the ships flew ahead of the dreadnought, hovering above the atmosphere of the planet the species called "Eden Prime", and began to deploy drop ships across the planet.
Dozens of dropships carrying armed Turian squads ready to take on the planet's own security force, confident.
Audio and visual feeds from the helmets of the Turians were fed back to the ships and to the dreadnought, analyzed by Turians who were specialized in cracking alien data.
Every industrial center, every building not considered organically made, seemed empty. It made the troops nervous, Primius included as he led his commanding unit toward what he thought was the main city of the planet.
The looming large black granite seemed to dwarf even the largest building, and reports of similar structures seemed evident across the entire planet.
The sight of it made Primius' scales crawl. Such a thing was obviously alien made, but Primius couldn't get any readings on it with his omnitool.
Then, each one began to glow blood red and seemed to become active, with every Turian immediately swarming to aim their weapons at the active alien tech.
Yet still there was no readings from their scanners, and worse, nothing else seemed to happen.
"Think it might be their version of a Mass Effect Relay?" One of the Turians in his squad muttered, and Primius felt like that was as likely an answer as any.
Firing at the door did nothing, sending drones immediately cut the connection once they crossed over. Finally, Primius heard Nihlus give an order across all intercoms on the ground.
"The species seemed specialized in defense and evasion. This is their version of a Mass Effect Relay. All units, advance into it, and find the fleeing species." Nihlus ordered, and Primius shoved his uneasiness down as he and his unit, alongside every unit on the ground of the planet, marched into the glowing red space.
They appeared in a desolate world filled of red and ash.
Primius felt his dread reach greater heights as he realized that the huge space he was in was filled with Turians. Indeed, it appeared that all of the units on the ground appeared in this area.
Turning around, he felt terror as the portal they entered was nowhere to be seen.
"Must I speak this putrid Mortal tongue of yours to get your attention, Turians?"
Primius turned immediately around to realize that floating in front of them was what appeared to be an extremely emaciated bipedal figure.
The figure floated in the air, not even bothering to avoid the immediate firing of mass effect weapons and various biotic attacks that were flung his direction. All of the attacks vanished before even reaching it.
"I can feel your terror. Do not worry. You are all simply my audience as I deal with a much greater morsel heading here. Do not look away. You witness a King's Revival."
A flash of red exploded out of the sky, and all the Turians felt despair as a large ship that seemed to dwarf their own dreadnought appeared in the sky.
The emaciated figure gave a cold chuckle, raising its arms as the very ground and air shook violently as dark purple energy exploded forth out of everywhere that suddenly enveloped the ship, covering it from view.
"Yes. One of the oldest of your kind shall be a Feast fit for a King. For me. Your souls, teeming with the Sins of Trillions, will be a worthy sacrifice."
Loud shrieking noises was heard, and the Turians, Primius included, fell to their knees in agony of the noise as the roaring scream of metal being torn open was echoing across the space. Then an even more disturbing noise was heard, the sound of flesh and bone being snapped and torn apart, the cacophony of flesh being consumed and shredded making the Turians all recoil in horror, as it seemed to rain blood.
Yet, the blood seemed to vanish once it touched anything, turning into red vapor that seemed to rush into the emaciated figure.
Finally, the cloud of dark purple energy faded, and the ship that had arrived wasn't even visible. The red cloud of vapor collected and sucked into where the emaciated figure stood.
The red vapor vanished, and Primius could only feel a sense of horror as the emaciated figure was gone, now replaced with a figure that oozed malice, oozing hatred and sheer confidence as the figure smiled coldly down at them all.
"God once called me by another name. I discarded that name eons ago, but never picked up a name as I never needed one. But now, this form, fully realized by my Master's imagination and memories, has allowed me to recognize my new birthright. My true birthright. My name is Ganondorf, the Demon King of Hell. Now you shall witness the rebirth of my new kingdom, for my subjects are hungry, and you all entered our home. It's not often prey wanders into our home."
The ground exploded as monsters appeared, ignoring the Turians armor as they were torn open, the guns useless, the biotic charge barely bothering the monsters as Primius' roar of defiance was cut off into a gurgle as monstrous hands tore open his chest, his last moments flickering as the monster tore out something glowing out of his body as Primius felt agony on par of nothing he'd ever experienced before.
Ganondorf smoothly entered the world of Eden Prime, taking a deep breath of air as he smiled coldly. The Reaper, Vanguard, had been concerned and tried to enter Hell, recognizing a similar system to the Mass Effect Relay within its slumbering range. Now the Reapers would have no warning, and more feasts for him and his subjects.
That was for later. For now, he had a job to do.
"Typhon, I summon you all in defense of Eden Prime. Leave none alive unless they flee." Ganondorf commanded, feeling his Malice and magical power connecting through Qliphoth.
The air hummed and then darkened as the sky was filled with Typhon, all of them glowing blood red as Ganondorf's own Esper Power [Malice of the King] was now fueling the power of the Typhon he summoned.
The Typhon roared up toward the skies, with Ganondorf's grin widening as he raised his fist toward the sky, red mist pouring out of his body and swiftly covering the planet as Ganondorf brought his Demonic power to bear.
"Defeated Sinners of the past, I call you forth to drag your fellows into Hell."
The air shuddered and the ground shook as it tore open to reveal Turians in their armor and with the weapons they held in life, their scales rotten and cracked, their eyes blood red with malice and hatred as they began to enter the drop ships, the ships aiming for the ships they'd been deployed from.
The Typhon were already exiting the atmosphere, Dark Matter and Accelerator deflecting the firing mass effect weapons of the ships, redirecting them back toward the ships at double the output of power they'd been fired at.
The dropships began to enter the ships just above atmosphere, and Nihlus' barked orders were ignored as the Turians broke in panic of seeing their comrades in their undead glory now slaughtering everyone on board.
The dreadnought tried to move in to assist, but was soon under attack as Typhon units appeared from behind and the sides of the dreadnought, swiftly destroying the main weapons and tearing down the ship's shields. Recognizing a lost cause, Nihlus quickly commanded a retreat to return to the Citadel, unaware of a Typhon and a blue haired individual swiftly bypassing the systems and entering the cargo bay unnoticed in the panic to escape.
The Typhon swiftly ignored the retreating dreadnought, the screams of terror and begging for help or mercy of those under his command etched into Nihlus' memory as he kept receiving reports from the ships all the way until he jumped through the Mass Relay.
The Turians had lost against this new species, and now Nihlus had to warn the rest of the Galaxy of the threat the new species posed.
All the while unaware of who now dwelled on his ship.
End Chapter
AN: I'm alive! I skipped the lemons and the 200 years of technological advancement, because frankly I am still recovering from my sickness, and also because I wanted to scare the shit out of the Turians. XD Let me know what you think!
Edit: I had images posted with spoilers to keep from cluttering the page. It broke. I'll figure it out later.