Magni spewed out another gutful of blood, but this time he smiled. He could feel it, the energy in his Dantian settling at last, solidifying him into the Second Step and possibly beyond. The physical changes were not as obvious as expected, but with his enhanced senses he could feel them. A net of energy encompassing all things, the interconnection between substances within the very air, Si and a form of energy he did not recognise flowing from his skull like heat from a furnace. If he wasn’t wrong…
Manipulating the strings of energy around him, Magni’s mind pieced together countless geometric structures which would most efficiently channel that energy into new forms. It could be a blade, a shield, a wire, a gun, a wagon… so many things he could not even adequately name. He etched one of these patterns into the stone below with his mind and sent a single strand of that power into it, producing a brilliant light that lit the room almost like daytime. He grinned widely, so this was psychic power? If not for the lead walls of this closed cultivation chamber he rented he was sure he could pick up on the power emanating from others, perhaps even pluck the very thoughts from their heads…
But Magni was not that type of person. He was not interested in subtle manipulations and breaching the mental walls erected to protect the secrets hidden in one’s soul. No, Magni was a simple man indeed.
With an efficiency that would normally only be exhibited by a man two decades his senior with similar psychic potential he slowly managed to slide the massive leaden doors open with little more than force of will. Blinking his many, many eyes to adjust to the countless wavelengths of blinding daylight waiting outside, he could trace a myriad of threads of power connecting every living soul. Some were dim, many more were like the lightbulbs which kept the Sect lit at night, a rare few burned like blinding beacons even in the daylight. Magni honestly felt ill-at-ease previously for his promotion, sure he nearly died fighting that thing, but it never felt like he really did much to contribute towards the slaying of the Mauler. At least not enough to be rewarded with a position in the Inner Sect. Now however…
“Krack me in two, this is fucking imp!” He laughed with a still-hoarse throat, coughing up yet more black blood and vision splitting into 48. Body on the verge of shutdown from days imbibing concentrated radiation without sleep, food or water while focused almost entirely on channelling Si and maintaining his will and yet he had never felt more alive! Like he could take on the whole world and be left hungry for more!
He took one shaky step outside and immediately overwhelmed by the sensory assault tripped over his own feet unceremoniously slamming into the floor.
“Ow… shit…” He groaned, feeling consciousness start to fail him.
Some part of him hoped he was not alone in his misery before the lights went out.
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“Ready when you are!” Cobalt declared confidently, grinning widely like a Chupacabra which had caught scent of its prey as she stretched. It conjured up a picture he read in one of the old books describing how a cat would play with its prey, he supposed if Cobalt was glowing green right now she would match the image exactly.
John took a slightly worried glance at the wall on the right. They were in Cobalt's private training room currently, and as such an entire wall was covered from top to bottom with trophies. Skulls of various spirit beasts, most of which he could not name and nearly all appearing lightly gnawed, hung proudly on large hooks for display providing a gruesome record of battle prowess. “Can we please run through the rules we agreed on one more time, just to make sure everything is clear?”
“Ugh fine.” Cobalt groaned, folding her body back into a more neutral position and rolling her eyes as she once more reiterated the agreed terms. “No blades, teeth or other unnatural or natural weapons arising from mutations or otherwise including psychic or other non physical means, save for your Relic of course. Matches end immediately at first blood or tap out with the safeword ‘Appelseed’, and you get the first strike as the party with lesser cultivation. First aid material is stocked at the left wall, I will endeavour to match my strength with yours. While we are at it, might I suggest wrapping you up in layers of leathers and wools until you simply bounce off the walls when faced with a blow appreciably harder than the best attempt of a child?”
“Alright, alright! I get it!” Cringing at the chastisement briefly, John then centred himself with a breath and adjusted his body into his preferred fighting stance, one that for most would look like leaning slightly awkwardly to account for the extra length of ARTOS. “I think I am ready now, on the count of three?”
“You have no idea how ready I am!” Cobalt cheerily exclaimed, unsheathing her bladed claws before catching John’s worried expression. “Um… oops sorry, habit… let me just…”
Once she shifted her hands back into fists and her body into a fighting stance not built to flay flesh cleanly off bone John began the countdown. “Alright, since I have first strike rights on count of three… two… one…”
No sooner than he had called one he flew towards her in an explosive burst of power. He may not have been able to hear ARTO’s voice lately but he had been feeling its influence more and more, registering vaguely the cords that travel through his body and down his spine somewhere he could not quite call full consciousness. Still with this knowledge it was a relatively simple task to call for power when needed and get an answer which would blow anything he achieved previously out of the water.
It wasn’t enough, with incredible ease Cobalt parried away a blow from ARTOS which would crack a boulder. John had mere seconds to react to her counterstrike.
Metal plates built from an alloy conceived in and not replicated since the Golden Age met the flesh of an already more powerful cultivator reinforced by internal and external mutations. The shockwaves of the impact rippled through John’s bones leaving his ears ringing and he could practically hear screaming from within his arm as the eyes lining the side went haywire, but the metal was barely dented and with his main eyes he could already see that dent fixing itself by the time Cobalt lashed out with another blow.
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A high flying kick ripped through the air, slowing only as it approached the space currently occupied by his head. Cobalt’s holding back was the only thing that permitted John to narrowly duck and avoid the strike, feeling his hair get clipped by Cobalt’s foot where not even a second ago his face was.
Not even consciously he called upon an old function, time slowed to a crawl around him, and when he moved to punch before his body could even move his arm stretched to meet its target. With speeds comparable to a bullet the modified limb extended through the air, sending droplets of slimy sweat soaring through the air in subjective slow motion. Cobalt as always was quick to react, but not quick enough to avoid a glancing blow.
Mustering his will, time resumed its normal pace for John, and the come down from the chemical high made him feel lightheaded and unsteady on his feet. Cobalt was also knocked off balance by the force, taking a whole second to ground herself properly again.
Briefly Cobalt seemed shaky and John was concerned he hit her too hard before he saw her stand up straight with stars gleaming in her eyes. “That was… amazing! The speed I saw is something that you normally don’t see until at least the fourth Step of the Mutant Realm! I read most implant type relics could not reach that level of power without the user themselves being well past that but this is something else entirely!”
“I uh- thanks?” He responded, not quite sure how to react.
Grinning ferally, Cobalt grabbed his extended arm before it could fully retract and dragged him close enough that he could feel her excited breath and rapid heartbeat even over the now thunderous noise of his own. “I simply have to see more! I’m going to ask you to go all out, this time I am going to hold back less, can you show me what you can do?”
“I uh- sure?” He stammered awkwardly, trying to keep his mind off the internal screaming triggered by the sudden closeness or the terror of what felt like imminent execution. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to look at, her razor sharp fangs, her hungry deep crimson eyes with the gaze of a unchained predator or her… actually looking at her at all was probably a mistake.
Thankfully Cobalt did not have any psychic talent, nor was her perceptiveness currently available to read John’s distressed mess of emotions. Unfortunately what she did focus on was probably just as bad for his health. Focusing herself and settling back into a proper stance Cobalt informed him of what was to come. “Alright! You get the first shot once again, I want to see what makes you tick!”
Mentally readying himself for imminent death John took a deep breath himself and placed a hand over his thumping heart. As minutes passed the world seemed to narrow as his focus took over. “Ready.”
Jumping up John tried something new and extended his arm mid air, before manoeuvring his whole body to use the heavy metal plates of his forearm as a makeshift mace. Cobalt parried this one again, but seemed to exert actual effort into it, grinning the whole way. John felt something travel down his nerves, and before he knew it ARTOS batted away a punch from Cobalt which was enough to send a shockwave of wind crashing into the trophy wall knocking over several skulls. Cobalt’s blood red eyes seemed almost glowing with barely contained excitement, and John only just retracted his arm in time to avoid having it grappled in her strong grip aided by his slimy sweat now coating his entire body.
Cobalt seemed to try transforming for a second before stopping herself, leaving a brief half-second window where her movements slowed. In this tiny window of time John had no room left for thought, his every action dictated by raw instinct. ARTOS pumped a concoction of hormones and nerve signals into him slowing down time enough for him to glean the true extent of his mistake. Static was building up in the air, with all the sweat he was building up it was inevitable that a great blast of lightning would trigger the instant his fist made contact with Cobalt, and with his momentum there was no time to stop the attack he had already set in motion. A million thoughts aided by the efforts of the slightly jostled machine mind within ARTOS flooded his head, there was no place to safely discharge the energy except of course…
Channelling the power into his own meridians before he could even consider what a monumentally stupid idea this was, John felt power unlike any he had ever experienced fill him. For the tiniest perceptible fraction of time it was as though his body was pure energy, there was no meaningful distinction between the self and the light around him. Then came the searing pain as his body reached its limit for absorbing electricity and then some. Every cell burned, he could feel searing fire travel down countless vessels in every inch of his body and the rush of power he felt earlier as quickly as it first manifested warped into a deep dread that would last as long as time remained at its snails pace.
Cobalt felt a rush of metallic tasting wind wash over her and saw a metal arm frozen in place less than an eighth of an inch from her nose. John stood frozen in place like a statue, smoke and blood leaking from every exposed hole in his face as well as every joint in his limbs. John’s bloodshot eyes twitched rapidly in their sockets and rolled upwards as he fell over unconscious… yet again.
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It was a hasty course of action, ARTOS understood that now. The terms of the agreement would be upheld of course, but currently both it and its host were too damaged for the agreement to be fulfilled. A new emotion registered, annoyance, alongside of course the searing pain and agony that had been getting all too familiar now that it was more properly attached to the host and by proxy his unfortunate tendencies. Currently 43% of neural tissue has suffered significant damage both from thermal and kinetic stresses, this simply would not do. Functions would have to be reduced to a bare minimum going forward, even with successful synthesis of compound X-130…
But in this unfortunate series of events comes exciting new data to pour over once the processing facilities have properly healed. Combat data of the type which was not even considered within all but the most high range of extreme edge case scenarios programmed into its memory bank by the creators. And that strange interaction with an internal electrical shock which should have caused complete organ shutdown… yes the negative effects were far too much to be considered as a viable option right now but with a slight adjustment in…
Attempting to run the calculations ARTOS was faced with another wave of burning pain. Pain, how did the humans deal with this all the time? From the first nanosecond of sentience to the last… if there was one thing about the human condition it did not care about it was pain. Still… there was progress to be made, and sooner or later his side of the bargain would be upheld…
[DATA ARCHIVED]