One of the FBI agents gives Wendell a pair of binoculars, and he scans the compound for several minutes. While he is doing that, I watch the iron wolf patrols. With only the three groups, there should be gaps we can sneak though, but that depends on what kinds of senses the wolves were built with.
“That building looks far too small to contain the data facilities to run a game like Taereun: Battleground of the Damned.” Urehara-sensei is frowning, as he strokes his short beard.
“You're assuming that they require servers for something other than account management. An artifact or magic construct could be virtually any size at all. With the sizes of most magic patterns or formations I've seen, you could fit a dozen to a couple hundred in that building.”
Wendell looks at me as though trying to decide whether or not I am sane. “Do you really believe what you are saying?”
I hold up my hand and channel ki into it. A miniature whirlwind spirals up from my middle finger, before it bursts into flame and disappears. “Can you explain that as anything other than magic?”
Wendell frowns, with a shadow of something I cannot figure out in his eyes. “What kinds of weapons will the people down there be using?”
I shrug. “Hard to say. They might use melee weapons, or the might use guns. There will definitely be at least one caster, and his spells will make my parlor tricks look lie the jokes that they are. I'm not sure how strong he'll be, but he won't be weak.
“I'm going down. Follow me, if you want to. If not, you can just cower here.”
Crouching low so the dead grass can conceal me somewhat, I move down the slope. Urehara-sensei is paralleling me about twenty feet to my left, and the FBI team is following behind. The wind will cover most of the noise we make, but the wolves may have vision that extends into the infrared or ultraviolet ranges. The closest cover to the buildings is a depression about a hundred-fifty feet or so form them, but the iron wolf patrols are passing within thirty feet of it. Still, that is where I am headed.
I pause, as one of the patrols turns to face directly toward the hill, and lay flat on my belly. Two long minutes drag out, until the wolves turn to move parallel to the base of the slope. I start moving again and reach the depression, before the next patrol turns toward us. Urehara-sensei and the FBI agents follow, all of us laying on our bellies.
The iron wolves close the distance at a steady pace, showing no signs of seeing us, and then turn to parallel the ridge, like the last patrol.
I wait half a minute, before rising to my feet. Using a shuffling run that I mastered while in my Half-Dvergar body, I rapidly and silently cross the open ground and hide in the shadows next to one of the apartment buildings.
Wendell gathers his team around him and points to two of them. “Get your stun guns ready. A three man team will enter the apartments one at a time. Special Agent Jones will be the point man. Subdue and secure everyone inside the building.”
One of the agents takes out a toolkit and overrides the electronic lock on the first apartment, then moves to the side. At Clarence's signal, he flings open the door, and Clarence charges in followed by the two Wendell pointed out. Less than a minute later, they come out of the apartment, and Clarence shakes his head.
They repeat the procedure with all ten apartments, but there is no one in any of them. After searching all three apartment building, no one has been found, and we move to the mansion.
There is no sign of activity through the downstairs windows. To not risk being targeted by the iron wolf patrols, we go in through one of the back doors of the mansion. At this point, no one seems to have any expectations of finding anyone inside, but the FBI agents still spread out to search the building.
Urehara-sensei and I look around on the first floor, and after finding a study, we begin to search it. Most of the papers in the desk appear to be marketing data and network usage reports.
“Mark.” Urehara-sensei hands me a leather-bound book.
“The characters are similar to the ones used for the Slave Tongue, but I can't make sense out of it.” I stuff the book into my backpack.
A few minutes later, all the FBI agent have regrouped with Urehara-sensei and myself. Staying inside the mansion, we are observing the concrete building.
“Unless there's a door on the north side of the building, the only entry seems to be the security door in the east wall. Urehara-sensei and I are going in. Are you going to follow us?”
Wendell continues to stare at the concrete building. “Of course. You do understand, this feels like a trap.”
My laugh has not hint of humor in it. “What else could it be? We probably tripped over some kind of magic wards a long time ago. None of us are casters, so how the fuck would we have spotted them? We should have Clarence take point.”
“Don't call me Clarence, you little bitch.” The hatred in his eyes is mixed with something else, as he glares at me. It might be fear, but I cannot be sure.
“Whatever. Since I can't trust you behind me with that cannon, you can lead. If you see anyone with glowing lines in front of them, shoot. If they are alive later, you can ask questions.”
“Just don't get in my way, if you want to live.”
With Clarence in the lead, we move to the east side of the concrete building.
The door has a keypad lock with a slot for a magnetic card reader as well. The agent who opened the apartment locks examines the door, while the rest of us keep watch for any threats. The flicker of the blue fire from the Predator's jet engines can periodically be seen in the sky.
“No sign of any alarms. I've released the locks.”
Clarence stands facing the door and nods, and the agent that jimmied the lock pushes the door open. Clarence rushes in, after quickly scanning the interior. The two agents who entered the apartments with him follow on his heals, with the rest of the normal FBI agents behind them, and Wendell going last.
Moving in behind the FBI, I look around. The inside of the building is open from wall to wall. The walls have all been painted black, and then, had magic patterns draw upon the black paint. Since they do not seem to be active, they are more likely formations than sigils. A complex web of steel girders supports the roof, and the appearance of the web seems to be another magic formation. Since, I cannot directly see or sense mana, I cannot be certain of my conclusions.
At ground level, the floor only extends twenty-five or so feet from the walls. The entire center of of the room is a giant square pit. There is a stairway leading down at each of the back corners. I have to move close to the edge of the pit to see its bottom, which is close to one hundred fifty feet below, but that is not what draws my attention. In the center of the pit is a giant cube. Its surface is covered with something that appears to be a linked array of spell patterns. I do not know if it is possible to link so many spell patterns, but if it is not an array of pattern, it must be the most complex spell pattern ever made.
“Mark, what is that thing?” Urehara-sensei's voice is very quiet, but the sound of sheer dread fills it.
“I don't know for sure, but I think its a magic artifact. The complexity of the spell patterns covering its surface is like nothing I've ever seen.”
“So my little toad, you have chosen to cast aside my most benevolent offer. Not only do you dare to spurn me, but you ally yourself with more of your worlds little toads and come to attack me.”
The speaker is a large man in a brown hooded robe, standing behind a block of obsidian. In his hand is a staff taller than himself, with a blood red crystal mounted on top. His heavy build and oiled beard are easily recognizable, even with the robe. Behind him are thirty others, dressed in the same brown robes, with staves in their hands that have smaller red crystals. All of them are standing on spell patterns, almost certainly more formations. They seem more like priests than mages, so they are possibly mediums instead of casters, but it is always hard to be certain, and in the end, they all cast spells.
Wendell looks downward, his empty mask leaving no expres
sion on his face. “We are the FBI. All of you put your hands behind you heads and assume the kneeling position.”
“Why don't you and The Nameless go fuck each other up the ass.”
“YOU DARE! Activate the formations!” Spittle flies from beard's mouth as he screams. It seems like he is easy to provoke.
The crystal on top of the robed figures' staves glow, and one group after another the patterns they are standing on light up. Columns of blue light, with multiple rings of intense violet light moving up and down, surround the ten in the back row. The other two rows are surrounded with columns of light in a variety of colors: red, green, blue, white, violet, orange.
The blue light around the ten in the back flares brightly for a few seconds, and blue energy starts to flow out from the web of steel supporting the walls and roof. In barely more than a couple of seconds, the light covers the ceiling and walls, and then, floods across the floor we are standing on and the empty space in the middle of the building.
The blue energy is slightly slick underfoot, almost like standing on ice. Looking around, I cannot see any break in its coverage. I stab it with the point of my sword, but it just slides off at an angle, without even raising any sparks from friction. This could be a problem.
“In your crude tongue, these are what you call security measures. I hope you enjoy suffering.” Beard turns to the priests behind him. “Do not kill them, just make them wish they were dead.” The words are hard to distinguish, the barrier seems to be blocking sound to some degree.
Several spell formations on the walls begin to light up, rapidly building into strong lights of varying colors.
“Sensei, get ready to dodge.”
As small holes rapidly open and close over three glowing patterns, small balls of acid, fire and electricity are launched towards us. Clarence and two ordinary FBI agents are the targets. Clarence and one of the agents smoothly step to the side, barely clearing the attacks, but the second agent is hit in the chest by a ball of green acid.
“Fuck! That hurts!” His shout echoes weirdly in the room, probably because of the energy barriers. Quickly wiping off the acid that spattered on his face, the agent tears off his armor vest and gloves, dropping them to the floor.
“Shoot those fucking things!” Clarence's bellow galvanize the FBI agents into action, and they start shoot at the spell formations launching the spells.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Brrraaappp!
Brrraaappp!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Brrraaappp!
Bullets strike sparks off the walls, while the spells are fired, but there is no visible damage. Less than a minute has passed, before two of the spell formations that were hit begin to glow again.
“Aaaaahhhhh!” Another of the FBI agents screams, as he is hit by a ball of electricity and falls to the ground twitching. A few seconds later, he rolls to his stomach and rises unsteadily to his feet.
A malicious laugh is faintly audible from below. “You are already having so much trouble, and those spells were not even a tenth of the power or size that can be created by those formations. What will you do, if I decide to kill you?”
“Sensei.” I gesture towards the nearest stairs, and he nods.
The spell formations are only shooting three or four spells at a time, and we easily avoid the attacks targeting us, as we move to the stairs.
Holding my sword, with both hands wrapped around the hilt, I fill it with ki. Unlike Urehara-sensei, I have an aversion to fire. A colorless shimmer of pure kinetic force wraps my sword, and I drive it into the blue energy. The point does not slide like last time, and silvery sparks fountain upward. Ripples spread outward from the point of impact, before reversing. The surface of the blue energy is smooth and serene, like it was before I struck it.
Below, most of the priests, including Beard, are staring up at me, with shocked expressions.
Channeling as much ki as my body can withstand, I drive my blade into the barrier again, with a similar result, covering a larger area.
If anything, the eyes of the priests are even wider. Beard turns to the priests behind him and says something I cannot hear. Immediately, the columns of light around them flare brighter.
“Mark!”
I spin around, when Urehara-sensei calls my name. There are twenty spell formations on the wall flaring brightly. I wait for the spells to be launched, before diving to the side. The spells are several time larger, and violent explosions of energy and acid spray in all directions from the point of impact.
“Fuck me.”
Urehara-sensei smirks. “You have a natural talent for upsetting people and making enemies.”
“Well then, fuck them.”
The spell formations start to charge at a staggered pace. As the spells start firing off, I dash, dive and roll to avoid them. I start moving erratically, to make it harder for the priests to lock onto me. The staggered firing pattern makes it harder, and if this keeps up, I will tire out faster.
Urehara-sensei's sword bursts into flame, and he strikes the barrier over the stairs. He strikes it a half-dozen more time, but none of the formations are used to attack him.
“Fire has no effect. What did you use?”
“Kinetic force. I focused it like a wedge on the point of the blade.”
“I have nowhere near your talent with raw force.”
“Get of my way, you stupid old bastard.” Clarence charges toward the stairway, while changing the drums on his gun.
Urehara-sensei jumps onto the railing surrounding the stairway, before backflipping away. “I will leave it to the gorilla, since brute force is all that he understands.”
“Blow me.” Clarence levels his gun at the opening of the stairway and pulls the trigger twice.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The oversized bullets ricochet around the room, but luckily no one is hit, and more muffled laughter echoes from below.
Urehara-sensei, after watching the spell formations for a couple minutes, rapidly charges toward on section of the wall. Just as the barrier opens over the formation, he arrives and slashes the formation with his flaming katana. The force of the explosion knocks him back, but he twists in midair landing in a three point crouch, with his katana held out to the side.
The barrier is intact, but the spell formation behind it is destroyed.
“Now, that was very interesting. Do you FBI agents have anything incendiary?”
Wendell glances upward. “The Predator does, but I have lost radio contact since entering this building.”
“Fuck. Everyone get ready near the stairwell. If this works, I can only do it once.”
It has been there every moment, since I woke from the coma, but I have been afraid to touch it. I know how powerful it is. I know how easily it could destroy me. My body is not strong enough, and may never be strong enough. Still, I have no choice.
“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!” I cannot stop myself from screaming as the Od flows through my body. It freezes me and burns me. My body feels like it is about to shatter into a trillion trillion fragments. Power swirls around my fist: black so dark, that it absorbs all light, shot though with malevolent streaks of red and purple; greenish-silver so brilliant it could overwhelm the sun. My fist hammers into the barrier, with all the weight and force of my body behind it.
Pfft!
The barrier disappears over the stairwell, wild streamers of blue energy lash about like angry snakes. I tumble down the first flight of stairs, completely unable to control my body, and slam into the railing on the first landing. Red mist sprays everywhere, as I projectile vomit blood.
“Mark!” Urehara-sensei is the first to recover from his shock, and he charges down the stairs.
“Move! Move, now!” A few seconds later the stunned Wendell follows him.
Galvanized by Wendell's yell the FBI agents start down the stairs.
SNAP!
Half of the last FBI agent's body tumbles down the stairs, whil
e the rest lays face down on the barrier. Shock and incomprehension are plastered on his face as the light fades from his eyes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Brrraaappp!
Brrraaappp!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Brrraaappp!
“Kill them! Do not let them live!” Beard is screaming, while the FBI are firing into his priests.
“Mark! Are you okay?” Urehara-sensei's worried face hovers over me.
“Probably not. I used Power never meant to be wielded by mortals. I'm not sure how much damage it's done.” Coughing wracks my body, and I spray up more blood. “Help me sit up and make sure those FBI fucks don't backstab me.”
With Urehara-sensei's help, I get into a lotus position and draw ki into my ravaged body. I have to try to heal as much of the damage as I can.
All three of the Trinity Powers have ways to heal and strengthen the body, the mind, and the soul. Body control comprises most of the ki techniques that do this. It uses ki to strengthen your body, heal your body, make your body heavier or lighter. At its highest levels body control can be used to heal others to varying degrees, but I am from that level of mastery. Of course, Boran did not know the specifics of Body Control, so I only have a general idea of its capabilities and how it works. I have been experimenting since returning to my original body.
“Mark.” I open my eyes. I cannot tell how much time has passes, but the gunfire has stopped. I am a little better, but I will need a lot more time to heal all the damage I took from just a few seconds of using the Od.
Wendell is standing a few feet away. The fear is plain to see in his eyes. Before today he never experienced ki or mana users, how could he be ready to face the Od? The oppressive weight of the aura around the Od is enough to make a weak person crap himself. Since, I do not smell anything, Wendell must have avoided that indignity.
“What do you want, Wendell?”
Wendell fidgets a moment before sitting on the stairs in front of me. “You have put me in a rather difficult position. Even with your powers, I still have to arrest you. There is no way I can leave you to run loose, but I am well aware that you can kill us at will. Even Clarence probably would not last ten seconds against you. I do not want to throw away what remains of my strike team, pointlessly. So would you please surrender peacefully.”
Path of Transcendence 1: Ultimatum of the Nameless God Page 13
