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[REND] 6.4 - Hero Wannabes, At Your Service
🕑 Added 2025-06-01 14:48:52 +0000 UTC“An artificial Core?” A few days ago, I was only concerned with law school, sweet treats, and movies. Now, there was bullshit like artificial Adumbrae and artificial Corebrings.
Was someone playing a prank on me? I wouldn’t be surprised if I were in some kind of reality show, and everyone was using special effects to fool me. But this was unlikely since I had experienced for myself that I was no longer human. I wanted to return to my simple life as cute Erind, mooching off of Mom. However, this plot development was befitting of a main character.
“I-I don’t understand.” The stammer was just for added effect. I really couldn’t follow what was happening. “How is this possible? That… thing… gives you powers?”
“That is so,” Dario replied. “This artificial Core is made from copying the real one. Let me begin my story with—”
“Can you show us your powers?” Deen asked as she stood up. She wobbled a bit, so she held onto my shoulder. She squeezed my shoulder for a second, as if to transmit her thoughts to me through our ‘best friend’ connection.
My brain was too busy processing what was happening to get annoyed by her touch. Why was she suddenly interested in seeing their powers? It wasn’t out of curiosity. She had a different intention. Was it to buy time? But the police probably didn’t even know we were gone since only a few hours had passed since we were taken.
“I want to see your powers too,” I said. “It’s so much easier to understand the story if we have proof first. I mean, I’ve felt your power and seen Myra’s, but Deen doesn’t know anything.” I had to see what I was up against… if it did turn out they were enemies.
“I suppose that my story would be more believable if you’ve seen proof of our powers,” Dario said.
“Demonstration time!” Reo cheered, clapping his hands. “Let’s all do it!”
“Why are you so pumped?” asked Everett.
“This is one of the rare chances I get to show off my awesome powers,” he said. “I go last this time. You know what they say, ‘save the best for last’. You know that other thing they say? ‘Reo is the best.’ Myra, you go first.”
“Delude yourself all you want,” Myra said, “but you’re wasting time if you don’t start your summoning now.”
“Ah, right, right.” Reo knelt on the ground. He made a face. “Forgot my kneepads in my saddlebag. Getting my pants dirty to provide a show for the ladies—the ultimate sacrifice.”
They agreed. Did that mean they were the good guys? At the least, they weren’t bad from our perspective.
“Don’t get weirded out,” Everett said, looking at Deen. Only Deen. My best friend’s beauty snagged the heart of yet another male of the species.
Looking up at the ceiling, Reo extended his arms to his sides, palms facing upward. Was he praying? He chanted words I didn't understand. A foreign language, maybe. Japanese? No, it didn’t sound Japanese. I had no idea what he was saying, but it did… something. Reo started to glow, as if he had a red backlight under his skin.
A few seconds passed, and he continued to chant and glow. And nothing else.
“Uh, where’s the fairy?” I asked.
“Shush, Erind.” Deen squeezed my shoulder. “Let’s just observe.”
“It’ll come later,” Everett said, chuckling. “Sorry, it’s kinda anticlimactic.”
“This might not be what you envisioned for a showcase of powers,” Dario said. “Powers of both Corebrings and Adumbrae aren’t usually as straightforward as shooting lightning bolts out of fingertips or throwing fireballs. Out of us all, Reo’s power requires the most time to charge. On the other hand, I can activate mine easily.”
“The headache thingy,” I said.
“Correct. Be ready for it. Especially you, Amber. I won’t crank this to the maximum intensity.”
Deen nodded. “I’m ready.”
The atmosphere became heavier as if I were underwater. The headache started, as if someone were screwing a knuckle into my temple. The back of my eyes throbbed. Deen put more weight on my shoulder; she must be feeling woozy. I was about to tell Dario to stop when the headache disappeared.
“Apologies for the discomfort,” he said. “This, er, headache field—Reo promised me he’d think of a better name—”
“He’s too busy watching porn to search the internet for a name,” drawled Myra.
“—it extends for several feet,” finished Dario.
What the hell was several feet? Could be five. Could be fifty. Calm-and-collected Dario should certainly know the actual range of his ability. Was he too lazy to tell us, or was he intentionally keeping it vague?
I prodded him a bit. “Ouch, the headache reminded me of our finals week last semester. If that was just the low settings, what’s the max like? No, don’t use it. I was just wondering.”
“Strong enough to incapacitate the average human,” he replied.
“Is that why your codename’s Blank?” Deen asked. “Because you can knock out people?”
Dario nodded, but I sensed that there was more to his codename than just his headache field.
Was I supposed to get knocked out when we met? He must’ve lessened his power when he saw that it was me. He didn’t seem to suspect anything was wrong. I didn’t have battle instincts whatsoever, but I would wager that Dario was the most dangerous out of this group. If I were to fight them someday, and that was a very possible possibility, I should know how to deal with this too-monotone, too-rigid-speaking weirdo.
“You have another power,” I said. “Uh, when we were in the van. You held Myra and…”
“He can weaken people, too,” Myra said. “Needs to touch them, though. Really useful fighting up close. Not so much in a gunfight. His headache field doesn’t stretch that far either.” Myra seemed to be telling the truth… of what she knew. If that was the actual truth was another question.
“We have you to be our shield, Myra,” Dario said. “How about you—hang on. Reo’s fairy is about to pop.”
As I thought of how to beat Dario, chills crawled down my spine, and the hairs on my neck stood on end.
Mournful singing in an unknown language flitted throughout the building’s first floor. I couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from. I turned to Reo. His mouth emitted shimmering red light. Mischievous laughter masked the singing. It wasn’t Reo laughing. It sounded like someone full of helium laughed in a cartoonish voice.
A small hand came out of Reo’s mouth, followed by a plump body. A fat, pixie-like creature struggled to exit. With a great heave, it pulled itself out and cheered in gibberish. It flew through the air, somehow managing to do so even with its disproportionately small wings. It looked at all of us and laughed again in that creepy way.
“That’s Blubber,” Dario said. “It won’t harm you. Obe, I mean Reo… he can control it.”
Reo opened his eyes and himself to stand. “Sorry for the wait, beautiful ladies,” he said, massaging his jaw. “I don’t know why my power works that way, but it does, and I don’t have the receipt to return it.”
“You must know why it’s like that,” Myra said, pointing at him. “That’s your power.”
“Yeah, well, no one’s paying me to confront my demons,” Reo said. “Anyway, ladies—” he gestured to Deen and me “—please direct your attention to my adorable and rotund subject.”
Blubber landed on the pile of blocks behind Reo. It stopped cackling as it sank its teeth into the topmost block, nibbling it. In a whirlwind of red, it began to chew through the pile as if it were a school of stone-eating piranha. Block after block got shredded into dust.
Deen covered her nose and mine from the billowing dust. “That’s so scary.”
Holy shit! How the fuck was I supposed to fight that? The only way might be to catch it before it decides to nom on me. There were three more of these fairies, right?
And Deen was treating me like a kid! Couldn’t I plan in peace? So far, the plan was to not fight these guys. How could I join their side?
“O-okay, tha-that’s enough…” Reo coughed. He had turned sickly pale. “My fairies… draw energy from me.” He inhaled long and stood straight, color returning to his skin. “I can summon two, three, or even all four at once, but I’ll be twitching on the floor if I do that. Pushing their powers makes me weak.”
“Weaker, you mean?” quipped Myra with a grin.
Reo ignored her. “Luckily, I can send my noble subjects far. For a king does not lead his army into battle.”
“Kings have led their armies,” Everett said.
“In the fucking past,” said Reo. “There’s a reason that’s not done anymore. Do you see President Garland lead the US army?”
“Do your other fairies have different powers?” I asked. Didn’t make sense to name this one Blubber if they were all the same. I’d need to know about all of his fairies. Reo turned out to be quite powerful, too, even if he was more of a clown. His weakness really wasn’t much of one.
“Indeed, my loyal subjects each have their own specialties.” Reo assumed his praying position. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to call Blubber, my adorable baby, back to my tummy.”
“Sounds gross,” Myra said. She shrugged as she stepped towards us. “I guess I’ll go next.” She took off her shirt and pants that she had gotten from their stash room in the building’s basement, returning to her prior sparse outfit of just a sports bra and cycling shorts. “If you’re wondering why I’m doing this, it’s because I’ll ruin loose-fitting clothes when I use my power.”
I noticed the bulge of the artificial Core on her sports bra. There was also a hint of its blue glow. Myra the Merge was the tank of the group, judging by the small tidbit of her fighting that I had witnessed. Dario needed to get close to the enemy to be effective. Reo needed to be safe while he pumped his fairies. Myra was the answer.
Myra picked up a chunk of the stone block that had tumbled away during Blubber’s feeding frenzy. It slowly sank into her skin and disappeared.
“Your hand…” Deen said. “It’s turning into stone.” Indeed, Myra’s hand had turned a coarse gray.
“Not just stone,” Myra said. “This is much stronger.” She knelt and punched the ground. Her fist penetrated a couple of inches into the concrete. Cracks radiated from the hole she made. “If this were the same material as that block, my flesh-turned-stone would’ve shattered too.”
The hole on the ground continued to widen as concrete was siphoned into Myra’s hand. Her arm began to change color, her skin turning coarse. Several seconds later, she was kneeling at the bottom of a five-foot-wide crater, having sucked that much material. Her body had turned into stone, even her hair. She looked like a statue wearing a sports bra and cycling shorts.
And she didn’t stop absorbing the floor. Her stone flesh thickened, spreading over her clothes. She continued to bulk up.
“She’s huge,” Deen gasped.
“Too huge,” Dario said. “That’s enough of a demonstration, Myra.” He looked to his side. “Reo’s about to finish too.”
Blubber had landed on Reo’s mouth and began to squeeze itself back inside. Deen squirmed in revulsion beside me. I had almost forgotten that she was holding onto me. She had regained her footing, I was sure, but she still hadn’t let go. It wasn’t like I could push her away.
Endure, Erind. Main characters endured all the challenges that came their way.
After Blubber returned to his body, Reo collapsed. Everett caught him and made him sit on the floor and lean against a column. “He’s like this after finishing a summon,” Everett said. “He’ll come to in a few minutes. I’ll be showing my powers next. It’s safe here, right?”
“Just don’t target the plant,” Johann said.
“What will I focus on then?” Everett asked. “Plain concrete? I can’t burn that. I mean, I could heat it enough to make it crack, but I hadn’t eaten that much.”
His power needs food? Maybe he was the weakest among them. What was that about burning, though?
“Target that.” Dario pointed at a clump of weeds that had grown out of a crack on the floor. It was far from any other greenery.
“But my power display isn’t going to be as impressive compared to all of yours.” Everett sighed. “Alright then. I also don’t want to smoke up our place, especially with our guests here.” He winked at Deen. I wasn’t sure if he knew I was around too. Not that I wanted him to wink at me.
Everett looked at the plant. The air above it shimmered as if there was scalding pavement underneath. The plant turned from green to black before bursting into flames. Soon, the plant was ash.
“Is your power controlling fire?” Deen asked.
“It’s not really about fire,” Everett said, looking away as he scratched the back of his head. “Mine is a bit hard to explain. What do you know of that famous formula of Einstein, E=mc2?”
“Only heard of it,” I said. “I don’t exactly know what it’s about. I got into law school to avoid science.”
Deen chuckled. “I must’ve paid attention when that was discussed in class,” she said, “but I’ve long since forgotten. Can you tell us how your power works?” Deen was rolling her r’s in a purring way.
Was Deen trying to make the guy fall for her? For her safety? I wouldn’t be surprised if Deen has a manipulative side.
“I’m not a physicist by the way,” Everett said, “but a simple explanation would be that anything with mass has a huge amount of energy. But it’s very difficult to efficiently extract that energy. Take a burger, for example. You won’t last long with that as your only food. But if there was a way to extract energy with even, how about fifty percent efficiency, from a burger, I’m sure you could destroy a block of buildings with it.”
“Is that true?” Deen skeptically asked.
Sounds bullshit, I thought. But I wasn’t going to contest it because I didn’t like science subjects. I wanted practical stuff. I wanted stuff happening in front of me.
“An underestimation,” Dario said. “An average human contains energy equivalent to ninety thousand times the power of the explosion of the first nuclear bomb used back in the Adumbrae war—the one they dropped on the first Purple Bloom in Munich. I’m sure the energy in a burger extracted at fifty percent efficiency can destroy more than just a few buildings.”
Everett said, “I extract energy from what I eat, which we all do, I guess. But I can extract it more efficiently.”
“Seriously?” I asked. “You just eat a burger and then you can blow up a building?”
“No, no, no. That’s too much,” Everett said, laughing. “I’m just a tiny bit more efficient than the average guy. With the energy I extract, I can focus heat around my body or on specific points.” He held up his fist, and it shimmered and smoked.
This is another difficult opponent, I thought. “Um, thanks for showing us all of your powers,” I said. “But… I’m not sure if supposed to ask this… where did you get that, uh, core thingy?”
“Let me guess,” Deen said. “Is it a government experiment?”
Dario nodded. “Correct. It’s the result of a top-secret government project.”
Comments
Temple (REND)
Thanks for your support! :D
Danger Mittens
I think a big factor in recruiting anyone is whether they can handle the stress of combat. Since Erind has already experienced the kind of people she will be fighting against, if she says yes, you can count on her not to chicken out in actual combat. “There is also the question of how they intend to control these core users they are making…” It’s interesting to think about how the world will turn out if they manage to gain independence from Core. I do not count on the government to think beyond winning the war. We can see the outcome in the Middle East wars: none of the countries that overthrew their tyrannical leaders managed to form a stable government; they just moved from one overlord to another. I expect nothing less than a wholesale power grab in a world where power means everything. Having said that, the governments do not really have a choice. If the US doesn’t try the artificial core approach, it will fall when Russia and China unveil their core users. Whoever manages to find a safe way to become a core user or adumbrae will sit at the top of the new world. Hell, I expect each government to secretly try both artificial core and adumbrae—they have to, as they don't know which is plausible. The BID, even if they know the whole 2M saga, will not make a move because it is in the of the govt interest if 2M succeeds, but they will try to contain the damage caused by 2M. Plus, rich billionaires are trying their hand at this too. People in charge will also be thinking about how they can take advantage of these artificial cores themselves. That’s what the experimental teams are for: to figure out how they work, their pros and cons, and their long-term consequences. Once these experiments have proven themselves, I bet the first round of artificial core users will be the top dogs who ordered their creation. Basically, the war will never end. The countries will splinter, and power grabbers will try to outsmart or outrank each other to seize whatever they can. The people in charge of these programs in various countries—the rich and the smart—will all wage war with each other to come out on top. Some will even side with the Mother Core, and the real adumbrae will try to grab a piece of reality as well. I like the island’s last iteration for this reason. It’s the most straightforward result of the whole adumbrae-core thing: the rich going to any length to keep the power they have. The Core is trying to stop all of this, while BID and the government secretly gather data as they train their own power users. It’s in everyone’s interest to figure out how to grow strong in such a world—whoever doesn’t will always be at risk of becoming a hopeless victim.
No Name
The problem with Erind accepting the core later would be that the core group letting Erind go after rejecting their offer, without wiping her memories immediately, was always a bit of a plot contrivance...
Vaporus
Excellent writing, good stuff!
No Name
Huh, so, Dario is being upfront with the government connection this time? I suppose it was too far-fetched that some independent scientist or smaller group could create something of this magnitude. It being a government black-ops arrangement is a lot more believable, and comes with an implicit promise of some base-level of support to stay hidden from BID and police, if only to avoid noise which could draw Hive attention. For Erind specifically, the open admission of government connection and support in avoiding detection would be a major factor in favor of joining the core gang. One thing I don't remember the original ever properly elaborating was why Dario decided to extend the invitation to the two of them (or at least, agree with extending the invitation)... Just the fact that they were targeted by 2Ms doesn't really cover why Erind and Deen (especially Deen, with the resources she could pour into bodyguards if need be) would be suitable core candidates. For something like this, I would expect a full background check and aptitude evaluation on both of them, minimum. Even if they are searching for useful powers by sheer numbers, the candidates would still need to be capable of keeping a secret. There is a case to be made that with the off-the-books nature of the group, access to Deens family potential financial and political support could be useful. But Erind really doesn't seem like a promising candidate beyond above-average intellect (just from her enrollment in a prestigious law college)... Author, if you are expanding on the core group, and the actual function of the government core project this time, you'll probably have to work out how this whole system works. Previously, the whole thing was completely isolated: Core users were just sent out to fight as black-ops squads in the guise of vigilantes until they failed and died, with no evidence of greater planning. The only evidence of something greater was the protection order of Deen when she headed to Las Vegas. Without some larger structuring, they would never actually advance the project through these vigilantes. I don't know if you have anything planned already, but as an example, it could work something like this: - Local core group leaders, which are probably members of the military or similar (Dario) recruit as many people as possible. Whether or not they are particularly suitable doesn't matter so long as they are willing to accept a core, and can be trusted to keep things secret. Essentially, searching for worthwhile powers by sheer numbers. - Core groups are brought into live-combat scenarios to grow their abilities, test field viability, and weed out the duds. - Core-users who manifest abilities which are judged particularly valuable, abnormally potent or otherwise promising receive expanded support (like Deen in LV, but also by other means like material support like equipment or other things to keep them alive) - Eventually, the best core users would be recruited into the US proto-hive proper. At this point, their full-time job would be to just grow their abilities stronger (and act as adumbrae-cleaners), as the government need at least a group of core users able to oppose a high overseer before the actual Hive notices and starts a war. (In the previous version, Pando suggested the government would have captured Deen and experimented on her if they actually knew what power she really had, but that is a rather short-sighted approach...) In short, to gather an army of core users to match up against the Hive, the government would have to actually select and grow the promising sprouts from these scattered groups at some point. Unless they think they can grow the core tech to the point they could convert the standing army into viable superpowered fighters before the Hive came to crush them, but that doesn't really work with essentially random powers... There is also the question of how they intend to control these core users they are making... The notion of a democracy being remotely viable sort of falls apart when one individual can overpower entire armies by themselves.
OmniHumanist
What the hell was several meters? How many feet? -> Oh Erind could be like, "Is Dario like British or something? Who the hell uses meters? Feet are the pride of America. Okay, that sounded wrong." For all they know, the police might be currently looking for the girls, contacting relatives and friends and launching a search operation. -> They know some of the police are corrupt. Also, I'm pretty sure a New Hope City is pretty abandoned.
OmniHumanist
Typos: I wouldn’t be surprised if Deen has a manipulative side.” -> I wouldn’t be surprised if Deen has a manipulative side. ----- Couldn’t I mull over my prospective enemies in peace? -> And this is where Erind's manipulation would be useful. Why would they need to be enemies? Better to keep them on her side. Besides, that artificial Core could be used against Spooky Erind. Would be funny if eventually Erind sees the artificial Corebrings as "hers". So she treats them like objects she owns and gets upset when somebody else hurts them. And then Erind begins a crusade against vandalism. Reo turned out to be quite powerful, too, even if he was more of a clown. -> You know, looking back, I wonder if Reo was meant to be a reversion of GU from Worm? She called herself the Faerie Queen, but was more of a malignant woman compared to Reo being a clown. But Reo also refers to himself as the fairy king Oberon. “Too huge,” Dario said. “That’s enough of a demonstration, Myra.” -> Hey, now we have 2 women that can turn into stone giants - Myra and Stella. Sadly, I don't think we can add Stella to Erind's harem of superpowered girls. But I wasn’t going to contest it because I didn’t like science subjects. I wanted practical stuff. I wanted stuff happening in front of me. -> Congratulations Erind, you are now an engineering major. Now I'm thinking of a spinoff where Erind decides to follow in her Mom's footsteps and becomes a bioaugment engineer. I wouldn’t be surprised if Deen has a manipulative side. -> Fun to see Deen taking more of the lead here. Also manipulative Deen is great. Imagine if Erind comes to the conclusion that Deen is manipulating her. Though Deen is the same character, her thoughts are very different compared to the original version because of the different path the plot took. We can then contrast Deen’s decision-making with Erind’s thoughts afterwards. For old readers, note that Dario’s team is much stronger than before. -> I like these changes. Also, I was thinking back on Erind deciding to reject / accept the artificial Core. The last time Erind decided not to join group since she knew Myra was the one who bothered her, not the 2M's, and that she was also scared that the artificial Core would harm her since she's an Adumbrae. But now, one of those reasons is gone, and she actually knows the 2M's exists. So she could immediately take the Core, weighing it as a good defense against SpookyErind. It would also neatly line up with Erind going on missions with the rest of the group. I think you said the original plan was for Erind to reject it now and then accept it later. But now it's fine for Erind to take it. I think it could work either way with Erind taking it now or later. It's kind of arbitrary whether or not Erind is more scared of merging from the Artificial Core or more scared of Spooky Erind taking over. So, it could make sense for Erind to either reject / accept now. But if you decide for Erind to take it later, maybe you could end Arc 1 with Erind deciding to take the Core. There, after losing herself to the giant werewolf, Erind becomes extremely concerned about Spooky Erind. And then Erind decides to take the artificial Core because just staying as a normal Adumbrae would doom her to be taken over from Spooky Erind. You could also develop Erind's support mask and have that be used this first arc. And then, Erind gets the idea to use the support mask as her Corebring face. And then, you could beef up arc 2. Since Arc 1 is like a full book at this point, you can add Erind training to be a Corebring to the beginning of Arc 2. Then, it could lead to an interesting divergence with Bianca too. I don't think the Adumbrae training with Bianca went anywhere last time in the rewrite anyways. This could lead to an interesting dynamic where Bianca decides to work with Dario's group, but doesn't decide to become a Corebring because she wants to fulfill the ultimate challenge (becoming the first person to control the power of a purple bloom). And then you could add in extra tension where Erind is suspicious of Bianca for not taking the Core (like is she planning on reporting us to the BID? I she still planning on becoming an Adumbrae?) Would also be fun to see Jubjub's team also get stronger. Maybe when we get to Las Vegas in the last future, when Euphonia meets Erind, she outs that Erind is an Adumbrae, and that causes friction between Jubjub's team and Erind. Erind has to work to convince them she's a Corebring, but can't expose that in front of Euphonia. If we still won’t get up there by tomorrow morning (on my time zone), I’m thinking of using one of the backlog chapters to upload and push REND’s RR page count up. I’ll replenish that backlog chapter within the day. I hope you’re okay with that. -> I don't mind, do whatever you need to do to reach the front page! EDIT: It looks like you made it to the front page! Congratulations! Thanks for the chapter!
Karp Paul
As usual, comments/suggestions: "I go last this time." - So, they do it often?... Or, at least, did they do it before for somebody else? "Correct. Be ready for it. Especially you, Deen. I won't crank this to the maximum intensity." Deen nodded. "I'm ready." Add some Erind's rambling: Why the fuck did he call her by middle name? That's my thing! Why did Deen allow it? Bitch. What the hell was several meters? Could be five. Could be fifty. - Maybe replace with another sort of confusion, which would make sense in the US -> What the hell was several meters? How many feet? "You must know why it's like that," Myra said, pointing at him. "Our powers are based on our personalities and experiences." - I think this point of exposition should go much later when Deen is about to accept her core. She can ask, "How can I know what power I get? Or is it a lottery?" - and then the others can explain what they think about how it works and suggest theories. The plant turned from green to black before bursting into flames. The - not finished? "the one dropped on Munich, the site of the first Purple Bloom" - I would rephrase it a bit: "the one they dropped on the first Purple Bloom in Munich" - to make it sound a bit more natural. Not so many comments because, in general, I feel that this interaction between Erind-Deen and Dario-group is in a weird order. Why do they need to explain powers first, then demonstrate them, and only then have a conversation? What if one of the girls freaks out during the demonstration and tries to leave? What if they are interrupted? For all they know, the police might be currently looking for the girls, contacting relatives and friends and launching a search operation. I think it is better to start with an actual conversation, maybe demonstrate one power just to prove that what Dario is saying is true, and only later do a more thorough introduction of powers for every member, perhaps even spreading it across different mini-arcs.
