Monsoon117
patreon
164 Manipulation
🕑 Added 2018-10-24 19:13:05 +0000 UTC I am proud of my race and my standing. As an Albony duchess, I hold sway in galactic courts. I've struck fear into those that hear my name, Caprika Novas. Despite all the clout I've amassed, I won't pretend that this Harbinger of Cataclysm didn't unnerve me. After seeing him melt a corpse without any warning, he absolutely horrified me.So the sense of relief as that monster of metal jumped out of the rickety shack was palpable. He had this feeling around him, as if he weren't mortal. It left me on edge. As he left, his weighty presence left with him. I sighed with relief, thankful for a break from him. I turned to his followers. With my chest held high as an albony's chest should be, I noted,
"Is Daniel always like this?"
The brutish Kessiah uncapped yet another bottle, "Uh, yeah. Always. He's literally always doing something annoying, hard, or both."
The civil Althea leaned forward, always defending her lover, "That isn't true. He relaxes when he's with me."
Kessiah scoffed, "Oh, really now? That shit never happens while I'm around. Could've fooled me."
I tapped my thigh, trying to find the right way to probe my question,
"Now, if you wouldn't mind my asking, what is that ability he uses?"
Kessiah rolled her eyes, "Which one? He has, like, a dozen things he can do."
I took note of her disdain. Kessiah envied Daniel in some respect. Either that or she feared him as I did. I couldn't blame her in the slightest. He was in every sense of the word, terrifying.
Althea lifted her hand, "Hmm, he has the gravity magic. Er, telekinesis, and...flying. He makes others fly as well."
I nodded, "As I just saw."
Althea scratched the side of her head, "And he has this aura."
I pointed at her, speaking a bit too eagerly, "That one. That is the one I wish to know about."
Kessiah narrowed her eyes at me, "Why would you?"
I stuck my chin up even as a shiver ran down my spine,
"He melted a corpse in an instant. It was like he was...for lack of a better term, a god of death."
Althea burst into laughter as she often does when others are discussing Daniel. Her love blinds her to the horror that she lays with each night.
"Daniel is not like that. Like, not at all."
I leaned back, my brow furrowing, "What makes you so sure?"
Althea leaned to her, "Looky here, missy. Have you ever seen him do anything outright bad?"
The alcohol had the intended effect. Mixing calming herbs and truth serum before recanning the bottles wasn't hurting the situation either. I must use all my resources; otherwise, I would be wasteful. As a member of the Empire, I simply couldn't have that.
I shook my head, "Hmmm, perchance I can't call any incident to memory."
Althea nodded, "Exactly. He seems all big and bad, but he's just a teddy bear underneath it all." Althea hugged herself, "Ahh, I wish I could hug him right now."
I held back a gag, a wave of repulsion passing over me. To be so vulnerable and open, it was unbecoming of an anyone but especially an albony. Kessiah mirrored my sentiments, a rare occasion on which we agreed. The brute pointed her bottle at Althea,
"See, that's the thing. I can't really say he's some terrible guy either. I can say he's scary as shit. I mean, have you ever seen him stop moving? The motherfucker is a machine."
Althea shrugged, "He just takes his life seriously. That's how I look at it. I wish I could do the same most of the time, but I just don't have it in me like he does."
I frowned under my mask, my fangs showing if I didn't have my disguise. Albony are quite threatening and expressive without our coverings. Hiding our faces conceals our true intentions. It gives us better manipulation abilities against other, lesser races. Although calling any of this party inferior would be an outright lie. They're too powerful and dangerous for that.
With that in mind, I looked behind me, peering out of my window,
"It bodes well that he handles this tournament seriously. I expected many aliens from across the galaxy to rush in. However, I didn't expect to find one of the stronger ones on my side."
Kessiah crossed her arms, "So you're telling me aliens come in every time this tournament comes around?"
I nodded, "Of course. A fully completed mythical skill is at the very least 900 skill points along with a mythical skill. Non-natives aren't even allowed to battle for it twice. I assumed that's why you and you're comrades have come here."
Althea shook her head, "Nope. This is just something extra on the side. Daniel probably figured, 'Why not handle this and this other thing at the same time? Why of course! There's never a reason not to multi-task all the time!'"
Kessiah pointed her bottle at Althea, "Told you. A machine."
Althea pursed her lips, "Ok, maybe a little...He's still cute though, even if he has his flaws."
I raised a hand, "You never mentioned what the aura is."
Althea tilted her head, "Well, it's..."
Kessiah snapped, "It's pain. Pure, utter agony. I'm talkin pain like you've never felt it. It's like melting."
Kessiah shook her hands, "It can hit you from across the room in an instant. It holds you in your chest." Kessiah grabbed at her sternum,
"Then it wrenches your guts out. Not even just that though, it makes him stronger. He's already invincible."
I tilted my head, "Really now? I thought he was just a solid fighter. What feats of tenacity has he amassed."
Althea shivered, "He survived Yawm's antimatter blast."
My jaw went slack. Kessiah continued, "Torix told me like this, 'Blegh, look at how smart I am.'"
Althea giggled while Kessiah continued, "That's how he starts every conversation. Anyways, 'He was disintegrated, not a single metric ounce of his body remaining. He revitalized in a flash of light, his body vibrating. When he struck Yawm, it could've shattered a planet!'"
Kessiah moved her hands about, acting out Torix's fretting. Even I laughed at the imitation, but I marked down her words in my memory. Daniel may be able to win the actual tournament. If he did, my uncle would offer a city on the homeworld. I'd regain my former glory.
Althea shrugged, "It is kind of freaky I guess...I haven't seen him take any real damage in a very long time."
Kessiah leaned up, "Alright, speaking of length, I have an important inquiry. Someone here has to ask the real questions."
Kessiah leaned forward, "I'm about to ask you something that will change our perspective on Daniel forever."
Althea leaned forward as did I. Kessiah whispered,
"Is the dick good?"
Althea leaned back, blushing with such intensity that I spotted it from under her veil. Despite my noble bearing, I will admit that perhaps a laugh or two escaped my lips. Kessiah simply spread out her arms,
"What? It's a real question..."
Claws extended from Althea's fingertips, "Ok, that's enough questions about Daniel. I think you've had enough to drink."
Kessiah leaned back, "Damn, ok. No need to get testy." She finished another drink and threw it in the garbage, "Didn't know it was that bad."
Althea leaned forward, her claws growing, "That's not the problem. You trying to steal my man is the problem."
Kessiah rolled her eyes, "Oh trust me, I'm not getting with him anytime soon. You and Daniel are so close it's disgusting sometimes."
Kessiah wasn't the kind of person to respond to threats. The fact that Althea's made her react meant Althea had a bite to her bark so to speak. Althea might be worth investing more time into as well. The shapeshifter retracted her claws,
"Ugh, I tore open my gloves."
Kessiah tilted her head towards the back of our rickety shack,
"Torix can stitch it up."
Althea stood up, saying her goodbyes before going to the necromancer. He and Daniel seemed the most competent. Each of them brought brains and brawn respectively.
I mulled over the information I gathered here, trying to make sense of it. Kessiah stared at me as I did so. A moment later, she asked,
"Hey...What made you lose your rank?"
I turned towards her, "I have no obligation to share that with you."
Kessiah shook her head, "Yeah, I guess not." She crossed her arms,
"You know, I can tell you're trying to gather information on us."
I froze in place. Using techniques I practiced, I let out a loose laugh,
"Hah hah, really now? I'm simply trying to-"
"Cut the bullshit."
I lowered my hands, staring her down. She genuinely knew what was going on. Dammit. She sighed,
"Daniel and Althea aren't even twenty years old. Torix and I, we've been around for a looong time. Lying isn’t as easy. Now tell me what it was that got you booted down a rank, or else I'm exposing your ass."
I looked down, weighing my options. Kessiah saw right through me,
"I'm not giving you time to think your way out of this. If you don't tell the truth in five seconds, I'm spilling the beans. Five, four, three, two-"
Without time to come up with a reply, I raised my hands, "I attempted a coup over one of my sisters." I heaved out a few breaths, "There, happy?"
Kessiah shook her head, "No, not yet. What was it like?"
I hissed my words, "I planted evidence against her for an illegal substance. I also organized a crime ring to ruin several of her businesses. I confronted her in court, and I killed her when she attacked me."
Kessiah leaned back, "Really now? Interesting."
I seethed, "You find sororicide of interest now? That's just excellent. Glad my failures amuse you."
Kessiah shrugged, "Why'd you do it?"
I shook my head, "I...It was to overturn a rival faction to get ahead. As Daniel noted, the Empire's governing system isn't as merit oriented as it could be. Being a female in the Empire vanquished me to a lower status in the first tier of society."
Kessiah raised an eyebrow, "I've heard plenty of people complain about discrimination when they were the problem."
"There is a law that forbids females from owning more than a single city."
Kessiah raised her eyebrows, "Ok, nevermind. That actually is discrimination."
I tilted my chin up, "I was a capable ruler. My sister was not. If I won the case I brought up with her, then I'd have been the first female to own two territories. I'd have set a precedent and changed the law."
Kessiah scoffed, "Oh yeah, all you had to do was kill some people and ruin some lives to make it happen. Good job."
I furled my brow, "Oh please. As if you're perfect."
She glanced down. She nodded, "Yeah, I guess I'm not." It shocked me how much that stung her. She continued, "I won't tell them what's going on." She pointed at me, her tone deadly,
"But you cross us, and I'll get Daniel to put that aura over you. Trust me, princess, it's worse than losing a court battle or not getting two cities."
My heart seized in my chest. I gave Kessiah a curt nod, holding myself together,
"Then we're in agreement."
Althea opened the door to Torix's room, walking out as we finished our conversation. She held up her restored glove,
"Hey guys, he fixed it with some stitching magic."
Kessiah raised a fist, "That's what I'm talking about. The dusty skeleton still has it."
I nodded, "Indeed he does."
I bit my tongue. I underestimated the revenant. She may be weaker than the others, but she could read people like a politician. It made me reevaluate my entire plan. Instead of squeezing as much out of them as I could, I'd follow through with my original plan.
I turned behind me, giving myself a mental thrashing for my lack of diligence. Father taught me better, and working within albony courts should've wisened me up. I still had much to learn.
As we reached past the mountain, I noted the skyline. There were no nearby birds, an odd sight this time of year. Many migratory species flocked South, so the skies were covered in all kinds of species. There were none around us, however.
As I dwelled on that, the ground rumbled. I steadied myself, wondering what was happening. I glanced up, finding a pack of birds flopping out of the sky, turning to blackened mush. I shivered, remembering Kessiah's threat.
In the distance, a dark blot of metal ripped through the sky. It sped with the speed of a bullet. I leaned towards what was obviously Daniel. I squinted my eyes, wondering what he was doing.
Kessiah tapped the window, "Holy shit...He's fighting another one of those oversized-salamanders."
My eyes widened,
"I can't believe it..."
Althea put a hand on my shoulder, "Can't believe what?"
I whispered, "He's fighting a myth. It's a Skyburner."
Comments
Highfist
damn dude i really like all your ideas. i think you did a good job thinking outside the box keep it up (if you want)
Anttkk01
metric ounce (plural metric ounces) A metric approximation of the ounce; specifically: 25 grams
BStew
what the fuck is a "metric ounce"?
TheHoblit
is he fighting a dragon? dope. Also, we need to learn how good the dick game is at some point right? I refuse to believe Kessiah isn't at least a bit interested.
Heychsea
Exciting chapter! Thanks!
Monsoon117
Ohhhh, you mean at Baldag-Ruhl's runic enscriptions? Yeah, it's about time he's gotten a second look at them. He'll be looking at them soon enough. I'll see if I can't integrate it organically.
crusty pickle
but why hasnt he looked back on it? and i think he got that after the armor
Pretentious Slime
He has really really good memory
crusty pickle
why doesnt daniel look back onto his pictures he took of the spell his armor was made from to figure out how to optimize it, or what it will do in the future
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Pretentious Slime
Okay last comment and I’ll shut up. How conductive is Daniel? Will he ever learn to use electricity? The reason being is because if he can conduct electricity through himself with his enormous supply of mana, then he can effectively turn himself into an electro magnetic rail gun. Or at least form his arm into one and shoot chunks of himself out at the enemy’s. But maybe make it close range and In shotgun form so that he can maybe punch and shoot at the same time. Bare in mind that railguns are nutorias for taking a shit tone of energy and having a very short life span do to the wair and tare of shooting metal out at 5 thousand miles per hour. Also the shell speed can actually be increased using more energy.
Pretentious Slime
I could probably come up with a ton of bad ass things that Daniel can do with his current ability’s. I just came up with one right now actually. So how much force does it take for danial to snap his fingers? I mean their metal right? His hand probably weighs a tone too. Now add in the friction and pressure needed for an actual snap along with his strength. Ok now have danial use that friction and pressure against his enemy’s. THANOS SNAP! Except it’s a cheap knock off that’s probably 100times more brutal but less deadly.
Pretentious Slime
Also not editing that. Too lazy
Pretentious Slime
So I was thinking about danial and his powers. Somewhere off the top of my head I got some inspiration from my tech school. I work with machines, Daniel is referred to as a machine. I thought of a hydrollic press. It pushes metal down, squishing it with many thousand pounds of pressure in a realitivly small area. You might be wondering were I am coming from. Well picture Daniel making a box using gravity and friction. Something like that black hole he makes except it has a very short life span and is formed by him creating barriers out of gravity/friction and shaped like a cube. He would form it around or inside a living being for either a suppressive or lethal affect. He would then put most of his weight into his right foot, step forward and transfers that weight over to the newly formed cube, contracting/shrinking the sides. Think of a trash compactor but many times more effective and it compacts from all given sides of a cube. Better yet, the ability’s limit is directly connected to Daniels access weight. Now say, Daniel does this but for some reason the enemy’s doesn’t die. Well, daniel can form one of his combusting black holes at the center of this cube, except it would be much smaller and feed off of the mass of what is being compressed into it. What happens to a black hole that is filled to the brim? It explodes! This is the most deadliest combination in Daniels arsenal that I could come up with. Took about 10minuets, just an idea tho. Seriously, this should be flat out illegal 😂. Now I’m thinking about how he could massacre thousands by doing this, wouldn’t even have to do it to each individual person as just a few would create catisyrophic explosions. Also if Daniel puts this barrier around someone,it would be challenging for them to escape, the only down side would be the short lifespan of the ability. This would mean that it could more effectively be used to instantly stop an enemy. Worse for them, this also means that it becomes a terrible weapon against speed types. Ever been in a car crash? Now imagine all of denials weight smashing into you as you are instantly halted by it. I guess the other downside would be that danial would have to become heavier to deal with bigger/weightier aponnents.
Pretentious Slime
Althea’s terrible, none existent resistance to charisma- well noted. Good thing it’s Daniel with that high charisma stat(“relatively”) she has fallen for. This chapter helped me realize this and it gave me something else to consider. So once again, the boons of a well written POV change are endless. I also considered the fact that they are intimate with each other. so I’m not saying she can’t resist a stranger or anything, but it’s good it was pointed out here. Its nice that Daniel has been focusing on perception, maybe he can point these types of weaknesses out.
Monsoon117
There's been signs, even if they were subtle. Her sending scouts to spy on Daniel after he hurt a Soldier of Fortune was one standout one.
Pretentious Slime
Ok, so good job on changing POV, it helps the reader interpret things that we would have otherwise not known or struggled to comprehend. Like after reading this I realize that the patriotic lady is more calculating than I first took her to be. Seems like she’s all about throwing out a false facade in a rather calculative manner. Too bad danial is focusing on perception... Anywayyy, changing things up can be great if done right. I think this chapter was well needed. It definitely made things a tad bit more interesting.
Gabriel
I agree, but I think how your write Daniel is perfect for him and gets the reader to really feel how he lives in the world. You kinda almost already kinda feels him ascending into becoming an Old One/Elder God; it's great, in his chapters he feels like a normal person who is just improving himself with all he can but other PoVs really shows him off to be things being that is hard to read or understand. While only the people close to him have any idea that he is not some out of touch monster but a being of strong emotions and will that fiercely cares about those around him. Please keep up the good work and I hope you keep enjoy doing what your doing.
Erriballon
Thanks for the chapter
Demonuss
Thanks for the chapter mate, getting to read about Danial again has been glorious.
Thank you for the chapter.
Monsoon117
I've never struggle to come up with ideas. I've only struggled with planning and consistency. I think I ironed those two things out, so hopefully this storm of content keeps up.
Monsoon117
I'm not. It kind of just feels like I got rid of a bottleneck, and now my potential has risen.
Connor Alexander
Holy fuck you're coming at us with a storm of content! Thank you for the chapters, though don't hurt your creativity - we wanna milk you for all the chapters you've got >:D . Loving the new chapters too - They're absolutely awesome!
Love that chapter updates don't burn your self out though.
Monsoon117
Senjuro - "It may be my lack of creativity, but Daniel's POV kinda leaves me with sort of a tunnel vision when it comes to his surroundings and whatnot, so alternate POV from a native feels like a breath of fresh air. Also, really like how Caprika's perspective of Daniel is of something larger than life, feels like his journey so far paid off :p"
Monsoon117
I saw them and replied to them. I don't know what's going on either. I'll post them below this comment though.
Maritropa
Is it just me or are replies just disappearing, had 2 of mine vanish :/
Monsoon117
Oh yeah, alternate POV = filler. At least for most novels. I'm trying to be purposeful with how I inject mine so that it adds depth instead of watering everything down.
Corwin Amber
thanks for the chapter
you should do more of this, it gives the other characters more depth and see what they are thinking
Enjoyed the chapter hate the cliff. I really hope these alternate POVs don't get boring, I find in most stories they change the POV to much and I get bored and distracted because they use it as a reason to try and expand serval plots at once while not progress much without time skips. Good work so far I believe you will be able to come up with a arc better than yawm.
Monsoon117
Caprika's pretty damn scared of Daniel. I'll leave it at that.
Scott Frederiksen
Love this series and this perspective is great. Though I'm worried that her "original plan" may involve turning Daniel in our something else that will but her in the ass.
Kevin Ramos
Nice. Also, BEWARE OF THE HARBINGER
Monsoon117
It feels good. I have ironed out a methodical, systematic process to writing. It's working out wonderfully, from top to bottom. The break to editing let me get a handle on the process.
Monsoon117
I hope you guys find this chapter interesting. Let me know if anything is off base, as this is experimental. I won't be doing tons of alternate Pov's all the time. Aaaaaaand my comment is moving further and further down into the depths of the comment section. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy this spin on the novel before returning to Daniel's normal POV.
Zeal Iskander
You're on a roll lol.
xSzakix
#secondgang
racktrack
#firstgang
