Chapter 44
Mitna Rachnun/Grey Realm
"Let us begin." Said Mordekaiser as he begun the yearly reports of all his activities in Runeterra, Hell, and Earth. "Today is the day that you all tell me of how you fared in advancing our goals of complete domination of all facets of life. You have all done well in advancing towards those goals so far and I'm eager to hear what you all have to report." He then turned towards a familiar face, one that was still on Earth but was able to communicate via magical means for they all learned early on that the Grey Realm had an adverse effects on those that weren't undead. Very adverse effects. Moxxie and Millie were both fortunate that they were only present in Mitna Rachnun for a short period of time and had Mordekaiser around to protect them otherwise things would end quite poorly for them. Mordekaiser did not lie to Moxxie that he was only able to survive in Mitna Rachnun because of his protection. "Imogene Park. I hear that your conglomerate has made excellent strides in spreading my influence across all of Asia."
"We have, milord." Said Imogene Park, the representative of the Genesis Conglomerate that assigned Blitzo's company to eliminate the demons Loopty and Lyle with a special poison they concocted. A poison designed specifically to kill Sinners and one that worked to utter perfection in that regard. "I'm also pleased to inform you that the SN-01 poison has worked to perfection in its intended goal of killing Sinner demons. Not only have our agents within Hell confirmed that Lyle and Loopty have not reappeared in Hell again after I.M.P. killed them but our dissection of their corpses have also yielded positive results on how to improve the formula." Mordekaiser nodded in approval at that. No one else but Mordekaiser knew how hard it was to kill to grant a soul True Death. How much effort it takes to permanently kill a soul to ensure that it will never return as it once was in any shape or for. So when he heard that the Angels have not only developed a metal that gives True Death to souls but also have it wielded common foot soldiers was of great interest to Mordekaiser.
So much so that he had acquired quite a substantial amount of Angelic Weapons left over by the Exterminations, why the Angels left so many of their weapons in Hell, many of which were in serviceable condition, was something he had ire with, in secret so that he can learn the secrets of how they did this. This did ran the risk of drawing the attention of Carmilla Carmine, the Overlord in charge of handling and manufacturing Angelic Weapons from leftover Angelic arms in Hell, but Mordekaiser saw little reason to care about her, especially when he could easily kill Carmilla without much effort on his part and make it look like a rival Overlord caused it. Besides, its not like she'll try to figure out the truth, other demons, whether they be Overlord or not, scavenge Angelic weapons too in the hopes of acquiring an edge against their rivals or enemies. This technically broke the rule of Carmilla being the only Sinner to handle Angelic weapon distribution, but Mordekaiser has long gotten used to the flippant disregard to law and order that demons of Hell all had. What he and his scientists found were quite…enlightening to say the least. So much so that it inspired them to create several new methods to grant True Death to the Sinners of Hell, a very nasty surprise when they start their takeover of Hell. The poison was but one of these methods and if they all work as intended as the poison then all of Hell will be in helpless against Mordekaiser's legions. Not that they weren't helpless before.
"Excellent. Continue improving upon the formula along with improving your energy projects." Said Mordekaiser, causing Imogene to bow and say they will do as he commands. With that, Mordekaiser then looked at the ones responsible for the new weapon he used to help save his son and that incompetent Blitzo, the ones that represent one of his front companies on Earth, Emeraude.
Emeraude Corporation, an arms manufacturer in Germany. Renowned for their making of high end ballistic weaponry, particularly explosives, and advances in the fields of robotics. Their representative, a small man with brown hair and eyes by the name of Adler. Despite being on Earth as well, Adler was looking upon Mordekaiser with a great amount of fear, no doubt because of his intimidating size and the dread aura that always came with undead when the living have to interact with them in any shape or form. His eyes showing nothing but fear as he looked upon the Iron Revenant yet that didn't stop him from standing tall as he could. Respecting him for his efforts to at least try to look presentable to him, Mordekaiser addressed the man.
"My appreciation for the weapon that you have provided me." Said Mordekaiser as he looked upon Adler, who stood firm at Mordekaiser's gauze. "It was quite effective. So much so that I believe that your corporation will have my permission to continue developing the weapon you given me as well as look into possible ways of making them more powerful." Upon hearing that, Adler bowed in thanks to Mordekaiser.
"Thank you, milord." Said Adler, his thick German accent showing appreciation and relief at Mordekaiser appreciating the weapon that Emeraude has made for him and his armies. He had feared what would happen if Mordekaiser did not appreciate the weapon prototypes they made for him. "We will move forward with the gyro jet firearms program. We have many wonderful ways to improve upon the weapons we have given you." Mordekaiser nodded at that before addressing the next of his subordinates, an Overlord of Hell.
It amuses the Iron Revenant just how easy it was to gain the allegiance of denizens of Hell. How easy they proclaim loyalty to others as long as one is stronger than them in any shape or form. How easy it was to make them bend the knee to another power without any care to previous loyalties and the like. And the Princess of Hell thought these people were of any worth, let alone redemption. Pathetic. He would pity her if she was of any worth on pitying for.
"And how have the denizens of Hell reacted to my proclamation sometime ago?" Asked Mordekaiser, addressing the Sinner that was rat-like in appearance. A fitting form given how spineless he was. So spineless that he only managed to obtain the position of Overlord because of Mordekaiser aid and that aid alone. All this Overlord had and obtained was because of him and it would be within the Overlord's best interests to remember that. Fortunately, he was loyal to Mordekaiser as he was spineless.
"They have reacted as expected, milord." Said the Sinner as he twitched in fear of Mordekaiser. Like everyone else that weren't Undead, the Overlord was contacting Mordekaiser via magical means in a safe location, far away from prying eyes. "All across the Pride Ring, Sinners and Hellborn are whispering your name in fear and respect. Some call you an insane Sinner with delusions of grandeur, but others are calling you a liberator of the ineffectual regime of the Sins and Lucifer. Such thoughts and views are particularly repeated strongly amongst the Overlords. I hear the Vs in particular are considering searching you in hopes of possible benefits to them. I also believe you will rather like to hear what Carmilla and Zestial did after your actions against Zestial. They hired dozens of mercenaries and private investigators to try and find who you are and eliminate you. Not that any of them will succeed, but I thought it will please you to hear this." Mordekaiser let out a laugh at this.
"It does for a moment." Said Mordekaiser, the fools that think him insane and delusional will soon realize the errors of their ways in time. For now, it amuses him that the idiotic masses that were Overlords in Hell try to use him for their own benefit or try to use him as an example of not defying them. If only they knew the truth. "If I recall, the Vs are amongst the influential Overlords in the Pride Ring, correct?" When the rat Sinner nodded, Mordekaiser looked at Keira. "What are possible benefits of making them swear allegiance to me, Keira?"
"Nothing that they possess is something we desire nor do we lack in, milord." Said Keira as she recalled what she knew of the Vs. "Valentino will only weaken us on account of his less then savory attitude and behavior that can only be tolerated in Hell. While we do have even more unsavory individuals amongst our ranks, they have something that permits them to be kept around due to their worth. I believe Valentino is more trouble than he is worth, milord. It would be better for us to simply kill him. Make an example of how we will not tolerate individuals like him. Vox has more worth than Valentino, but not by much. He doesn't provide anything that we don't have in better quality and quantity. He could be of some worth, but given he's in a relationship with Valentino, and a strong one if our spies amongst their ranks is any indication, its unlikely he'll join us if we kill Valentino. The same goes for the one known as Velvette. A pity as she is the only one amongst the Vs that is of some use to us. The bond the Vs have is surprisingly wholesome in Hell's standard. They care about each other and so if we want one, the others will unfortunately have to brought in as well. Unless we could find a way to break that bond." Mordekaiser hummed at that, pleased to hear what Keira thought of the Vs.
Truth be told, he also had low opinions of the Vs as well, finding them to be perfect examples of everything wrong with both the humans of Earth and the denizens of Hell. Overconfident, lazy, too comfortable in their positions to really do anything productive, and, above all, refuse to acknowledge their betters in any shape or form, believing them to be better than anyone else, even with evident to the contrary.
With very little that they can currently offer him and quite a few disadvantages of actually recruiting them into his ranks, the best that Mordekaiser can think of for the Vs was using them as examples to others on what will happen to those that dare to try and hold to the old ways of Hell. And what will happen to those that do not submit and change to better suit his vision of the future for Hell.
"If they change their ways and are willing to swear fealty to me, then we will give them a chance to show their willingness to embrace change and improve upon themselves." Said Mordekaiser. "But if they fail to do so, then use them as a warning to others. The behavior of the Vs and others like them will not be tolerated in my empire. Is that understood?" Everyone present nodded at that, knowing full well that Mordekaiser meant what he said. "Excellent. Now let us focus on a critical task that must be completed."
"As you all know, we have conducted multiple projects dedicated to finding a way to bypass the supposed invulnerability that Angels possess against conventional arms." Said Mordekaiser. "While I doubt that they truly are invulnerable to conventional arms, the fact remains that unless we have a reliable and proven means to kill their warriors, then we cannot start our plans to conquer Heaven and Earth. And while you all have done well in providing potential means to achieve this, my patience is not infinite. Our other projects are near completion or have been completed and their efforts will go to waste if we cannot find a proven means to combat the Angels. Therefore, I propose that we capture a few Angels in the next Extermination." Upon hearing that, the demons amongst his followers looked at each other in unease and even horror. What their master was proposing was something that had never been done since the Exterminations began. If he went with this proposal, not only will they be risking their existence to all the major powers in Hell and Heaven, but may even lead to an all-out war. Something many of them, admittedly, desiring, but didn't think they will get it so brashly. Mordekaiser, obviously, saw the concern emitting from the demons because he spoke to reassure them.
"I can see some of you are concerned with the supposed rashness of my proposal of capturing some of the Exterminator Angels during Extermination Day along with the risk of exposing ourselves." Said Mordekaiser as he looked at all his subordinates. Although a bit disappointed at their reaction, but not actually surprised, the spineless of Demons of Hell was astounding, Mordekaiser already had a plan in mind to alleviate their worries. "That is why we will force one of the denizens of Hell that have not yet swore allegiance to me to do the deed." Upon hearing that, everyone looked at him in both intrigue and confusion.
"As you all know, Carmilla Carmine is the Overlord of Angelic Arms and other arms manufacturing in Hell." Explained Mordekaiser. "Despite being the only one allowed to procure and produce Angelic Arms in the aftermath of the Exterminations, other demons take what Angelic weapons that are left over from the Exterminations, with some even doing so while the Extermination is occurring, just to gain an edge over their rivals or kill what Overlord they find themselves enslaved too. Carmilla herself does this as well, but she has the protection of being a Hellborn. As Hellborn are pardoned from the Exterminations, she is safe to scavenge what Angelic Arms she desires, thereby ensuring her companies products are amongst the highest quality of Angelic Weapons found in Hell. Its only through the skills of our scavengers and the ignorance of Carmilla Carmine that we have avoided garnering her attention." Everyone looked at each other when Mordekaiser said this, wondering what he was going with this. It was then that he revealed something that shocked the Demons amongst his ranks.
"But what if I told you all that she isn't a Hellborn at all." Said Mordekaiser, causing shock to appear amongst the Demons. "She is a Sinner. Her identity as a Hellborn, and by extension her daughters, was a fabrication made by her and her ally Zestial to allow her to collect the highest quality of Angelic Steel left over from the Exterminations without fear of drawing the attention of the Angels. Such information was kept hidden by various means, but Voraq was able to procure this information with a little…persuasion." The undead known as Voraq simply glowed his eyes brighter, leaving some to wonder what he did to acquire such secretive information, while others wondered if they wanted to know at all. "Now I imagine some of you are quite displeased to hear such information with others not caring at all, but imagine how furious the Angels will be when they learn this information as well." Upon hearing that, everyone realized what Mordekaiser planned to do.
He intended on using Carmilla to do the dirty work for them. To see if Angels can be killed. If she succeeded, they'll capture her and interrogate her how this was done. If she was failed, Hell loses of the few actually competent Overlords and they lose practically nothing for their efforts.
"How will we accomplish this, milord?" Asked the rat Sinner as he looked at Mordekaiser in earnest, wondering what he intended on doing to achieve his goals of using Carmine. Mordekaiser simply looked at Keira, who responded.
"Former Special Operations soldiers from various nations around Earth that have died and made their way here through various means will conduct raiding and sabotage operations on Carmilla Carmine's facilities." Explained Keira to the group of Demons, Humans, and Undead. "Their goal is force Carmilla Carmine to venture into more active parts of the next Extermination to acquire the necessary Angelic Steel to satisfy her clients' needs. In addition, we'll reveal the information that Carmine is actually a Sinner to the Angels during the Extermination. With luck, this will lead to a bloody encounter between the two groups and, if necessary, we'll eliminate the survivors to achieve our goals." Upon hearing all that, everyone couldn't help but grin in amusement and sadism. It was an amusing ploy of their own design. Carmilla had always played with fire when she took the position of being the Angelic Weapons manufacture in Hell and it seems it finally came to haunt her.
"That will be our plan to acquire knowledge on the weaknesses of the Angels. If Carmilla fails and we do not acquire the necessary information, then we will simply find another way to acquire that information. Until then, I advise you Demons to prepare for the upcoming Extermination. It's fast approaching and I will not tolerate any damages to my resources because of your carelessness. Is that understood?" The Sinners and Hellborn under the Iron Revenant's thrall nodded their heads at this. Ever since they swore fealty to him, they have been protected from abuse from the nobles of Hell, various Overlords seeking their souls, and the Exterminations. Either by working in his shelters, being reserved a spot in them when the Exterminations come, or being protected from retribution by other secretive means. It was a good life. They work for him and provide him information on the working of Hell's society to even influencing it to his favor and he protects them from harm as well as giving them a better life than someone in Hell deserves.
Seeing his demonic underlings understanding his words, Mordekaiser was about to move onto another subjects when another underling spoke to him.
"Actually, before you continue milord, I did want to speak to you regarding a potential weapon that may give us a further edge against our enemies." Said an underling. A human female with brown eyes and hair as she looked at the Iron Revenant with determination. Intrigued at what she said, Mordekaiser looked at her, recognizing her as one of the Shareholders for the Zio Matrix Company. A corporation located in the United Kingdoms that specializes in more exotic technologies. Mainly the fields of advanced weaponry, energy production, and robotics. Remembering that he had them invest in more theoretical and resource-extensive projects, Mordekaiser wondered what this woman had to say.
"And what exactly is this edge that your company is working on?" Asked Mordekaiser as he looked upon the woman. He searched his mind on what projects he had Zio Matrix working on that this woman could be speaking about. He soon got his answer when she revealed what she was talking about.
"Are you aware of the mech project that Zio Matrix has started after we absorbed remnants of the Murakumo Millenium Corporation?" Asked the woman, causing Mordekaiser to understand what she was saying.
Murakumo Millenium was one of the very first front companies that Mordekaiser's followers have constructed during his initial infiltration of Earth's societies. And while many of these initial companies thrived and became major players in the industries they specialized in, Murakumo was not amongst them. While he initially did leave the company in capable hands, meaning it did thrive for a time, not even Mordekaiser himself can account for the incredibly stupid things that humans can do when they garner too much power or is given too much responsibilities they weren't ready for. Especially among those from Earth.
The initial batch of leaders he had placed within control of the company either died due to accidents or from the weaknesses that came of flesh to being replaced with those Mordekaiser and his most competent of followers hadn't verified to see if they were capable of leading the company in the positions they were given. Obviously, if they were verified, Murakumo would still be around. But alas, between mind-boggling decisions that no sane person would think to ever do, unnecessary risky business ventures that failed, to just flat-out incompetence and stupidity, the company became more trouble than its worth. All of which was done without reporting to Mordekaiser himself and waiting for his permission. And when attempts by Mordekaiser's envoys to make the board of directors behind Murakumo Millenium see reason resulted in said messengers being laughed at or forcibly removed from company grounds, Mordekaiser decided to axing the whole company.
Thus, he ordered a smear campaign be done against Murakumo from the other companies in the region under his thrall as well as loyalists within the company to self-sabotage the company. He also personally ordered Keira to take care of Murakumo's finances, which she did by having their best computer hackers to hack into Murakumo's bank accounts and siphon all the money away, essentially leaving Murakumo penniless. All this soon left Murakumo filing for bankruptcy and giving a strong message to the rest of the companies on Earth that follow Mordekaiser. Never do anything foolish and if you do, you best have a good explanation for why. Otherwise, you'll end up like Murakumo Millenium. Or worse, the board of directors that caused the company to go bankrupt, who souls were still being tortured by Mordekaiser personally to this day, their screams echoing in his rumored torture chambers.
Zio Matrix was the company that acquired all of Murakumo Millenium's assets, ensuring nothing that could reveal the existence of Mordekaiser could leak to the people of Earth, and with it came many of Murakumo's secrets. One of which was what this woman was talking about.
"Ah, yes." Said Mordekaiser as he realized what this woman was speaking of. "The Muscle Tracer Project I believe it was called. A failed attempt by Murakumo to bring life to the concepts of mechs to the real world. Am I correct?" When the woman nodded, various Demons and humans amongst Mordekaiser's followers began to laugh and snicker. They all knew about the Muscle Tracer Project. One of the many things that led to the downfall of Murakumo Millenium.
While many didn't know the exact details, they did know that the Muscle Tracer Project costs billions of UK Pounds in research and development for a concept that shouldn't work in the real world. At least not as effectively as one could accomplish with a standard bulldozer and crane, which was what Murakumo Millenium was going for. To have mechs be utilized in an industrial capacity and perhaps later in the fields of military applications. As a means to bypass the restrictions placed on corporations by governments on what their private security forces can operate. And also a way to gain a monopoly on a new field of industry and also impressing Mordekaiser, which it didn't. In fact it only drew his attention to the incompetence of Murakumo Millenium when each yearly report from them regarding their plummeting earnings and yields to his goals were met with only assurances that all will work out in the end for all of them.
Despite all this, Zio Matrix still held onto the Muscle Tracer, or MT Project in hopes of the very same things. The board of directors for Zio Matrix had to make numerous assurances and promises to Mordekaiser that this will not impede their ability to help him achieve his goals and that they will keep him on the loop regarding the project. Mordekaiser, wary of the MT Project due to the taint it had from Murakumo, nonetheless allowed Zio Matrix to continue with the project on the condition that it be constantly monitored by his loyal servants and they focus on more feasible projects relating to their fields of specialty over the MT Project, which was robotics and energy production. Something they shared with both the Genesis Conglomerate and Emeraude Corporation.
"That would be correct, milord." Said the woman before speaking again. "We believe we finally managed to reach a breakthrough with the project. We can have a demonstration ready for your viewing within the confines of Zio Matrix Headquarters. We believe that it will finally make everything that was committed and expended by the MT Project to finally be worth it." Mordekaiser held doubts on that, but if the Zio Matrix board of directors was confident enough that they dared to mention the MT Project to him in the yearly report, then he supposed the trip to venture to Zio Matrix to see the project will be worth it. In any case, he was likely unneeded for the operations against Carmilla Carmine and the Extermination. Both of which were left in capable hands. As a result, Mordekaiser spoke.
"Very well." Said Mordekaiser. "But this had best be worth it. Should this demonstration of what you accomplished with the MT Project go awry, I will shut it down for good. Is that understood?" The woman simply nodded at that, fully understanding what he was entailing. "Good. Now, let us speak about the Niskaru. Voraq, what do you have to show for it?" Voraq then went on to tell him what he had created already involving the Niskaru as well as explaining what future plans he had for the artificially created Demon race.
Later
Runeterra
Gwen
The doll-turned-young woman that was Gwen hummed to herself as she traveled across the lands of what will soon be Demacia. After making sure the people of the village she rescued with that Rogier fellow were settled in Bilgewater nicely, she took off to find a group of people that she believed could help her in her goals. Namely dealing with the Harrowed Mist and its creator. The Sentinels of Light, fabled protectors of life against the Harrowed Mist. Created to deal with the Shadow Isles and Viego himself.
Thinking about Viego in the back of her mind caused Gwen to frown a bit in hate and anger before ridding herself of those thoughts.
"Now is not the time to think about him." Thought Gwen as she dispelled the thoughts of the man that brought so much pain and misery with the Black Mist. "I need to find the Sentinels of Light. I need to find them before he returns and brings even more death and pain into this world. They need to stop him before he can return again." As she walked across the lands of Demacia, she thought of the world and what she found in it.
There just so many wonderful and beautiful things in this world. So many things it brought a smile to her face. It saddened her that there were people in the world that sought to ruin or corrupt such beauty like Viego and this Noxus she heard about, but she was also glad to hear that there were people that protected it like the Sentinels and this Demacia she heard about from the people of Bilgewater when she asked them about the Sentinels of Light. Sadly, the Sentinels outpost in Bilgewater was destroyed, abandoned a long time ago, along with many other outposts that used to belong to the Sentinels, a consequence of their duty against the Shadow Isles. Now, according to the people of Bilgewater she spoke to regarding the Sentinels, only a handful of outposts and members of the ancient order remained and even then that was outdated information. For all the people of Bilgewater knew, the Sentinels of Light were all wiped out, hence why none came to help Bilgewater against the Ruined King when he came for them.
Praying that wasn't true, Gwen ventured to Demacia, one of the last supposed outposts of the Sentinels remaining that still has members within its hold, in hopes of recruiting the Sentinels there so that they can uphold their order's purpose since its founding.
As she was pondered upon the Sentinels of Light, her thoughts soon ventured to that of Rogier and couldn't help but smile. That undead was unlike any undead she had ever seen before. Cold, yet caring towards the living in a way that she never seen amongst the undead ever. Yes, most undead were mindless, easy to control, monsters, but those that retain their faculties were monsters in many ways. This Rogier seemed to be atypical of the sentient undead that she encountered before.
Wondering why this was, Gwen made a note to ask him the next time to she saw him, giving her more ample reason to want to see him again beyond just wanting to see her friendly acquaintance, which she hoped to elevate to being friends.
Giggling at the thoughts of how Rogier will react to this, Gwen soon felt something that she was quite familiar with. Something that filled her with horror.
"Not it can't be. It shouldn't be anywhere this deep in Valoran." Thought Gwen as she felt something cold and dark fill the air suddenly as she saw a black and sickly green mist forming in the horizon. Stunned to see the Black Mist this deep in the continent, Gwen rushed to the nearby coast to see something that filled her with dread. The Black Mist also appeared in the sea and it was fast approaching the land that she was on. She then looked to the road that she was traveling on to see the Black Mist was forming there as well and in a rapid rate. To see the Black Mist just appearing on land and not just the coast meant only one thing. The Ruined King was back. Free from the confines he was in months ago and he was back to finish what he started.
Realizing this, Gwen realized that she needed to find the Sentinels and she needed to find them now. Looking at the coast, Gwen remembered another location that the people of Bilgewater told her about. One that possibly contained Sentinels but has been long abandoned by the order though rumors run abound in Bilgewater that there have been recent sightings of people there. The main headquarters of the Sentinels.
It was a longshot and she wasn't sure if she could trust the rumors, but if there were people, preferably Sentinels, then she could be there at the main headquarters of the Sentinels quicker than going to the outpost in Demacia, which was still a several weeks journey. Thinking long and hard, Gwen eventually went straight for the coast, hoping that there was a boat she could use.
"Please let there be Sentinels there." Thought Gwen as she ran, praying that she wasn't making a mistake.
Meanwhile
Morgana
"It cannot be." Thought Morgana as she looked above the skies of her home as the refugees under her care whispered amongst themselves at the darkening sky above them. Despite never encountering it before, Morgana realized what the darkening sky was. "The Black Mist? This deep in Demacia. How can this be?" Realizing that something terrible was about to happen, Morgana looked at the refugees under her care and decided impart more wards around their sanctuary. To prevent the dangers of the Black Mist from venturing into the one safe place they can call home. As she moved, Morgana thought of Mordekaiser and how he's reacting to this.
Meanwhile
Keira
Mitna Rachnun
"Are you certain of this?" Demanded Keira as she looked at the messenger bird that suddenly came to her as she went about her rounds around Mitna Rachnun. The bird simply screeched at her, causing her to sigh.
"This will complicate matters." Said Keira before shooing the bird away. Another Ruination was occurring in Runeterra, only one more powerful than the ones before, including the one made by the Ruined King a few months ago. That meant only one thing. The Ruined King had returned and more powerful than before. Realizing the danger this posed to not only her niece and Ionia, but also the plans of her lord, Keira decided to venture to Earth, where her lord was to inform him of what was occurring. In hopes that he will do something about the Ruined King before he did something that will complicate things for them.
As she ventured towards the nearest portal gateway, Keira thought of her niece and felt something she couldn't identify.
For those that wish to know, Zio Matrix, Emeraude, and Murakumo Millenium all originate from FromSoftware Inc. Armored Core Franchise along with Muscle Tracers. Armored Core 2 universe for Zio Matrix and Emeraude with Murakumo being from the original Armored Core universe.
