Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 883: Disciple and his master

POV Ruby

The entire process is being hurried along as much as possible as I watch the wyvern enclose Nathaniel within its domain.

I have the same system quest Diligence does, as do all the Rulers in charge of this cycle of the tutorial. I don’t think Wrath cares, and Envy is as good as dead, hiding and licking his wounds as my Apophenic Mentis works on breaking down his Chaos Shields.

I don’t think Kindness really cares either, in her case, she would probably prefer for the imitation to get out. And there’s not a single thing anyone in the universe, much less the system, can do to punish her.

As for me, I... I don’t know. I heard what Nathaniel said to Diligence, and I gave it some thought. A lot of thought, actually, I allowed months to pass within my mind, and even then, I didn’t like my conclusions.

Something like that... happening to me… after all these stretches of time, I still find parts of me that belong to that young, inexperienced, silly woman living through the last years of Eladore. And still I adore them.

When Diligence gives the signal, I work with him to loosen the invisible chain binding the one winged wyvern to Beyond and the tutorial. Patience helps, and so does Humility, and none of the other Rulers try to stop our effort.

The wyverns gathered outside do the same as their one winged compatriot roars into the sky. Diligence blubbers a series of curses as he swiftly works to protect the attendees from the unintended and dangerous wave produced by the wyvernsʼ powerful call for freedom.

Slowly, the chains and the connections begin to break and unwind. All of the Corporations, the Magi, and the Slayer watch it happen. They take notes and think of all the ways they can make use of this precious and rare occurrence, and to gather information that will work to their advantage.

Nathaniel stands at the center of all this, directly under the one winged wyvern, observing it with all the effort he can. He’s so tiny, so insignificant in comparison. Any one of these forces could extinguish his life at any moment with such ease.

His life could end just like that, and everything he’s done would be reduced to a tiny footnote in the history of this universe. Just a speck of dust, a reckless attendee whose name would disappear from Beyond’s rankings soon, and eventually he’d be forgotten, too.

Yet, to me, he doesn’t seem like any of that truly applies as his eyes sweep the area and his feeble body stands there in an unnatural state of calm.

Diligence, Patience, and Humility then cleanse his body multiple times, along with the wyvernʼs, who angrily lets it happen in accord with our deal. These cleansing pulses remove any marks the imitation could have placed on them, as well as serving to cut off any possible connection she might still have. A promise given by the wyverns in one of the ancient ways will take care of the rest.

And so, both of them disappear as the last chain tying the one winged wyvern shatters. They appear in the orbit of Xyphos, immediately surrounded by six more wyverns who call out in unison with their kin. The space around them shakes with immense force as they deploy their domains, which clash, combine, fight, and gently touch each other.

Their calls melt into one as the one winged wyvern takes over, showing a degree of strength a good notch above that of the other wyverns. Its strength on par with the likes of a Ruler.

It uses the force of their combined domains to punch a hole through space, connecting to an ancient Firmament and instantly passing through vast distances with Nathaniel in its care.

The other wyverns stay behind for a while to close the breach, before leaving as well, each on their own.

The Firmament soon reaches distant bounds within which the Systemʼs influence is weakened. Entire solar systems littered with the old battlefields of the System War. The one they settle on is the very one where that godking once fought against the Ruler of Oblivion. The solar system they reach is nestled against a dying star. Shining like a vibrant, multicolored cosmic blossom. Like an expanding bubble held in stasis only by the primordial energy of the wolf clan. The entire solar system is devoid of mana, and none can reach it anymore.

Me and Diligence watch, though we switch to more exotic methods based on primordial energies and make use of the systemʼs fingerprint on Nathaniel to tune the signal. The amount of information we can observe lessens, but that’s not really something we can avoid.

The wyvern remains floating in orbit as Nathaniel, surrounded by its barrier, crashes against the surface of the planet. He doesn’t complain as he walks out of the dust and into the tall trees.

As if he already knows where to go, he walks in one direction confidently, after a few minutes reaching a clearing in which two enormous wolves are resting. One of them is brown with a scar across its entire face, and the other one is gray and missing part of its tail.

Both beasts stand up, shaking off the stiffness, and the brown one even yawns.

In between them, two smaller creatures lie. A tiny black wolf pup with a round belly and golden eyes, tied to a wooden stake with a chain made of bone. Next to him is what once used to be Nathanielʼs bond. The cute little creature is sleeping for now, missing part of one of its legs, and patches of missing fur reveal the scars on its skin.

Nathaniel doesn’t hesitate even for a moment and continues to walk ahead toward the barrier surrounding what was his bond.

Both of the wolves say something, and so does the wolf pup, but he doesn’t listen and walks ahead.

And so, the brown wolf lunges forth and snaps at him.

In the last moment, mana radiates from him, surrounding him in a barrier that blocks the bite. That mana then moves like a torrential wave, expanding and growing to form a huge figure that uses its muscular arms to hold the wolfʼs mouth open and push him back. More of the muscular arms grow from the mana figure, grabbing and squeezing the brown wolfʼs neck and pressing him into the ground.

Much more mana radiates from Nathaniel, and another figure forms, this one slimmer and taller, with a wizard’s hat at the top. A staff forms in its hand, and from it pours a beam of mana, meeting the gray wolf’s attack.

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Nathaniel walks unbothered, and I can see his Ignition Heart beat powerfully in his chest. It is now fully unleashed as it fuels his creations with mana in this world where none exists for him to take. Each beat scars his body further, as the burn on his heart expands as he reaches for all the power in the heart of a man who was once a very powerful Champion.

He takes some of that mana and throws it against the barrier, but all of it does nothing, it doesn’t so much as waver. Yet, he tries again, throwing dozens of blasts of raw mana, his blood, empyrean mana, everything he can.

Still, it remains.

And so the figures he made, which were occupied with fighting the giant wolves, matching them in size, now use powerful attacks of their own to throw them aside. Both of the figures swiftly return to him, manifesting behind his back, making him look so small in comparison. They merge into one, shrinking and bleeding color until, with a blink, the shift completes, and his vessel turns pitch black.

It touches Nathanielʼs shoulder and becomes a part of him, flickering across his skin as he punches the barrier, which instantly breaks apart.

Not caring for his broken arm, the burns spreading over his chest, and the wolves charging him, he smiles in a way that makes my heart ache and, with incredible gentleness, picks up his bond.

His thermal heart beats even more wildly, and a circle of golden flames surrounds him. The smile doesn’t disappear from his face, even as the burns begin to spread over his back behind his heart.

That circle of flames turns itself into threads of mana, and from the air a dozen or so arms made of mana appear, using them to draw more inscriptions. Then his skill activates, further strengthened by his inscriptions and the mana powering it, and both of the wolves halt in place.

A bit of black mana flashes around him as he breaks the chain tying the wolf pup to the ground, and it starts growing in size, matching the other two wolves, though looking much more dangerous with its pitch black fur and striking golden eyes.

He gently puts his bond in front of the wolf, who immediately covers it protectively. Nathanielʼs broken arm then snaps into place and fully heals as steam releases from his skin. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and slaps his hands shut together.

And Diligence starts panicking.

“There is no way. There is no way. There is no way. THERE IS NO WAY,” the black ant next to me mutters in shock.

Both he and I watch the movements of his mana in shock.

Not because it is something that powerful or dangerous, it is just-

“That just shouldn’t be possible,” Diligence mutters, giving voice to my thoughts.

And so Nathaniel Gwyn begins to weave together a Scalar Beacon, a feat even most Champions are not capable of. Something that grazes the threshold of an Absolute.

And his mind endures it.

...

It should not be possible.

Diligence tries to stop it, but the one winged wyvern interferes, and in that same moment the presence on the planet growls from its sleep, and the incredible wave of pantophagic energy weakens our ability to watch even further.

My masterʼs way of teaching was always special, and the imitation seems to be the same. She never taught you something directly. She wanted you to experience it, to fight for it, and to understand it.

While she always complained about a lack of scientific knowledge, she never complained about the way I understood things through feel alone.

That kind of talent or aptitude towards any one thing. Master Lissandra always had a soft spot for that.

Dangling that knowledge and experience in front of you, she made you fight for it. To walk on rows of knives cutting you to get to it. Sometimes even without fully understanding what she wants from you, and learning as much as you could.

What a monster has so vibrantly and quietly grown inside of the tutorial. Never looked upon in the same way as the great talents like Nyssa. Considered powerful only because of the risks and damage he’s constantly taking, expected by everyone to burn out brilliantly before even becoming a Champion.

Growing there so unnoticed under the noses of us all. A mind that will one day, possibly, be comparable to that of Temperance.

It makes me wonder how long he actually spent in thought acceleration aided by the imitation.

Bleeding from his eyes and moving with childlike joy, Nathaniel spreads his hands wide, and there, in front of him, a single speck of light glows beautifully, obvious in its function for everyone with the power to look upon it.

A fully completed, perfect Scalar Beacon, making it obvious who has the coordinates.

As his Handler, I see the notifications he has just received.

[Focus - lvl 84 > Focus - lvl 85]

[Focus - lvl 85 > Focus - lvl 86]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 86 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 87]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 87 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 88]

And many others.

We’re not the only ones noticing that, though.

My sight clears out as I look away from that solar system and toward Xyphos, which shakes as one of its entrances finally spits her out. Mana radiates from her in a way that overlays her form with my master’s image, even that small, satisfied smile matches, though it rests upon a much younger face.

In her hands, the imitation holds two heads. One of them bears an older, more dignified face, the same as that of my master at the time of Eladore’s end. The other matches the imitation’s. Both heads are missing their skulls at the top, revealing a pair of brains with mana based wiring running through them. The younger one has a black dagger going through it. Both of the heads also have parts of the spine dangling free, and they’re covered in mana wiring, too.

Then the imitation speaks, “You seem to be prepared, little ant. I wonder if my disciple might have warned you, and as to what the reason was,” she says toward Diligence, whose presence reaches closer in an attempt to stop her. “Though that ruins my plans to use your death to make this escape easier, it matters not.”

She declares this, letting both of the heads drop from her hands. Even before they touch the ground, she makes a myriad of adaptations, changes, and calculations, and when they finally meet the hot sand, she’s already done redesigning something I can’t even call an array anymore, and activates it.

None of the Rulers present even try to stop it. We just watch the incredible ability of someone once considered the only true equal to the Ruler of Pride. Even if she’s not quite as powerful as she was at her peak in the decades after Eladore’s fall, she is getting close to it.

The imitation of Lissandra Hawthorne then warps away toward the beacon that’s been placed for her, fully breaking the chains holding her tied to the tutorial.

As Diligence goes into overdrive trying to manage the situation, and my channels are flooded with messages from groups, organizations, and beings even the Rulers are wary of crossing, I simply stand there. The image of the imitation with her features overlaid by my master’s remains etched into my mind, even as new system quests pulse before my eyes.

And I cry.