Chapter 6: Calculations
One Month Later
Millennium Falcon Copy
Erik glances up, then chuckles softly. “Good morning, Iris.”
Iris blinks up, then smiles hesitantly. Then her smile warms at the sight of Slash Beast talking with Ciel and Fiore.
“Ah, good morning to you too, Erik! Any news on Zero?” Iris queries. “You still have been quiet about him.”
Erik studies her, eyes picking out the line of weakness that only he can see, before sighing. “Still working on locating him. He’s going to likely be in rough shape, though.” He finally admits.
Iris pauses, eyes narrowing, and Erik watches carefully as the line of weakness denoting her link to whoever her systems are communicating with, widening as the link fires up.
Iris quietly frowns, lost in thought. “How so?”
“From Neo Arcadia’s records, Zero had some pretty rough patches towards the end, before going into hibernation.” Erik admits. “The Maverick Wars, followed by the Elf Wars took a heavy toll on him. Considering there seems to be memetic hazards involved, most people can’t even look at the data without having issues, too.”
Iris winces, slowly nodding. “So he’s likely horribly damaged.”
“Yes. Wish we could contact his creator.” Erik admits, wryly. “He’d be of great help with things.”
Iris pauses, her mind thinking about that.
Meanwhile, Ciel and Fiore move out of the room, as Tamamo calls them for breakfast.
Slash Beast, on the other hand, tilts his head to look at Erik carefully. “You suspect his creator exists?”
“Likely rebuilt you both.” Erik nods, the corner of his eye constantly watching Iris.
Iris pauses, thinking. “Oh. That’s why I’m with you rather than out in the city, isn’t it?”
Erik softly nods. “I wouldn’t mind getting in contact with him, and I’m sure he’s spying through something installed in you.” Erik admits. “But I don’t mind the spying routine, if it’ll let me have some contact with him. Or at least to him.”
Slash Beast slowly nods, settling down and watching.
A slow nod from Iris is his answer, as Erik settles back. “I wonder how he’d reach us…” Erik trails off, musing. “I couldn’t see any way to transmit data to you. And the data stream definitely seems to be one way. Maybe give him a radio communications line?”
“Why me, and not just Iris?” Slash Beast muses aloud.
Erik pauses, thinking. “Probably to draw Zero in, to check up on him.” For a moment, Erik listens to the barely audible voices of Ciel and Fiore, before adding in, more quietly, with one finger to his lips. “After all, Zero lost his original body in the Elf Wars.”
Iris freezes, as does Slash Beast.
“How…?” Iris whispers, quietly.
“Turns out, he was immune to the Maverick Virus entirely. Some unique property to his systems, I’d wager. Some crazy mad scientist, Wiel, found out, stole his body from him, and made it into a puppet called ‘Omega’. Who he used to fuck up humanity drastically.” Erik admits.
“Well, damn. That red maniac never deserved that.” Slash Beast mutters.
Erik quietly nods. “If we could get his maker to contact us, we could probably use his help to figure out what the hell is going on, and upgrade Zero’s new body to the level his old one was at, if not better.” Erik admits, quietly. “But… that’s only if he’s willing to talk. After all… Omega’s sealed, but still out there.”
Slow, twin nods from the two former Repliforce soldiers, as they comprehend what Erik said, and settle back, almost in sync.
“You’ve been waiting for a while to get that off your chest, haven’t you?” Iris asks, quietly.
“You deserved to know. And it’s the first time the spy bugs have actually been off my ship, since you both came on board.” Erik admits.
They both pause, then wince as one.
“Neo Arcadian technology?” Slash Beast muses.
Erik nods back. “They’re nice folks, but they’re as paranoid as I used to be.” Erik admits, with a sigh.
“May I ask how you can tell the communications are there, Erik?” Iris finally asks, curiosity overwhelming her.
“I may not be able to see the communications method precisely, but I can, to keep a long story short, and my secrets safe, observe the line in the air where it comes from.” Erik admits. “Even if it’s being relayed far too well to trace to the original location, I can still see when it’s active or inactive.”
Then Erik pauses, as the line flashes in and out, rapidly. For a moment, he pauses, before recognizing it and grabs a piece of paper and a pen, before drawing out dots and dashes.
“Radio Frequency 107.7…?” Erik murmurs under his breath, then nods.
It’s a matter of moments to call a Legion of Coal unit over to get a radio, before Erik sighs as he studies them. “Here’s hoping he’ll talk.”
Twin nods answer him.
Erik sighs, as the radio goes on. “Speaking of which, Slash Beast? If you want to be around for all of this, and know how deep the rabbit hole goes? Feel free to stay, but you may have to stick with me rather than Neo Arcadia.”
Slash Beast nods, thoughtfully. “You’re that worried about things?”
“It’s a little worse than that, I’m afraid.” Erik admits.
Erik studies the old, but well weathered, military radio brought in, before carefully tuning it.
“FM frequency, 107.7.” Erik muses aloud. “I remember a radio station with that, long ago…”
For a long moment, the radio goes on, only static answering them. Then the frequency goes quiet.
Moments later, a voice echoes, robotic, but strangely human. “You have awakened me from my Torpor. What do you want?”
“Your greatest creation needs upgrades and a rebuild, to match or outdo his original body, good doctor.” Erik admits aloud.
“Why should I? I fragment worse every day. Soon, nothing will be left of me.” The voice retorts.
“Not even to save your final son? Congratulations on outlasting your rival, by the way. He only lasted half the time you did, if that.” Erik retorts.
The voice on the radio pauses, before laughter is the reply.
“Really, now. And how do you know all of this, exactly? You know far, far more than you should.” The voice replies, curiosity lacing it.
“Do tell, for the one before, was it Bassnium, or Fortenium?” Erik queries.
The radio pauses, much much longer. “How in the hell?”
“Out of universe answers don’t give all of them.” Erik muses aloud.
“...Well. You had my attention, now you have my curiosity.” The voice of Doctor Wily admits over the radio. “Can you guarantee my safety, as well as that of my bodyguard and companion?”
“So long as you don’t hurt me or mine.” Erik admits. “Or get ideas to do so. I’d rather not bring my War Beast out to stomp Reploids, if they break Guest Rights. I hold to the old Norse ways in that regard.”
“That is… fair, I suppose. War Beast?” Wily asks, curiously.
“Giant killer stompy robot that I pilot to crush my enemies.” Erik admits. “Based on a T-Rex. No quite like your work, but considering I had to design and build it with only a blacksmith for help, what would be?”
Slash Beast and Iris both pause to look at Erik, then at each other. Then at him again.
“Hah! I like you more, I suppose! Fine. There’s a lake 300 miles east of where you’re at in your little flying… is that the Millennium Falcon? Hmm. Well. In your copy of it, you’ll find a lake 300 miles east of you. We’ll be there, so long as it’s your ship alone.”
“Deal. I’ll leave to head there in about 6 hours.” Erik states. “No stealing my apprentice, hmm?”
“No promises!” Dr. Wily laughs over the radio, before it fades out to static once more.
Then Erik closes his eyes, sighing, as he turns the radio off.
“Bassnium? But only one scientist ever made that.” Iris trails off.
Slash Beast, on the other hand, slowly winces. “Zero’s a Wily Reploid, huh?” He quietly whispers. “Damn. Little wonder we can’t talk about it. If that ever got out, he’d be lynched, at best.”
Erik quietly nods to them both, as he leaves, to get food.
Iris and Slash Beast both wince at that, then sit to discuss things further.
On the way, he nods to Hidden Phantom’s barely visible form, as he passes by the Neo Arcadian Guardian.
“Join us for food, perhaps? I didn’t hear you get on.” Erik subtly gives him the thumbs up, with a grin.
Hidden Phantom nods, a smile on his face for a moment, before it goes back to normal. “I’d be happy to. That summoning ritual is going to happen, right?”
“That’s the plan. Fiore finally gets to bring back her backup.” Erik admits, smiling.
Hidden Phantom nods. “I’ll have your trip authorized soon.” Then, in a barely audible whisper, he adds, “Want backup?”
Erik shakes his head, then replies with a murmur. “Mordred will have us covered, as well as Chiron. And if need be, I can bring my War Beast out to play.”
Hidden Phantom nods, thoughtfully.
Then Erik walks in, and gives his wife a hug and a kiss on her cheek.
“Kiss the cook apron again, my dear?” Erik smiles.
“You know it, dear.” Tamamo replies, humming happily as she does so. “Your eggs are almost finished, too.”
Erik smiles, settling down in a chair.
“It’s all fascinating, the mix of older technology and this other stuff you built, Erik! I can see a lot of the basics behind it, if not all the reasons why.” Ciel smiles, as innocently as any child can. “Though the weapons are completely different, I’ve noticed.”
Erik chuckles outright. “True enough. Yours seems to primarily use that Energen as part of the plasma emissions compression chamber, but older designs from older eras seem to have that with skill and hard work alone.”
“The giant ruby used for some of your earlier lasers is incredible, too!” Ciel admits, smiling. “I didn’t know they could get so pretty!”
“It was hard to develop a method to create them without issues, I’ll admit.” Erik nods. “Having that as an earlier baseline means I’m able to design and sell them even if later models are better, or if some materials are unavailable in one universe, but are in another.”
“Could you elaborate on that, Erik?” Hidden Phantom asks, as he settles in. “I’m curious as to the differences in materials, from universe to universe.”
Erik nods, pulling up an image of the Wolfen’s Hull. “For a good example? My Wolfen’s armor was made by a variant of Meteorite that I found and duplicated, from our home universe. It can handle weaker explosives hitting it and just simply not even scorch the armor. In comparison, most of the metals back in Fiore’s universe and this one seem to have a lot less divine attributes. Perhaps from being so long without Gods around?”
“Fascinating…” Hidden Phantom murmurs.
Erik simply nods. “It really is.” He admits, quietly.
“Wow. That’s really impressive!” Ciel muses.
“At the same time, for all the defense it gave to damage from explosives, or bullets, or something else that isn’t blunt force trauma, damage to the soul? That cuts through that type of armor, pretty much like a hot knife through butter.” Erik admits.
Fenris simply chuckles. “Indeed.”
“Fenris, as another example, has a hide that doesn’t take nearly as good of damage from bullets, but can tank a hell of a lot more damage to the soul itself.” Erik admits.
Fenris just nods, amused at the wide eyed looks from the room.
“Another example of this is the weaponry. Where your plasma and lasers seem to do less damage to the soul than mine, your technology is a lot more common.” Erik settles back, then gives his wife a hug as she puts an omelet in front of him.
“Thank you dear.” He hugs her closer, leaning against her for a long moment, before smiling and digging in.
“Makes a lot of sense.” Hidden Phantom admits. “Yours is more potent, due to its divine origins, while ours was made by man, and thus cannot damage the soul itself.”
“Not bad to keep out of the hands of people, if it’s going to be that dangerous.” Tamamo eventually admits. “We may have sold quite a few, but we always put in fail safes so they couldn’t work when aimed at us and ours.”
Hidden Phantom snickers. “Oh, if we could only do that for the Mavericks.” Then he pauses, looking more thoughtful. “That isn’t a bad idea, though…”
“So long as you put in failsafes in case of Maverick Behavior in the leadership? Or a dead man’s switch to turn it off in case of a coup, or an attempt at one?” Erik muses.
Hidden Phantom nods, quietly.
“A fair enough point.” Hidden Phantom admits. “And probably why it never got out of a committee meeting while discussing such things.”
“Dare we ask how the situation with those infiltrators is going?” Tamamo asks, curiosity in her voice.
“Quite well. We’ve managed to capture them, and track down at least part of the network used to infiltrate them.” Hidden Phantom admits. “We’ll ask for help if we need it, though.”
“Especially with my husband’s new ability to see communication frequencies, somehow?” Tamamo muses.
Hidden Phantom nods in agreement. “Too useful to pass up, really.”
For a moment, Erik adjusts himself at the table, stretching, then drums out in morse code to Hidden Phantom. “Got the meeting site secured. Mind staying in my mech as backup for it? There’s several seats inside, and you can hide easily.”
Hidden Phantom glances at Erik, then slightly nods.
Erik settles back, stretching. “So, after this, you’re going to see your first bout of real life magecraft. Excited, Ciel?”
“I am! I’m hoping to figure out scientific principles behind it, or at least how to further my projects with it!” Ciel admits, a wide smile on her face.
“We could use the backup, too. Hopefully he remembers me…” Fiore trails off, quietly.
Erik simply nods. “Hopefully he does. Even if he doesn’t remember perfectly, he’s friendly enough that it should work out well. Especially once I can figure out how to make something to restore Command Spells.”
A soft nod from Fiore is his answer. “It’s still slow going. Without any traces of the Greater Grail, it’s rather hard to work out how it’s done.”
“Most I’ll be able to do is something to slowly replenish them, once a month or so.” Erik admits. “Not without Zelretch popping in to help out with ideas of how to fix things up, anyways.”
With that, he goes to take a bite out of his food, only to twitch as it starts raining glitter on him.
Slowly, Erik looks down. Then twitches as confetti is added in.
“Did someone say they needed my help?” Zelretch states, grinning.
“Please tell me that was all the glitter. This is going to be hell to clean up.” Erik mutters.
“That was all the glitter, yes.” Zelretch grins.
“Hidden Phantom, meet Zelretch. Immortal vampire prankster, multiverse traveler, and person I have a deal in repairing technology for.” Erik admits.
“Nice to meet you, I suppose.” Hidden Phantom muses. “And immortal?”
“Unless you can survive someone trying to colony drop the literal fucking moon on you, and push it back into orbit too? He’s immortal by your standards, and far out of our league.” Erik admits.
“Aww, you say such sweet, true things about this old man! It’s like you like me or something!” Zelretch chuckles.
“Any hints on restoring or creating more Command Spells? Maybe hints about how the Grail works, as well? Perhaps hints on how to link up with your apprentice’s group?” Erik asks.
“Yes to the first, maybe to the second, probably not to the third.” Zelretch admits. “I’m still dealing with fallout with their issues, and your friend in their group is still… shall we say missing? Whereas your fatebound powers have protected you well, there’s a few hundred different timelines of where Godafrid goes from things, and none have solidified yet into the proper ‘timeline’ that he goes through.”
Erik pauses, moves to put his face in his palms, then twitches at the glitter in his palms. “Oh fuck. That’s gotta suck. All those timelines, and you can’t tell which one will be his in truth?”
Zelretch nods, chuckling. “Oh, definitely. Though the one where he gets stuck as the wished for cheat item in Konosuba by Shirou Emiya of his group, is particularly entertaining for me. Much more so than him getting stuck in the Moon Cell with Just Monika.”
Erik muses for a moment, then winces as it hits him. “Doki Doki Literature Club?”
Zelretch nods.
Erik chuckles softly. “Poor guy.”
“Indeed. So I can’t tell how things are going to settle down. Until then, contact is definitely out.” Zelretch admits. “Mostly because one timeline where you do get in contact with them may die suddenly due to your new nature.”
Erik sighs softly. “Well, damn. There went any backup from them, I suppose. Any luck on Godafrid at least getting me that recipe for those materials?”
“He left it in his room, on his bed in the Wolfen.” Zelretch admits.
“Well, that’s good to hear. Any tips on the Greater Grail, or at least some of its functions?” Erik muses.
“Command Spells aren’t impossible to generate more of, but it’s going to be slow, and glitchy.” Zelretch admits. “Especially without all the magecraft involved. Hmm. However, I suspect with Fiore’s new upgrades…” He trails off.
“And would you mind getting rid of the glitter? I’m not sure why you decided to prank me with the Herpes of the crafting world as my wife loves to call it, but…” Erik trails off at Zelretch grinning, and sliding a thick bundle of notes down Erik’s shirt.
Then the glitter turns into flashbang grenades, all missing the pins.
When the lights and ringing in their ears die down, Erik just slowly puts his face in his palms.
“Why, oh WHY did I make a deal with him?” Erik quietly mutters through his palms.
Hidden Phantom silently stares at where Zelretch had been, silently.
Then Iris and Slash Beast come rushing in. “Are you okay?! We heard banging sounds!”
“A prankster pranked us.” Erik mutters.
Silently, Erik pulls his head up, then looks at his breakfast.
His glitter covered breakfast.
“And I’m sure that the glitter in my food is going to do something. Maybe turn into more flashbangs?” Erik grumbles.
“I’m not sure I like his sense of humor as much. Even if I’m better, that still hurt.” Fiore admits with a dark frown on her normally calm face.
“Agreed.” Erik sighs softly. “Well, I’m not sure I can trust my breakfast anymore. Want to start up the summoning ritual, Fiore?”
Fiore quietly nods. “After that, do you think you could experiment with my new abilities as well as both designing and creating things with me, Erik? He sounded like he knew something about how I’ve changed.”
Erik nods, and slides the papers out of his shirt, silently. Then he carefully looks over each of them.
“Plans, it seems. If very, very different.” Erik admits. “You’d probably be better for some of this than myself, I think.”
A slow nod from Fiore is his answer, before Erik sighs and looks at Fiore. “Shall we get on with the summoning, then?”
Fiore nods, smiling.
Outside the Boundaries of Time and Space
Chiron silently stares, watching the void. Waiting for the Throne of Heroes to find and reclaim him.
Somehow, just somehow, he knew in his heart? That things would wind up being a mess.
He just hadn’t quite expected a literal tear in reality, existence itself opening up, and pulling him out to… wherever he was.
‘Not to mention that… human doll shaped thing that had talked with me for a bit, before moving on to what looked to be Erik.’ Chiron muses to himself, once more.
‘I wonder what she was?’ He pauses, then mentally sighs once more, at the realization that he’s repeating his thoughts again.
Then he stills, feeling a tug.
A familiar tug, empowered by Prana. A signature he’s, by now, rather familiar with.
A slow smile covers his face, as Chiron feels glee for the first time in a while.
Then he’s before her once more, hand blazing with her remaining Command Spells as Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia smiles at him.
“Welcome back, Chiron!” His master smiles.
“I’m glad to be back.” Chiron admits.
“Yo! Glad you could join the party!” A rather familiar, and worrying voice hits his ears.
‘Morded. Why did it have to be MORDRED?! If Mordred’s here, then Erik is here, too!’ His mind screams.
Slowly, Chiron turns to stare at Erik and Mordred nearby.
“...SERIOUSLY?!” Chiron half yelps.
“At least she can summon you?” Erik muses aloud.
“She’s stuck with you, isn’t she?” Chiron bites out.
“Yup.” Erik states, calmly.
“I’m not sure you’re a good influence on my Master, Erik.” Chiron admits.
“Considering how the trip fucked me up worse than it apparently did you…” Erik sighs. “Fair, though.”
Chiron sighs, then looks for a chair to sit in, before his eyes turn to gaze upon the heavily damaged Wolfen.
“We won? He had no other tricks?” Chiron stares, silently.
“That we did, if barely. And it fucked with me to the point where I’m not running on being a divine being right now, or anywhere close to my old level of strength.”
Chiron sighs, sitting. “I think you’re going to have to tell me everything…”
“Fair enough, though we may have to put a pause on it in a few hours for a meeting I need to get to.” Erik sighs. “To be perfectly fair, I’m still confused about parts, myself. Which is why I’m rather glad Fiore kept your catalyst. We could really use you as a guide and source of wisdom right now…”
Chiron blinks, then smiles softly. “Well, that I can help with. Teaching has never stopped being my expertise, after all.”
Author’s Notes:
Chiron finally shows up! As does everyone’s favorite multiverse grade trolling prankster, and master of the Kaleidoscope! Who has a very good reason why Erik’s not going to be near the Grail Works proper, anytime soon.
And why the Wolfen side story is still canon.
Gee, it’s like someone who messes with fate by existing, fucks up things!
That, and Kieran’s so indecisive, I expect to see an actual story in a couple years, at this rate.
But I digress. You get some answers, more questions, and a meeting with a megalomaniac would-be dictator soon! Who’s had 200 years to stew and plot…
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Arbitrarity
