I was nearing the end of my training. I had been here for about a month, going by my old realities measurements. The days were shorter here, but the nights made up the missing hours. I didn’t care enough to ask why that was the case. There were better things to focus on. Primarily, my first successful psionics-based creation.
“Stand.”
It was a relatively simple automaton, similar to one of my drones back home. It was spiderlike, with six legs and a turret on top. Its weapon was barely lethal, more like a BB gun than anything else, but that didn't matter. It was more a proof of concept than meant for actual field testing. So far, I have had positive results.
“Turn.”
Its movements were jerky, its legs going at different speeds. Some too fast some too slow. But it followed orders. I waited until it was facing the firing range Gritzkel had made for me. It had been damaged already but not intentionally I was sad to say. Most of the repairs were from my drones detonating in some manner. Hopefully, nothing unnecessary would need to be fixed today.
“Stop.”
One of the legs gave way, and the drone slipped and fell. I waited. This was also part of the test. Some moments passed as the drone's limbs flailed. Eventually, it got a good enough grip to stand back up. More importantly, it fixed itself without me needing to say anything. Good.
“Aim.”
The barrel on the turret moved. A glass bulb next to its barrel glowed purple. It moved back and forth before resting in the direction of a target. Namely, the enemy soldier turned prisoner. The siege had gone long enough that Gritzkel had enough bodies to spare in my life fire testing. Gritzkel had said it was good practice for a villain in training. Get any sense of morals out of my system. It didn’t make much of a difference to me. A pig would have worked well enough.
“Fire.”
The turret jammed for a second. It pushed air instead of ammunition before finally working. The aim was terrible. But that's why you make prototypes. Work out the kinks. I’m sure the screaming elf was relieved when his head didn’t blow up. Not that any of the missed shots would have done any permanent damage. Well, as long as they didn't hit an eye of course.
“Stop.”
The turret stopped firing. Good. The last one malfunctioned at this point and kept firing. It seemed to understand simple commands. An achievement Gritzkel called it. He wanted to keep any of the previous prototypes I made. The ones that hadn't blown up of course. I didn't mind. It wasn't like I could take them with me.
“Follow.”
The final command was the most important a simple but complicated command. A lot of variables were involved, considering there was any guess where I would go and if it could followed. It stumbled a few times but it managed. A quick lap around the testing area and it was done. I had created a drone with a psionic AI.
With my lack of fitness with anything else involving purple energy, we settled for something I was familiar with. Creating a drone out of steam and arcing electricity was new, but manageable. Gritzkel told me things like clockwork golems existed, powered by steam or bottled lightning. There had just never been one powered by pure psionics.
I hadn't managed such a thing. The drone still needed water as fuel for the steam portion, but it did think on its own. An autonomous machine was a rare piece of technology. His turrets were the most advanced version he had and all they could do was shoot any oncoming threats. Advanced software but not considered AI.
Personally, I didn't agree with his nomenclature. The drone could listen to voice commands but it wasn't true AI. Artificial Intelligence was something more like me. A person who could think and evolve due to external stimuli. The drones would never grow, never develop a personality. Just puppets with complicated strings.
…
With this final breakthrough, I went to look for Gritzkel. He said to go find him if I ever finished a working prototype. I had already dozens of machines with psionic energy. Trying to give them possible software, by my standards, was the roadblock I finally bypassed. Always room for improvement, but I had gotten to the starting line at least.
I found Gritzkel in what he called his command room. There were a few advisors around. Mostly goblins or orcs, which was common since we were near Gritzkel's original home country. There were a few other races mixed in of course, but they were mostly mercenaries. Trolls and their like weren't known for their tactics.
The strangest was a dark elf. He looked like a regular elf, only his skin was obsidian in color and he sported silver then. It was due to some form of psionic tampering. The people from this world started taking shades of violet as their psionic abilities increased with every generation. Most elves were purple because they innately had such a strong pool of psionic might. I could only guess how strong a violet near black elf was. Or if such coloration would affect me.
Gritzkel finally noticed me, and then his eyes settled on the drone behind me. A smile split across his face. He stopped whatever conversation he was having to marvel at my creation. The drone’s turret passively followed him, recognizing he was the greatest threat in the room. It only made him happier.
“Genius idea to use my psionic turrets for this thing ya call code. Ones and zeroes! How marvelous. And this little machine looks incredibly useful. I could only imagine how effective an autonomous drone like this would be for combat!”
Gritzkels reality had advanced machines there was no doubt about it. But with psionic tech shoring up their need for software, some areas had stagnated. Why create code for a machine when psionics could use something like empathy to recognize threats. Apparently, everything alive had even a little emotion behind it, which momentarily spread to anything a person interacted with. It's how the turrets knew how to attack or defend.
Anything with recognizable hostility was considered a threat. The ballistas and cannons fired at them, while the barrier defended against any oncoming attacks. Gritzkel said he had created a sensitive enough machine to be implemented into his turrets. Otherwise, they wouldn't have worked. It made him sound quite skilled at the very least.
Speaking of defenses, the siege was almost over as well. Gritzkel had captured the enemy Protagonist in a night raid they had enacted. It seemed the passive loss of life had finally gotten to her. I had been lucky to avoid the fighting, busy building my drones. It had been touch and go for a moment apparently. Without his defenses, Gritzkel could be quite vulnerable.
“Are they any good for an execution? We were just about to deal with the Protagonist. Public display and all that. Demoralize the remaining army and sue for peace. It would be a great moment to unveil my new potential weaponry.”
“There is the fact it can't aim properly. If you’re fine with more than one shot, be my guest.”
Gritzkel patted the drone, nodding in approval. I would have to refill the internal magazine. Maybe work on the rifling if I had the time. But I was sure to leave after that display. Whatever actual training I was meant to get, Gritzkel clearly thought he'd done a good enough job. He did explain some of the Villain System to me along with what psionic practice I could reasonably manage.
Other than my Overkill weakness, nothing else in my personal profile could be tested. Logistics and Mass Production probably only worked with available resources. Psionic TechnoBuffing required me to actually connect with something. An ability that either broke whatever I connected to or my mind getting overwhelmed by its information.
I was glad I hadn’t tested any of my other weaknesses. Psionic Vulnerability was obvious. Gritzkel couldn't harm me, since that would go against whatever deal he made with the Villain System to train me. But he made it very clear any psionic-based weaponry would probably hurt twice as much against me. Emotional Sensitivity and Speciest Mentality had failed to activate at any point. I wasn't looking forward to when they finally came up.
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During my time here I had gotten more EXP, but the returns had slowed. My immoral testing of my drone gave me a single EXP. Everything else only came from witnessing Gritzkel have direct confrontations. Since I wasn’t the main Villain in this reality, I’d only get experience from deplorable acts that could potentially help Gritzkel with his Villainous goals. I could only guess why seeing him face off with the protagonist had counted then. Gritzkel said it was just a quirk. Sometimes the Villain system was weird like that.
“Ya really need to stop doing that. One day, someone will sneak up on ya when you're busy daydreaming.”
Gritzkel pulled me from my thoughts. Only a moment had passed, my internal processing being quite fast. Even then, I could multitask and keep relative awareness of my surroundings. But the former goblin was right. There was a 7.56% drop in efficiency when I internalized my thoughts a bit too much. A marginal difference but every bit counts. Waste not want not and all that.
Collecting his co-conspirators, I soon found myself on a balcony next to Gritzkel. We looked down at a courtyard, where the protagonist and a number of her colleagues were chained to a wall. My drown was down there as well, nest to Gritzkels servants who held simpler looking tesla guns. They were closer to crossbows than ballistic weapons.
“Now. If there is any lesson you take from me, this is the most important one. You can’t just kill a Protagonist. The Villain System doesn’t like that. It has to be grandiose. Memorable. Something worth singing epics about. Of course, this gives them ample opportunity to escape and fight another day. But, and this is a big but, if ya manage to pull it off! Ya win big.”
One of the enemy soldiers started crying. It seemed they couldn't keep a strong facade like the elven Protagonist. She kept a steel look in her eyes, staring down Gritzkel, even if he wasn’t looking at her. There was a fire in her few humans ever matched. The closest one was the human that killed me. But she had an edge over him. She wasn’t human. I almost found it a shame to kill her. Gritzkel noticed.
“Don’t get too attached. If you're a good villain, you’ll put down your fair share of Protagonists. Ya might even start to like them. They have this way of getting under your skin. For good or bad. Guess that’s why they're the Protagonists. But we’re villains 347.V-8B. Our hands are tied. They go down or we go down.”
I personally didn’t know what he was so worried about. You can’t drive an entire species to near extinction without some sociopathic tendencies. Not to mention the disregard for collateral damage using nukes for global carpet bombing. The humans were lucky the nuclear winter was more manageable than anyone expected. Damn military embezzlement!
I just don't see the need for this display. I'd already killed billions, what was another person added to that list. Even then, indirect murder still counted. Live fire exercises didn't leave bloodless results. Even if they had been accidents in the end, due to the drones malfunctioning. For what reason could he-
I saw her as she arrived from the sky. Her entrance was flashy and as subtle as a rock. A fireball pierced the psionic barrier and landed in the middle of the courtyard. My drone was destroyed. A last-ditch effort to save the Protagonist. A knight in shining armor covered in golden flames.
I didn't care about her speech. I didn't care about the fight that sprung up as slaves were released. I didn't care whatever countering barbs Gritzkel threw out. Nothing mattered but the knight.
She didn't have a helmet. So I saw her face. Dignified. Beautiful. A soldier through and through, majesty untarnished by war. A face perfectly framed by shortcut hair, displaying her ears for all to see. Her short, round-tipped ears. Her non elven ears.
A human.
I grabbed Gritzkels tesla gun and fired. She was ready for it. A shield came up and deflected the bullet somewhere. I kept firing, jumping down from the balcony. Something soft cushioned my landing. It screamed. I kept my eyes on the knight.
The rail gun in my hands was slow to fire. Every shot required a moment to charge. It was an agonizingly long time during a fight. It gave the knight time to collect themself, sending commands to the now rebelling slaves. They’d come from the mines somehow. Gritzkel had his own words to say. He sounded angry. I didn't care.
Each step forward followed a pull of the trigger. Every shot was successfully mitigated by the shield. I lacked practice with this body and weapon in combat. Even then, my shots were pretty accurate. The ammunition hit the same general spot every time. It was enough to slowly deform the metal.
I had the superior weapon, but the knight wasn't out of options. Their armor had similar aesthetics to this reality’s technology. Steam escaped from around the legs and she launched herself at me. Cut my weapons advantage in range and overwhelm me in melee.
It worked for a time, dodging swings from a sword in her other hand. It sparked with electricity, numbing areas to my body it barely missed. At any other time, I would have found such sensations interesting. The tesla gun was too slow and too long to counter the knight. She had me cornered.
How human. How gullible.
I grabbed one of the slaves next to me and threw them at her. She stopped mid-swing, trying not to hit the slave. I used the break in combat to shoot the knight. The rail gun fired, piercing the meat shield and hitting her in the chest. Flesh and bone weren't as durable when compared to a full plate of armor. Who would have thought?
The fight went like that for some time. Any time she got an advantage, I used any available slave to counter her. Even after half a dozen similar events, she couldn't help but try to save them. But she was getting better at blocking shots she couldn't see. If she maintained her distance, I just kept whittling down her shield as she tried to protect herself.
I was winning. Obviously, this was when things went wrong. At some point during our fight, the Protagonist escaped her chains. My fight with the human scum was disturbed as everyone not on the elves' side was lifted into the air, paralyzed. My weakness finally reared its ugly head as I was paralyzed. Others trapped could struggle, even if just a little.
Grtizkel finally retaliated, falling from the sky with his mace in hand. He was a significant enough threat that the protagonist dropped everyone. The ground rumbled and chunks of the castle started getting thrown around. My eyes didn’t leave the human for a second.
Her bravery was shaken. Either because of the loss of life or my single-minded goal of killing her. She was a sacred. But with the elf putting up a sight, some confidence returned to her. She went for an attack while I had been floating in the air. Only a single attack pierced my chest before the Protagonist’s concentration disappeared.
A similar feeling to when my realities hero shot me with his strange gun. Indescribable pain. The sword must have been psionically enchanted. I had an adverse effect because of this weapon. Beyond simply being severely injured, I was pissed. How dare this little scum try to kill me? How dare an unworthy slime try to survive! I would not stand for such an insult!
My limbs were still functional. I grabbed the knight's arm as I fell. My legs crumpled from underneath me. I appeared to be paralyzed. It didn’t matter. Her hands were tied. The sword was trapped in my chest and her sword arm was in a vice grip. She started slamming the shield into my face.
I didn’t need eyes to kill her. I squeezed. She screamed. There was a crack. The grip on her sword slipped and she let go. I refused to let go. Animalistic panic took over the knight. She was still green. She flailed around, trying to throw me away. All that did was break her arm further.
Desperation kicked in. Her flame aura returned. She began to burn bright. My optic sensors were blinded by the light. My body recognized overwhelming heat, the fire beginning to melt me. I didn’t let go. I wouldn’t until she was dead.
My arms gave in before she died. My iron grip disappeared when my hands melted off. I fell to the ground. She kicked me away. I tumbled in the air before the courtyard wall stopped my movement. I was temporarily deactivated. My mind recognized I was now crumpled on the floor when I regained awareness.
Gritzkel was still fighting. His servants and the slaves were still busy killing each other. And the human was still alive. She was on her knees. Exhausted and injured. That last attack had seemingly sapped her stamina. Good. It would make the next part easier.
I dragged myself forward with my stumps for arms. It was slow going. Internal damage and the battles debry limited my movement. Plus, crawling was just slow overall. The knight still had her eyes on me. Even in a vulnerable state, she was still ready to throw down. It was such a shame I didn't care about a fair fight.
In the chaos of the fight, I implemented my psionics abilities for the first time. Mostly by trying to connect with the tesla gun nearby. It was damaged by the flames but it should have worked well enough for what I had in mind. It was of greater distance than I had ever tried before. That was fine. Patience was a virtue as they said.
The human tried to stand. She stumbled, the fight having taken its toll. And yet stand she did. She raised the broken hand, and a flame appeared at the bloody tips of her fingers. A firebolt of some kind? How childish. She should have gone for something bigger. Like say, an electric field detonation. The tesla gun blew up as soon as my psionic limb reached it.
The human was taken completely by surprise. She was knocked forward, her back scorched by the lightning and shrapnel. Closer to me. Close enough to be killed. I had never been more thankful this body had been made with a functional mouth. I wonder if my bite force was strong enough to crush a skull between my teeth.
The Villain System had other ideas. The now unconscious human had her nestled in my mouth when a new message appeared.
Warning!
You are attempting to breach training regulations!
Any further actions will have dire consequences!
That looked important. Something to think about after I killed this human. My maw began to close before another message appeared.
BREACH DETECTED!
DICIPLINARY ACTION ENGAGED!
I saw a flash of red light. Then there was nothing.
I had failed to kill the human.
Pitty.