Super Genetics
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B2 - Chapter 18: Misdirection
🕑 Added 2024-08-18 21:08:53 +0000 UTC[A/N]: Sorry for the delay, still feeling the covid fog. Enjoy!
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The plan was clear, precise, and absolutely insane.
Qui Shen was the ultimate target—that much was obvious. If they could take him off the board, Sol and the refugees had a chance should it come down to a fight. So their formation was angled like a dagger, designed to pierce the outer skin of the army and penetrate to the core.
Terraform’s senses couldn’t range fully across the moving force—not without revealing himself inadvertently. But what little aura he could infuse into the stone that surrounded their enemies was enough to get a rough gauge of their numbers and power.
Latest word from across the ocean was that Qui Shen’s court was comprised of three S-rankers, beside the man himself—Xiang Hao, Suì Gǔ Zhě, and a third unnamed S-ranker who was nonetheless reported to be his closest confidante.
Terraform was personally familiar with the first two—had been their elders, once upon a time. Xiang Hao was an S-ranking Summoner whose thralls had been spectral animals of the jungle—crocodiles, tigers, and more. Upon achieving S-rank, he had adopted the name Xiang Hao, in honor of the penultimate summon he employed—the mighty elephant.
He was less concerned with Hao, as his towering summon would be difficult to harness in the tight confines of the tunnel and would be just as likely to impede friend as trample foe.
Suì Gǔ Zhě was the one that concerned Terraform the most. As young men, Terraform had lorded over Gǔ, flexing his power ruthlessly as he had ranked up. He suspected Gǔ would have turned into the sadistic man he was today without Terraform’s bullying, but he couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for the reign of terror the man had instituted in the decades since Terraform had been exiled.
And an S-ranked Duelist was always a powerful threat, demonstrating strength and speed that could be blinding and unstoppable.
The final S-ranker was supposed to be a Hypnotist, but no further word of confirmation had escaped Asia. All he knew for certain was that she was a woman, and had garnered the ear of Qui Shen over the past years.
A high-ranking Hypnotist was almost as terrifying as a high-ranking Duelist. Depending on her specialty, she might be capable of trapping his team in her Mind World, turning friend to foe with thought implantation, or even shatter weaker minds outright.
She would need to be countered if his team were to survive the opening salvo. Though Hunter was a prodigy of mental warfare, only Marcus Amplifying him would make the battlefield level.
And Terraform needed that power boost to strike at Qui Shen.
Hunter understood that his role was to buy seconds of distraction from the mysterious Hypnotist—even sixty seconds would be a blessing. It meant a death Terraform wouldn’t wish upon his worst enemies—let alone one of his closest friends. His mind would be shattered irreparably, reducing a brilliant man into a drooling sack of flesh, trapped inside his own body but helpless to act.
All Terraform could promise was that he would seek to kill Hunter as his final act and spare him further torture should they fail.
Louisa and Juliette were tasked with containing Chen Jie and Xiang Hao, two powerful A-rankers poised against the towering strength of S-rankers. All to buy Terraform the time he needed to strike.
It would have to be enough.
From high above the traveling army, Terraform split the stone roof with a silent flex of power. The five of them abseiled down on gossamer strands of glass, approaching Qui Shen’s moving palanquin from above.
In a split second, his mind took in the entire scene; Gǔ lounging on his small throne at the base of the palanquin on one side; on the other, Xiang Hao rode an ephemeral tiger that seemed to hover over the ground; dozens of men and women labored with aura to cut through the unyielding stone; another couple hundred marched in lock step behind Qui Shen’s palanquin.
And then there was the square of impenetrable flames, white-hot and opaque to his eyes. Aura gushed from somewhere—an Artifact, he guessed—to fuel the curtain of flame that obscured all sight into Qui Shen’s palanquin. The aura was so dense, Terraform couldn’t penetrate it with his senses.
No matter; he didn’t need to see his foe to strike.
With a subtle shift of his power, he moved Juliette and Louisa’s strand of glass so that they’d land among Xiang Hao and Chen Jie. Another shift brought Hunter and Marcus within touching range as they continued to fall upon their prey like spiders on a web.
Marcus’ hand clasped his shoulder. Power rushed into him, filling his reserves until they felt ready to burst. Then, more power. He felt submerged in it, his aura billowing out, encompassing the stone and earth around him for a dozen miles.
Rather than let it spread, he pulled it in tight, drawing his aura to him in a condensed wave. The stone shivered in response, resonating on a level of harmony Terraform had dreamed of, but rarely experienced. It rose to meet him, rising around the edges of the palanquin like a living entity.
Suì Gǔ Zhě and Xian Hao felt the rush of power as well, looking toward each other in confusion, but not thinking to glance up; no one ever looked up.
The shifting stone had the quality of a rising wave more than anything as it rose up around the edges of the moving platform. As it continued to rise, Terraform met it, felt it morph around his body like a suit of armor.
He crashed through the flame a moment later, spearing through it toward where Qui Shen and his Hypnotist would be.
As soon as he penetrated the supernatural flames of the Artifact, he recognized something was amiss. Hunter’s voice called out at same time, confirming what his senses told him.
“There’s no one there!”
Louisa and Juliette hit the other S-rankers in a wave of boiling aura, drowning them for a split second in its sheer depth. Xiang Hao’s spectral tiger dissipated, the tie between master and thrall severed by the sudden burst of energy. Gǔ was stunned by the power for a moment, but shook his head with a snort—like an enraged bull missing its target.
Then, his giant club smashed into the ground, ripping up stone like the shift of a quake. Terraform diverted his power to settle the earth around Juliette and Louisa, but pushed most of his attention into the surrounding tunnel, searching for Qui Shen’s signature.
All around them, the lesser ranked Awakened looked on in confusion and terror; to them, this was a battle between gods—not the place of mere mortals.
With a flick of his eyes, he directed Hunter to help Juliette and Louisa while he continued to examine the stone and the Awakened around them.
There is a chance the Hypnotist obscures my senses, he thought, but the alternative scares me even more…
But there was no time to hedge—the two enemy S-rankers would be more than enough to slaughter his team if he didn’t intervene. Marcus’ power continued to surge into him, propelling him to heights he’d only experienced while attempting to digest the Singularity.
With a thought, the stone moved, entwining Xiang Hao’s body even as his namesake materialized. A portal cut through the air, a hundred feet tall, and a powerful elephant smashed through it, tusks flaring wildly in anticipation.
Terraform crossed the distance toward Hao in a split second, whispering in his ear in Mandarin.
“Get rid of it.” He punctuated the order with a flex of aura, squeezing Hao tight enough to suck the breath from his lungs.
Xiang Hao’s eyes bugged out, the defiance melting away under Terraform’s steady gaze. A moment later, the elephant trumpeted once in rage, then retreated back into the portal from where it had come.
Gǔ had recovered his club from the earth and was physically pushing against the aura arrayed against him by Juliette and Louisa, even as Hunter assaulted his mind. It was clear that the three of them were losing and the gigantic Duelist would break free from their attack at any moment.
Terraform stirred the stone beneath Gǔ’s feet, emulsifying it until it took on a tar-like viscosity. The man began to sink, his feet disappearing, then his shins. As he realized the stone was sucking him under, his focus shifted, giving the others a chance to regain the momentum, pressing the attack on both his mind and aura.
Across the wide tunnel where Qui Shen’s army marched, the commanders had finally spurred their troops into a semblance of a counterattack. Terraform flexed the stone around the palanquin, forming an army of glass and rock golems that rose from the earth like specters. A hundred, then two hundred, then five hundred golems formed a defensive ring, glass spears and swords leveled in threat.
Gǔ slipped deeper into the stone now, his eyes going wild as he fought his descent in pure animal panic. Terraform hardened the pool of liquid stone, solidifying the Duelist inside a rock prison.
If anyone could break free, it was an S-ranked Duelist like Gǔ. But it would take time and effort—and certainly wouldn’t be possible with Hunter invading his mind.
With the two S-rankers subdued, Terraform finally had a moment to panic.
He sent Sol a System message, praying he wasn’t too late.
***
Space still broiled and bucked in the Market, but Marlon had been able to quell it enough to portal out. He felt his babies through their connection, slipping away slowly in his perception. But when he tried to bridge space to connect them, he felt a powerful lock blocking his efforts.
He sent a message to Terry, but growled in frustration a moment later when the boy didn’t reply.
Another message went to Terraform—if he couldn’t rejoin the refugees, he could at least assist in the fight with Qui Shen’s army, broken legs or not.
But to his annoyance, it seemed Terraform and the others had everything in hand.
If I’m forced to live, can I at least get another fight in!
As he reached out toward the location Terraform sent him, there was no restriction blocking his powers. After a moment of questing, he sensed the ocean of power that was Terraform and opened space between them.
He was propped against a rock, his broken legs splayed out before him. Rather than stand to walk through his portal, he simply angled it beneath him, allowing himself to slid through it.
When he appeared on the other side, he was more than a bit confused by the scene before him.
A thousand Awakened were arrayed in ranks, kneeling toward a single person. High above them all, Terraform stood on a stone pillar, regarding them stoically.
Behind him, a familiar voice spoke.
“That’s just what his ego needs.”
Marlon craned his neck around, wincing as the pain flared in his legs. Louisa stood nearby, her arms crossed, a characteristic scowl on her face.
He grunted in reply.
“Skipper dead, then?” the woman asked gruffly, her tone implying that anything less would have been shameful.
He grunted again.
“Better than he deserved,” she replied.
Looking up to meet her eye, he grunted a third time but with a much more agreeable tone.
She looked down at him, snorting humorlessly. Her eyes tracked over his bent legs.
“You’ll live?” There was no charity in her tone, but he understood her well enough to sense the concern beneath the stony demeanor.
He resisted the urge to grunt a fourth time.
“If I have to.”
She nodded icily, her eyes tracking over his head. He followed her gaze to see two men encased in stone up to their chins.
“Yes, Marlon. I think you’ll have to. There’s still work to be done.”
He sighed, turning to watch Terraform as the man drifted down from his pillar on a strand of glass. His eyes found Marlon, a slight smile touching his face.
“Good to see you alive, Marlon.”
“Wasn’t the plan,” he replied. “But Skipper wasn’t up to the task.”
Terraform chuckled, crouching down to put a hand on his shoulder.
“Well, I’m glad, even if you’re not.”
Marlon grunted in reply, then nodded toward the kneeling army.
“Why’d they lose their spine so fast?” He looked around the large excavated cavern. “Hardly seems like they put up a fight.”
“They didn’t!”
Juliette came into sight, a wide smile on her face.
“Soon as Terraform subdued the S-rankers, they folded!”
Terraform nodded. “Qui Shen’s fostered this idea that S-rankers are gods. The lower ranks don’t even dare meet their eyes half the time. The thought of fighting me without their S-rankers leading would be a sort of blasphemy.”
“Well, that’s a small piece of luck, I suppose,” Marlon said.
Juliette came around from behind to stand beside Terraform when she saw Marlon’s twisted legs. Her smile melted instantly. “Marlon, dear! Your hurt!”
“Don’t fuss, Juliette.” He softened his tone a bit so as not to hurt her feelings. “War’s not over.” He turned toward Terraform, flint in his voice. “Where’s Qui Shen?”
Terraform’s face darkened. “We think he went ahead to catch the others.”
Marlon felt the anger brewing deep in his chest. “How did he know you wouldn’t have the Singularity?”
Terraform gave him a meaningful stare and Marlon slammed his fist into the ground.
“That slimy bastard.”
Terraform nodded once. “Can you get us there?”
Marlon scowled, feeling out into space once more. They were closer now and he could see the space around the refugees in his mind. A heavy blanket lay over the surrounding area, sturdy and powerful. He could tell from his static nature that it was an Artifact rather than a Traveler. And from its strength, it had the feel of an S-ranker’s handiwork.
“There’s an Artifact blocking travel.” He grimaced, the words leaving a bad taste in his mouth. He hated others playing with his domain. “Maybe if we get close enough, I can push through.” He shook his head. “But not here.”
Terraform sighed, glancing back at the two imprisoned S-rankers.
“We can’t leave them. They’ll rally the army and be on our heels.”
“Just kill them, Terraform!” Louisa growled.
Marlon felt himself reluctantly agreeing with the woman.
But Terraform’s face darkened.
“I don’t execute prisoners, Louisa. You know that.”
“Even when the fate of the world hangs in the balance?” Her voice was quiet, but full of steel.
Terraform held her gaze for a moment, then looked back toward the prisoners. Marlon could feel the indecision through the set of his shoulders.
Then, he stood straighter, turning to face them.
“Let me try one more thing. If that doesn’t work.” His eyes flashed with magic, the aura all around them shifting sympathetically. “I’ll kill them myself.”
***
Terry’s heart fluttered in his chest. Rupert gripped him by the upper arm and neck, his fingers digging in painfully tight. He was forced forward by the irresistible strength of the A-ranker.
The shock in Tinker’s voice gave way to pure anger as he appeared to process the revelation of Terry’s identity.
“I knew James was playing me! That look in his eye—he was relieved when you got away.”
Terry had been distracted by Rupert’s painful grip, but Tinker’s words snagged on his thoughts.
“I’m not working for my father,” he said. “And definitely not for the Emperor.”
Tinker’s steel mask stared back impassively for a moment, then irised away, revealing the man’s face.
“I find that hard to believe.” His eyes flicked toward Sol, his voice curious. “Though I do wonder at your connection with all of this, Sol.”
Sol’s face was unreadable to Terry, but the man’s limbs visibly trembled, his eyes seeming lost as they stared toward the middle space between him and Rupert.
Tinker seemed to notice something amiss as well, but decided not to press the man. His eyes traced over Terry, stopping on Rupert’s grip on his arm.
“You can release the boy, Mr. Olivier.” His eyes trailed up toward Terry’s, a solid certainty lying there. “He’s nowhere to run to now.”
The grip on his arm and neck eased, but didn’t release. Tinker’s eyes flashed up toward Rupert.
“Uh, pardon, but I think we should be moving.” There was a hint of hurry in Rupert’s voice. “I’ll hold onto the boy just in case he gets any ideas.”
Tinker’s eyes narrowed.
“We are moving.”
“Well, yes, but I mean us. You have your fugitive.” Rupert shook Terry—hard; rattled him like a kid with a Christmas present trying to guess what was inside. He felt like his brain ricocheted in his skull and he had to push down the nausea threatening to rise. “There’s no reason to delay and—” He looked around as if checking for eavesdroppers. “—we can’t let Qui Shen get his hands on the Singularity.”
Bloodhound crossed his arms, his eyes boring into Rupert.
“Thought you didn’t believe in the Singularities.” He turned to Lady with raised eyebrows. “You remember what he said?”
Lady pursed her lips and nodded.
“I believe the words he used were: flaccid justifications of the Originals to justify their wars.”
Bloodhound snapped his fingers, turning back to Rupert.
“Flaccid. What an interesting choice of words.” Judging from the up-and-down look he gave the man, the implication was clear enough.
Terry felt Rupert tense, fingernails digging into his flesh. He tried not to squirm, but the pain was ramping, the muscles in his arms and neck tensing to protect themselves. Even with his Physical Attributes in the high Es, that was nothing in the face of an A-ranking Duelist.
“I warned you!” Rupert hissed. “I warned you not to disrespect me!”
Bloodhound stepped forward and a moment later, the fire team that had been lounging out of earshot perked up, weapons shifting in anticipation.
“Boys,” Lady scolded.
“Everyone stop. I just got a message—” Sol’s voice was low, lost in the bluster between the A-rankers.
“I could rip all your heads off before you could blink!” Rupert growled to the fireteam behind Bloodhound.
Blades flashed into Bloodhound’s hands, curved kukri held loosely as he eyed Rupert.
But all Terry could focus on was the grip around his neck. Blood pounded behind his eyes as the pressure increased.
Sol’s skin began to glow, but all Terry could focus on was the darkness closing in on his vision.
Tinker put out an armored hand, taking a step forward. “Calm down, Mr. Olivier.”
Rupert’s eyes flicked toward the Artificer, then down to the blades in Bloodhound’s hands.
“Tell him to put the blades away!”
“Bloodhound,” Tinker said. “Don’t escalate.”
Terry’s hand was pulling against the grip on his neck, but it was like digging at steel. His vision faded, the strength in his arm sapped away.
A blast of blinding light seared his eyes and he groaned in pain and shock. The hands holding him tight let go, his knees cracking against the stone. He coughed violently now that the pressure on his neck was gone, but even in his rough state, he heard the words Sol said next.
“Do I have your attention now!” he growled. “Terraform just messaged me. Qui Shen is gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Tinker asked. “He’s turned around?”
Terry blinked away the spots in his eyes, glancing up to see the naked worry on Sol’s face.
“No. His army is still coming straight for us. But he seems to have sneaked away.”
“What?” Lady asked. “Why?”
Then, the screams started.
Comments
White Rose
Awesome! Thanks for reading, Andrew!
Andrew Simpson
First! I was just thinking about how excited I was for the next chapter! Tftc, and I hope you feel better soon!
