BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

1148  Bonds of War

"I told you already," Erik said. "If I do that, Hin's troops will start suspecting something weird is going on with Salena Turke. I can't allow that."

"But we will be able to get rid of millions of soldiers in a heartbeat. If they have nowhere to run to, their only choice would be to go to Mur."

"Or to Etrium," Erik said, "where they would join their forces to attack Frant again, or worse, Hin. I can't allow that. Not that, not before I leave for Mur."

"Are you still set on going there?" Erik's jaw clenched. "The blackguards are there, Caiden," he said. "They are everywhere, Erik. Look, I want to destroy these bastards as much as you want." Erik looked at Amber's father's face. There was a look of pure hatred in his eyes. For sure, the man must have seen and known many of the things the blackguards did before Erik found everything out. It was clear; after all, Caiden, Richard, Becker, and his father, Lucius, were actively trying to decrease their presence in Frant for years, to the point of waging a fake war with Hin just for the sake of them sending Lucius there. Erik didn't doubt the hatred the man had for these people, but that hatred wasn't as deep as his, who suffered under the blackguards firsthand.

Caiden had been rich all his life, and on top of that, he was powerful. He couldn't be bullied, neither in Frant, nor outside of the country. He lived a pampered life, and while this didn't turn him into a complete moron, he had still been exempted from living in a world where the effects of what the blackguards did, through the Crystal Cross Gang, for example, could be felt on one's skin.

But Erik lived through that. He remembered the drug addicts at every corner. He remembered fearing to be kidnapped every day, after work, while the sun was setting. He remembered fearing being robbed of the few money he earned after having been exploited by Mister Fox.

Erik hadn't been lucky. Those things didn't happen to him just because he was the son of Lucius Romano. The blackguards needed him alive because they... Uncle Benjamin knew that if Lucius ever came back, he would go to see him. Which he did.

Erik was the key to finding the man; he was the key to getting the biological supercomputer before Erik got into its possession.

Luckily, the young man had been smart enough to hide properly from them, but even then, given his immaturity, given his hatred for a country that, albeit not without sins, was suffering as much as he was, he risked a lot showing off at school; he risked a lot entering the Red Palace or killing Nathaniel.

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And he had been forced to leave a country wholly unprepared, severely weak compared to the average adult, which had no way of surviving alone in a thaid infested world.

Yet he did. Not because of skills, not because of the biological supercomputer. At that point, it became just dumb luck.

Erik never faced something he couldn't really kill, and when he did, he had at least been able to flee. The young man recalled his near-death encounter with a wyvern on his journey to Etrium. Even his battle against the Leviathan Serpent hadn't brought him as close to death as that harrowing moment. Well, in either case, Erik couldn't really talk about fights.

Other people, in the same situation, might have just died. But luck, albeit part of all the famous people's skill set, was something unreliable.

"That is exactly the point, Caiden. The only way to get rid of the blackguards is to kill their leaders."

"Leaders?" The man asked.

"Exactly. Here, I fought against a woman who called herself Monica Velasquez, the third division commander. If there was a third division commander, there are going to be for sure a first and a second division, and maybe there are even a fourth and fifth, and even more."

Erik paused, his eyes narrowing with steely resolve. The tent seemed to grow colder as he continued, "If this is true, there might be much more people to kill. As more time passes, the more the blackguards will be able to power up their troops. In four years, they had been able to give people two and three brain crystal powers. Those having three did not get powerful enough, having to focus on too many neural links, but with the technique they stole from me, they might be able to get much stronger than the troops we've faced until now, given the time. Things will get harder if we wait too much."

Caiden sighed. What Erik was saying made sense. The problem was that they needed his help to save Frant; they needed more Chimaeric Demons, or the battle would not end. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I don't know if we will be able to hold on with the remaining troops, Erik."

"Don't worry about that," the younger man said. "I've sent thousands of clones across the continent. As I've said, I prevented four of the remaining countries from joining the war. Given enough time, I might be able to do the same with Etrium and Miciselen."

"What if we don't have enough time?"

Erik paused for a second. In truth, with the Chimaeric Demons having to kill blackguards across an entire continent, having to take over governments, with the little time he had available to make them, there were very few troops for him to help Frant. This meant that he really had to give them something to allow them to take care of themselves.

"I will make the Chimaeric Demons teach an improved Neural Link training technique. One that would make you strong enough to resist against the blackguards."

"A new technique? There is another one?"

"There are many," Erik said, making Caiden look rather surprised. "It might allow you to cross the 54 neural links mark. It is very powerful. It should also allow you to train multiple brain crystal powers at the same time, but, well, you don't have them. Regardless, it should give you the ability to resist on your own, at least until I get rid of the blackguards once and for all. You just have to make sure that people whom we can trust get their hands on them. Call Becker, tell him to send the technicians here, and I will give you the technique."

There was a moment of silence. Caiden couldn't possibly refuse this. A technique that might allow humans to get past the 54 neural links threshold? Frant had to get it. Damn, even he wanted it. "All right then, I will make my call."

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