Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 85 – Might Makes Right – Part One

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 85 - Might Makes Right - Part One

No Matter which questions I asked, Orphiel failed to provide anything close to a satisfactory answer. After hours of trial and error and with close to nothing to show for it, I let Orphiel go.

Retrieving the tablet from my bedside table with my authority, I gently thumbed the cracks that marred the right side of the screen. To my astonishment, the cracks slowly receded, restoring the screen into a single piece of glass. As my surprise faded, I could feel the screen drawing on my MP and changing it into the foreign mana.

After about half an hour of draining my MP the last of the cracks were gone. However, the screen continued draining my MP.

Based upon what I assumed was a progress bar in the centre of the screen, it was using me to regain its charge.

After being stored in my Storage Ring, the tablet had been unresponsive, so I took this as a favourable sign.

Hours passed by and I slipped into a state of deep meditation as a means to pass the time.

A notification of Faine’s triumph and the abrupt appearance of a large wooden chest broke me from my meditation.

Just as I had suspected, the change in the rules of Conquest and Invasions allowed my Overseers to recruit new Overseers into the fold.

While the potential recruit deliberated the recruitment offer, I used my authority to determine how much time had passed. I was intrigued to find it had been only a little longer than twenty-four hours since Faine had been given the promotion to Overseer. Which meant he had used an Artefact to claim an entire floor with a single challenge.

Frustrated at myself for losing an entire day I could have otherwise spent with my family, it didn’t take long for me to become distracted again.

This time, the distraction came from the abrupt arrival of the new Overseer, Gilkt.

Standing just over six feet tall, Gilkt was bare-chested and wore a breechcloth embroidered with copper and silver coins that overlapped one another like the scales of a fish. Which made sense aesthetically, since the gills on Gilkt’s neck and chest, combined with his webbed fingers and toes, and thin spiked teeth marked him as an aquatic monster.

Pushing his long seaweed-like hair from his face, Gilkt stared up at me in awe and a noteworthy level of discomfort. His skin was slick with a translucent slime and it only served to enhance his overall nervous disposition. Opening his mouth to speak, Gilkt made several odd choking noises before I realised what was wrong.

With a thought, I flooded the isolated territory with water until the water rose just past my waist. When Gilkt didn’t respond favourably to the influx of fresh water, I tapped into the realm’s limited reserve of salt water instead. For good measure, I conjured a roasted Swamp Lurker tail from my Storage Ring to accelerate his recovery.

After several tense minutes of waiting, Gilkt appeared to be on the mend and was viciously working his way through the last shreds of meat on the tail. Treading water, he rose to the surface, although only far enough to raise his head above water. “I give thanks for the bounty,” Gilkt said with gratitude. “May the tides favour your kin.” His voice sounded like creaking timbers, shifting in pitch as he spoke.

Unsure what to say, I resolved myself to simply nod and acknowledge the gesture of goodwill instead.

“I have given no cause to earn this right, yet I must...” Gilkt croaked, his voice lowering several octaves as he tore a cord bearing strings of golden coins from his waist and thrust them above the surface. “The Leviathan draws closer to the final kinhome...The Leviathan is beyond our strength...I beg...Shelter them and we will serve for all of our days!” Gilkt lifted the coins higher with both arms outstretched in earnest supplication. “I will give anything! Everything! I beg!”

“Keep your coins,” I replied in what I intended as a calming tone.

Gilkt’s face fell and he did as he was asked.

With Gric still on the mend, and Sebet already committed to several other high-priority tasks, my options were limited. “I will offer aid. I want that to be clear,” I clarified to avoid further misunderstandings.

Gilkt’s eyes grew unnaturally wide in surprise, his eyelids drawing back all the way and giving him an increasingly alien appearance.

“One part of the problem lies in the lack of available living space,” I explained while running through potential solutions in my mind. “Freshwater makes you incredibly sick, and I don’t have much salt water to offer beyond what we are swimming in at this very moment. The other part of the problem lies in locating your people.” I paused for a moment to allow him time to internalise what I had said. “Do you know which floor of the Labyrinth you are from?”

Gilkt looked at me with confusion. “I have heard this word spoken by surface traders...I do not know what it means...”

“I thought that might be the case...” I sighed and altered the surrounding terrain to provide a landlocked plateau.

Gathering my MP I Summoned a projection of the Asrusian Regent, Francis Asrus.

“Majesty.” Francis Asrus's projection bowed respectfully, taking care not to bow too deeply. “How may I be of assistance?” He cast a curious glance at Gilkt from the corner of his eye but did not presume to speak further.

“I need a wand of Teleportation. Preferably one capable of penetrating deep into a Labyrinth,” I replied candidly. “This is a time-sensitive matter and is related to the acquisition of additional Overseer titles for the campaign.”

The Regent’s eyes flashed with determination. “I have such a wand within my office,” he replied decisively. “I can lay hands upon it in less than a minute from my current location.”

“See to it,” I commanded and dismissed the projection.

Using my authority, I teleported Trask onto the plateau the Regent had just vacated. “I have a task for you, assuming you are willing?”

“Alwayss,” Trask rumbled aggressively, assuming a lower centre of gravity and sweeping his thick crocodilian tail across the plateau as he surged into the water. Trask could not breathe underwater but he was capable of holding his breath for hours, possibly even days, at a time.

“You will accompany Gilkt to his home via Teleportation,” I motioned to Gilkt to make it clear who I was referring to. “Remotely viewing your location, I will open a Breach to evacuate Gilkt and his people. Depending upon the threat present in the location, you will then initiate an Invasion or retreat to Sanctuary. In the event of an Invasion, I will reinforce your position with Summons and Spells. Otherwise, you will be on your own. Understood?” I removed Gilkt’s Overseer title and gave it to Trask, replacing it with Trask’s Lord title.

“Trask undersstandss,” Trask replied, sending thick ripples in all directions from the deep rumbling of his voice.

Nodding in a show of approval, I used my authority to fetch Francis Asrus and the wand of Teleportation that was assumedly now in his possession.

“Majesty,” Francis Asrus bowed respectfully, mirroring the movements of his earlier projection before withdrawing a dark shaft of wood from beneath his cloak. “As promised,” he raised the wand in both palms.

“Your cooperation will be remembered,” I stated formally and accepted the wand.

Francis Asrus made a complicated expression that was difficult to read. “We are all in this together, Majesty. I am only doing my part.”

Of course, such an act would be counted as an important contribution. So it wasn’t difficult to understand how he might be motivated to temporarily surrender such a valuable item. It was also quite likely that he had recognised what was happening, and that assisting in the recruitment of additional Overseers would result in more territories being acquired at a faster rate.

However, it was also possible he was not aware of Gilkt’s former Overseer status and was just acting to acquire political capital. This made more sense, considering Gilkt and his people would probably possess enough members to warrant their own Faction, entitling them to become signatories and gain territories.

After sending the Regent back to his office, I explained how the wand worked and passed it off to Gilkt.

Activating the wand as a test run, Gilkt managed to Teleport onto the rocky plateau after a couple of minutes of concentration. On the second attempt, he managed to bring Trask along with him.

When Gilkt Teleported for the third time, I felt him and Trask leave the boundary of my Realm.

Remotely viewing Trask’s location, I found him standing in waist-deep water in a dimly illuminated grotto. Surrounded by desperate faces and a ring of bristling spears, tridents and bidents, Trask faced the danger with impeccable stoicism.

“Stop! This is not an enemy!” Gilkt croaked earnestly, throwing himself between the nearest spear points and Trask.

“Explain! Outcast!” One of the larger warriors, a full head taller than Gilkt, demanded, poking the tips of his trident dangerously hard into Gilkt’s midsection.

“I have found an escape!” Gilkt cried, pressing forward and causing the points of the warrior's trident to draw blood.

Horrified, the ring of warriors drew back a handful of steps in fear, pointing at the rapidly expanding blooms of blood in the water and releasing panicked cries of alarm.

“You have doomed us!” The warrior croaked in alarm, backing away from Gilkt with a mixture of revulsion, hatred and terror.

“I save us!” Gilkt countered viciously, “I find our escape!” He knocked the warrior’s bone trident aside and jabbed the wand at the warrior’s pale throat.

The confrontation was brought to a momentary halt as the walls of the grotto shuddered and churned the water.

Everyone grew deathly still.

“Tyrant...” Trask had been unphased until this moment, staring back at Gilkt’s people with indifference and contempt. However, he was now on full alert.

Possessing a Racial Ability that made him functionally invisible to most aquatic predators, Trask’s sudden concern was not something to be taken lightly.

Gathering my MP I forced open a Dimensional Breach near his location.

The grotto shook again, this time dislodging small pockets of loose stone from the walls and ceiling.

Trask slowly turned his head one way and then another before settling upon a large pool of water being given a wide berth by the locals.

The walls, ceiling and floor shuddered again, this time with more than ten times the intensity, dislodging large chunks of stone from the walls and ceiling.

Panic erupted from the local civilians and warriors alike, but it quickly became obvious that they were trapped and had nowhere they could run to.

“SSILENCE!!!” Trask roared, his guttural voice booming through the caverns of the grotto drawing all eyes toward him and the Breach. “THISS! ISS! ESSCAPE!!!” He pointed emphatically to the Breach just as another cavern was rocked by another quake.

“FOLLOW!!!” Gilkt cried, waving his arms high above his head, trying to make himself heard above the panicked cries of his people as he approached the Breach.

Movement from the large pool brought a fresh wave of panic to the crowd and terrified warriors began forming a ragged defensive line, placing themselves between the pool and the retreating civilians.

Releasing a savage roar, Trask began stalking toward the pool, pushing the warriors aside to clear a path. Just as he reached the pool, dozens of slick grey tendrils rose out of the water and groped at the air, coiling like eyeless serpents. Thin mucus-covered hairs uncurled from the tendrils, waving to and fro as if carried by the wind.

Before Trask could act, another tentacle and a new host of tendrils slowly swarmed into the grotto.

The grotto shook again and this time elicited a wailing cry from a child deeper in the caverns.

The tendrils flailed with excitement, surging through the air and toward the child.

Trask swiped at the air, causing the hair-like protrusions to fizzle into dust and the tendrils to spasm weakly as they fell to the water.

Another quake hit the grotto, only this time it was more intense than all the others combined and showed no signs of stopping.

The tentacles thrashed in pain and rapidly withdrew back into the pool, sloughing dead flesh as they scraped against the bare stones.

Trask gave chase without a single moment of hesitation, teeth bared and eyes burning with the thrill of the hunt.

The pool gave way to a twisting labyrinth of flooded caverns faintly illuminated by small chunks of luminescent seaweed and coral. The twists and turns tore away more pieces of the dead tendrils and tentacles, making it easy for Trask to follow in their wake.

Armoured in thick cords of muscle and dense leathery scales, Trask ignored the chunks of stone collapsing from the collapsing caverns and tunnels, continuing his dogged pursuit of the retreating enemy.

My focus shifted abruptly as Gilkt passed through the Breach. He had brought two other people with him, but they were automatically diverted to Kwan’s aquatic killing field.

Sensing Kwan’s interest, I used my authority to teleport the new arrivals to my current location. <They are refugees.> I explained somewhat distractedly.

Blinded by the abrupt shift in ambient light, the two females Gilkt had brought through the Breach cried out with keening wails of confusion.

Gilkt paid them little mind and hastily dove back through the Breach. He reappeared a handful of moments later. However, this time he only managed to bring one person back with him.

“Wait!” I commanded, physically barring Gilkt’s reentry to the Breach with a hastily erected wall of stone while retrieving the latest new arrival. “This means of transportation carries a cost! Convince the others to pass through without accompanying them on every trip!” I still wasn't certain how many of them there were. So the prospect of losing MP just to transport Gilkt over and over again made me nervous.

Gilkt nodded anxiously. “Will obey.”

The instant I lowered the wall, Gilkt raced through the Breach. Moments later, another one of his people appeared in Kwan’s territory. Then another, and another.

Quickly checking Gilkt’s Status for his Species, I set a temporary ruling with my authority that would allow those of the same Species to enter my realm unobstructed. Which quickly proved to be the right decision. Gilkt’s people had begun stampeding through the Breach and Trask had just entered open water.

Rising clouds of silt and other debris obstructed the ocean floor. Whip-like tentacles could be seen racing through the periphery, maintaining a cloud of debris that made it impossible to lay eyes on the Leviathan’s core.

Undeterred, Trask began racing toward the field of debris.

As Trask grew closer, the true scale of the Leviathan became impossible to ignore. Almost half Ushu’s size and at least twice as long, the Leviathan had a sinewy serpentine body covered in dull grey scales. Except, in place of legs, or even fins, it had a swimming mass of barbed tentacles.

While size did not guarantee combat prowess, larger monsters generally received greater benefits from their stats and Racial Abilities compared to smaller monsters. For this reason, I had cause to err on the side of caution.

Gathering my Chi and triggering Sorcery, I Summoned Kwan using Sorcery to substitute two-thirds of my HP in place of the MP cost required to sustain his projection.

Trask’s approach had until this moment gone unnoticed. However, Kwan’s abrupt arrival immediately drew the Leviathan’s undivided attention.

<PREY!!!> Kwan announced through our Bond, taking me by surprise.

I felt a massive surge of Chi flood into the projection, causing its body to swell and writhe, nearly doubling its size in several seconds.

The Leviathan drew itself back and pressed itself defensively against the ocean floor. It was still considerably larger than Kwan’s projection by a noticeable margin, but it had seemingly lost its confidence as the superior apex predator.

Like a bullet, Kwan shot through the water and clamped his jaws onto the Leviathan’s neck, catching the larger monster completely off guard and sending Trask tumbling in his wake.

In a flurry of desperate violence, the Leviathan bludgeoned and jabbed at Kwan with its tentacles in an attempt to drive him off. When it failed, the Leviathan tried raking its barbs against his body.

Benefitting from Trask’s Synergy, the barbs scraped harmlessly across Kwan’s scales, leaving him unharmed.

While the two serpents tumbled through the water, Gilkt’s people were passing through the Breach in increasing numbers. First in pairs or small groups and then in a ragged line of desperate terrified bodies.

Shifting my focus back to Trask, I was just in time to witness Kwan deliver the death blow to the Leviathan.

With his jaws still firmly locked on the Leviathan’s throat, Kwan flooded his enemy with Chi carrying the Death Affinity. As the Chi spread, the Leviathan's body atrophied and sloughed desiccated chunks of pale withered flesh. Tentacles ripped and tore themselves apart, the bonds that bound them together rupturing under the strain of the Leviathan’s death throes.

Discontent with victory alone, Kwan released the leviathan’s neck and began savaging its head. Ripping away the flesh and crushing the exposed bones in his jaws.

Attuned to Kwan’s emotions and thoughts through our Bond, I knew he was searching for the Manastone embedded in the Leviathan’s brain.

<STOP.> I commanded.

I felt Kwan consider my command, entertain the prospect of disobeying it, and then reluctantly comply. <Dissatisfied.> Kwan replied irritably, his emotions pressing through the link and amplifying my desire to succumb to temptation and consume the Manastone. Then, as if recognising what he was doing, Kwan withdrew his thoughts, leaving feelings of shame and regret in their wake.

Small aquatic Beasts that had remained hidden throughout the battle now gorged themselves on the Leviathan’s rotten carcass. The larger Beasts that began appearing shortly afterwards quickly became Kwan’s prey. Torn apart and consumed in large meaty chunks to satisfy the serpent’s bloodlust and hunger.

Trask navigated the carnage with ease. He was ignored by Beasts small and large alike. Leaving Kwan to his feeding frenzy, Trask began making his way back through the partially collapsed tunnels and caverns leading to the grotto.

Despite the hundreds of refugees that had already passed through the Breach, hundreds more remained within the grotto. Clutching at small knives and spears made of bone, the warriors' ranks were bolstered many times over by the tribe’s hunters and able-bodied craftsmen.

Taking a few moments to reflect upon those who had already passed through the Breach, I could now see that the males who remained were noticeably older and bore scars that the younger males lacked. It also became impossible not to notice the absence of the elderly or infirm.

Ignoring the bristling wall of polearms, Trask ascended from the poo and began slowly approaching the Breach,

Stricken with awe, the warriors and militia melted away at his approach. Staring at Trask with expressions of disbelief and fear.

Singling Gilkt out from the crowd, Trask stalked toward him with single-minded purpose. An action that objectively carried a menacing aura of intent by the Lizardman’s brutish and savage appearance, regardless of his intentions.

To his credit, even as the militia melted away around him, Gilkt stood his ground. While Trask intended him no harm, Gilkt had no way of knowing that for certain.

“Beasst iss dead,” Trask rumbled with pride and cast a rotten chunk of the Leviathan’s flesh into the water between them. “Tyrant prevailss!”

Gilkt stared at Trask in mute silence for several moments as his mind struggled to process the unexpected news.

“Take otherss,” Trask pointed to the warriors, militia, and the stragglers hesitating on the periphery of the Breach. “Take to Tyrant. Take to ssafety.” He carefully rested a clawed hand on Gilkt’s shoulder and gave him a nod of approval. “Tyrant sseess. Tyrant planss. Believe.”

Trembling, perhaps from the weight of Trask’s arm, Gilkt stared at the chunk of flesh floating in the water. “It is dead?...” He whispered hoarsely, eyes wide and needle-toothed mouth agape in shock.

Trask grunted in the affirmative and released Gilkt’s shoulder. “Tyrant claimss thiss land! Thiss water! Leave! Guide tribe! Prepare return!”

It was obvious Gilkt didn’t quite understand what Trask was talking about. However, instead of challenging the Lizardman, he turned his focus toward the militia and warriors gathered near the grotto’s entrance. “We leave! Now! He waved at them and emphatically directed them toward the Breach. “Do not cast aside your lives! Protect our people!” Gilkt commanded sternly, changing his tone when it became clear no one was willing to abandon their post.

One of the militia was first to retreat toward the Breach. Emboldened, several more slowly moved to join him. Soon, all of the militia were on the move and the warriors began to join them.

Before passing through the Breach, Gilkt made a point of thoroughly searching the grotto and adjoining caverns. Once he was certain no one had been left behind, he joined the others in the isolated territory.

Leaving them supplies, I relocated to another isolated territory, collapsed the Breach and gave Trask the go-ahead to trigger the Invasion.

Next, I directed Faine to actively pursue recruiting additional Overseers by Invading other Labyrinths. In the meantime, I had the eggs that preceded Gilkt’s arrival sent to the communal nursery in Sanctuary and put up for adoption.

On my own again, I turned my attention toward the tablet.

The screen now responded to my faintest touch, causing me to believe that it was sufficiently charged to hold up against at least a cursory investigation.

A host of symbols I didn’t recognise appeared in a keyboard format on the lower portion of the screen below an input box in the centre of the screen.

Unsure how to proceed, I spent several minutes considering the different symbols. Eventually, I was forced to admit that I didn’t know what to do.

Withdrawing Eliza Eckart’s I.D badge from my Storage Ring, I released another sigh of disappointment.

I had briefly entertained the idea that the badge might have a passcode or something similar written on it. A foolish idea, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

Frustrated, I set the tablet and badge aside so I could clear my head. However, Just as I was rising to my feet, I heard a faint chime come from the speakers of the tablet.

Investigating the cause of the sound, I was surprised to find that one corner of the badge had landed on the tablet and that the image on the screen of the tablet had now changed.

A string of symbols had entered themselves into the input box and removed the digital keyboard.

Retrieving the tablet and the badge, I watched as the screen changed, transitioning briefly to present a string of indecipherable symbols before settling into what bore a strong resemblance to a smartphone interface.

To my astonishment, the names of the folders appeared to be written in English while the folders themselves bore more of the same symbols.

Reading through the names of the folders, I was given the impression that the tablet had been used for taking research notes. Opening a folder at random seemed to confirm that theory when a plethora of dry subfolder names adhered to an alphanumeric sorting system.

With a little experimentation, I learned how to return to the hosting screen again.

My attention was drawn toward one folder, in particular, simply titled Answers.

Opening the folder revealed several more folders and several dozen loose files of indeterminate contents or substance. As if whoever had gathered the files and folders hadn’t been given the time to present them in a more orderly format.

With no way of knowing if the order mattered, I chose a file in the top left of the screen as an experiment to see what would happen.

After tapping the icon, a partially minimised video appeared on the screen.

Eliza was standing in front of a row of mirrors and washroom sinks, splashing her face with cool water. She appeared slightly younger than in the photo used for her I.D. bearing a vitality not present in the photo.

Wearing a long white lab coat over a shirt and pants, she bore a striking resemblance to stock photo footage that would have answered just about any generic search engine result for ‘scientist’.

“Chance of a lifetime Liz,” Eliza muttered nervously. “Let’s just try not to fuck this up...” She reached toward the screen, raising a pair of conservative glasses that housed some form of micro camera recording the video. Fitting the glasses onto her face, she took a few moments to police a few stray hairs that had escaped her bun and then made her way toward the exit.

Eliza stepped out into a familiar-looking corridor and joined up with a small group of men and women wearing the same style of lab coat with I.D. badges affixed to the breast pocket.

An older man with thin grey hair and a retreating grey hairline clicked his tongue at Eliza disapprovingly. “You have set our orientation tour behind by several minutes, Mrs Eckart! I will have it noted in your next performance review!” He turned on his heel and motioned impatiently for Eliza and the others to follow him, denying her a rebuttal.

Even accounting for his abrasive actions thus far, I was surprised to find that I held an intense dislike for the man that I otherwise couldn’t account for.

“Prick,” a man in his late twenties and green eyes muttered before falling into step behind him.

“I don’t care what the recruiters told you,” the older man sneered arrogantly. “All of you are replaceable. If I think you aren’t living up to expectations, you’re gone. Am I clear?!”

Eliza and the others replied in the affirmative but wore sour expressions on their faces.

“!Good!” The older man chuffed to himself with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. “With the Tiamites nearing their end goal, this research has never been more important! The very fate of humanity is at stake!”

A small contingent of soldiers or guards wearing the strange helmets passed them in the corridor.

“Without the research conducted within this facility, we would not have the dragonslayer arms nor armour!” The older man crowed proudly, waving a hand at the security force and puffing out his chest with pride. “Mass production should become possible within the decade and will dramatically alter the course of the war!”

The man with green eyes shook his head incredulously. “Like we would stand a chance in open war...” He muttered darkly.

His comment earned a myriad of responses from the others in his group. A couple of the others agreed with him and appeared saddened by it.

“Of course, this is nothing compared to the work being undertaken in my department!” The older man continued arrogantly. “As I am sure you will agree once you see it for yourselves.”

The group passed through several security checkpoints before arriving outside of the laboratory.

Expecting to find the quarantine chamber, I became confused when the door opened to reveal the larger room beyond. Except that the room was different than when I had found it as well.

The walls were still packed with machinery and computer banks, but the glass tubes, and their contents, were gone.

At least, that was what I thought until the group approached a large glass cage in the centre of the chamber.

The floor of the chamber was spattered with dried blood and filth. Huddled in one corner of the cage was a grey-skinned child.

The group released gasps of surprise and fanned out as they approached the cage so they could get an unobstructed view of the child.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The older man opened his arms wide and gave a predatory smile. “THIS is how we will win the war!” He motioned to the grey-skinned child. “When we master this technology, the Tiamite’s numerical advantage will mean nothing!”

Looking at the child, I felt like my blood had been replaced by ice water.

It was me.

But it couldn’t be.

I had been an infant when my mother rescued me from a garbage bin. I had seen the baby photos in the album that proved as much. Of course, there were no photos of the garbage bins themselves, but there were dozens of photos proving my infancy.

And yet...

There was a feeling deep inside of me, an instinct, that recognised the child and insisted upon a truth that ran contrary to what I knew to be true.

I remembered the rows of corpses suspended in the glass tubes and came to another disturbing conclusion. They had been me as well. The same part of me that claimed ownership of this child also claimed them as well.

They were me. All of them.

That should have been impossible.

Of course, everything else that had happened to me should have been impossible as well, but it had happened anyway.

“This is subject XJ one four five. It represents the culmination of our efforts thus far-” the older man boasted.

“It’s a monster!” One of the scientists exclaimed.

“A monster we control!” The older man countered, narrowing his eyes dangerously. “The foundation for an army that will guarantee our independence, our independence, nay, our ascendency over the decadent Tiamite Empire in perpetuity!!”

The more experienced scientists already working in the lab paid him no mind whatsoever. Preferring to continue their work in silence. However, except for the green-eyed man and Eliza, the new arrivals clapped in vigorous support.

The video ended and the players closed.

Too numb to think, I tapped at the next file icon.

A new application opened and I was bombarded by dense lines of impenetrable text. Taking a short break and then trying again, I met with no more success than I had the first time. There was too much-implied knowledge and overuse of jargon I was completely unfamiliar with to establish even a basic understanding of its contents.

Skipping the parts I was struggling with, I was beginning to lose focus when I encountered a highlighted section of text. Tapping at the highlighted section, the existing text faded into the background and a short paragraph graph appeared in the foreground.

[ Meltzer’s soul-scrubbing protocols were reinforced after several control subjects from another research division escaped during a field test. Security around the current iteration of the primary test subject has been increased. ~Investigate research project Immortalis. ]

Tapping at the paragraph to try and remove it from the foreground, my finger accidentally struck the final sentence and triggered another document to open itself through some form of macro or link.

[ Project Terminated ]

Almost all of the text within the document was encrypted or perhaps corrupted, taking the shape of strange symbols but in a cruder, less cohesive form. However, the legible segments were marked by more of the same highlighting tool from the previous document.

Tapping one of the highlighted segments, I found that the segments appeared to be gathered in the secondary section of the document, roughly mirroring the location of the primary segments themselves.

Some notes were innocuous or otherwise irrelevant, but others proved impossible to ignore.

[ Another living weapon program? ]

[ Also used mana constructs...Research invented the collars. ]

[ Entire security division was ‘replaced’...Rumours claim they were fired for incompetence. Collars ineffective? ]

[ Meltzer’s soul scrubbing protocols have failed to reacquire or destroy Immortalis research subjects. Alterations responsible? Potential dangers to Project Tyrant? ]

Before I even realised what I was doing, I had tapped the word, Tyrant, briefly highlighting both words before another application opened in the foreground.

[ For promotional purposes only! ]

An establishing shot of the universe slowly panned across the screen while orchestral music played in the background.

“For millennia, heroes have been called to fight back the Tiamite Empire’s advance...” A gruff grizzled male voice narrated.

One by one, the stars flickered and then disappeared.

The scene changed and focused in on a tall blonde-haired and blue-eyed man in the plate and mail carrying a sword, a second dark-haired man with grey eyes in short robes carrying a staff, and a woman in similarly short robes with dark red hair and green eyes that carried no weapon at all.

The trio stood at the forefront of an army that had to number in the tens of thousands.

The camera slowly drew back to reveal a tide of monsters swarming out of massive portals and toward the army across from them.

The further the camera retreated, the more clear it became that the trio’s forces were hopelessly outmatched.

Even so, dramatic music began to play and the trio leapt into action.

The heavily armoured knight threw himself headfirst into the ranks of the oncoming monsters, hewing them apart with superhuman strength and speed.

With a gesture, the dark-haired man in the short robes created a translucent golden wall that stalled nearly a full third of the monster's foremost forces.

Lightning arced from the red-headed woman’s hands, incinerating monsters in their hundreds.

“The heroes have failed...” The narrator declared grimly.

Alien spacecraft appeared in the sky and began raking the ranks of the heroes' embattled army with some form of energy-based projectiles. Killing hundreds in only a handful of seconds.

Men in strange plate armour and with detailed bearded masks descended from the ships and began encircling the heroes. Unleashing a withering hail of smaller energy projectiles from their guns as they advanced toward them.

Overwhelmed, the golden shield shattered and two of the three heroes died where they stood. Their bodies perforated and torn apart until nothing remained.

The third hero, the blonde-haired man in the plate and mail managed to kill one of the enemy soldiers. However, the enemy soldiers quickly proved to be almost as fast and as strong as he was.

While other soldiers distracted the hero, another soldier stowed his gun on his back and drew a battle axe.

Approaching from the hero's blindside, the soldier struck him in the back, severing the hero's spine and cleaving him in two. Shouting something in a language I didn’t understand, the soldier raised his weapon high, eliciting a similar reply from every other soldier.

As the light died in the hero’s previously bright blue eyes, the camera slowly drew back again, revealing the scope of the massacre.

“We were wrong to think the righteousness of our cause would bring us victory...” The narrator continued in an increasingly agitated tone. “To think that we could fight such evil without sullying our hands!”

A short distance from the battle, a new portal appeared.

“The Tiamite hordes respect one thing and one thing only! STRENGTH!” The narrator roared.

An armoured giant emerged from the portal and raised a proportionately large pistol. With a single shot, an enemy soldier was pulped on the shot, obliterated into a mangled mess of meat and metal.

A horde of armoured Ogres began streaming from the portal.

The giant roared and led the Ogres in a charge against the enemy.

“MIGHT MAKES RIGHT!” The narrator roared savagely.

Monsters and enemy soldiers alike were blasted to pieces and crushed underfoot.

Where the human soldiers had been killed by as few as two or three shots from the enemy weapons, the Ogres soaked sustained bursts of fully automatic fire and kept advancing. Ignoring otherwise fatal injuries in their fervour.

The enemy soldiers began to panic, retreating deeper into the mass of monsters and toward their ships. However, their ships were blown apart before they could reach them. Changing course, they cast down their weapons and fled toward the portals that were delivering more of the monsters to the battlefield.

“The time for appeasement is over!” The Narrator snarled viciously, his words accentuated by a series of brutal executions made by the giant. “It’s time we start fighting fire with fire! To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! It’s time to unleash THE TYRANTS!!!”

The giant removed its helmet and stared straight into the camera. Its impossibly black eyes stared back at me with a face disturbingly similar to my own.

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The video ended and I found myself staring at the screen for several long minutes in stunned silence.

“I’m supposed to be some sort of super soldier to fight in this war?...” Saying it aloud only made it sound even more ridiculous. “Or is that child just a clone? Am I a clone?...” I could feel my sanity slipping and hysteria creeping in from the corners of my mind. “It could all be a lie...” I rationalised in a desperate attempt to gain some form of grounding before my imagination had a chance to run wild.

But was the video so different to reality?

I had collected several guns that looked incredibly similar to those in the video, not to mention the armour...I had led an army of Ogres into enemy territory and annihilated all opposition...

I shook my head. Slowly at first, and then faster. “No...It doesn’t make sense...Why would they need me, him...that thing...if they already had an endless supply of monsters of their own? What about the Cultivators? How are they supposed to fit into all of this and the Angels?!” I could hear the hysteria creeping into my voice and clenched my jaw hard to stop myself from speaking.

Not that it did much good.

If this place is where I was born, hatched, made?... How did I arrive on Earth?

I looked at the tablet and felt a profound sense of dread. However, as much as learning more about my origins horrified me, the prospect of not knowing was worse.

Even so, despite everything, and after everything I had been through, there had been a part of me that firmly believed I was human. I could feel that part of me fading away. I could feel...something else...taking its place.

My entire life people had called me a monster, and now I had proof that they were right all along...

I had acted against my core nature, suppressing and denying violent impulses so I wouldn’t become what they proclaimed me to be...And yet, here I am...Everything they claimed and more...

“I’m a monster, and always have been,” I grunted dispondantly.

A golden notification appeared before my eyes. Attempting to blink the notification away or remove it with my authority proved ineffective. Glaring at the notification, my aggravation quickly gave way to confusion and surprise as I read its contents.

[ Unique Evolution is now available. Accept? {Y / Y} ]

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