COI C191

A decade ago, Enders Bridge had called out the prosecution of Dexter Guild’s activities inside Mountaiwall’s criminal organization. Among the people who is listening to the hearing. It was Archivist’s mother.

“. . . The Not Worthy guild had once again accused their rivals, the non-religious group, the series of modern production, and the first military group drafted since the beginning of this city’s Founding. Dexter Guild, what are your defense in the accusation of human trafficking?”

She had never forgotten that accusation since the day when the crowd found carved flesh bodies. Both engraved by shamanistic cursed and branded steel bonded in their skin. The evidences were so crystal clear, not even the Jigeram’s light itself can’t compete to a man’s perfection creating the horrors it had done throughout many years or cycles. The look of the Archscientist’s face, the predecessor, have shown little concern about that. Yet, there are other Dexter Guild members are against him. Sadly, they were not suitable to replace him any time soon.

Archivist’s mother, listens to what Tabitha is troubling. It was the future she could be expecting. The truth what she had in mind might as well develop something more than she had never thought of.

“. . . After my fun in the convention, I thought this is going to be the best reliving back in my world. Then, I never think about the negative side of it. The technology of this world is truly advance, but I know that this region didn’t have the industries needed to rebuild the civilization. Sanquin and the others told me about the dark side. If Isekai City turned for the worse. I want to stop it like I did the community who are force into Fuku City”

As they are talking, they are already sent out to Rune Isles. They form a small team as they descend secretly into a secret passage to one of the ruins beneath the isles. Archivist’s mother, Tabitha, Kiege, and the man who was working in their guild’s infirmary. A request from Archivist’s mother for a need of a healer. Kiege has her experience going through the Rune Isles and friend to Tabitha. Tabitha will be at ease with a friend by her side, and at the same time worried to step into the Rune Isles and her time venturing in this apocalyptic continent.

They journeyed through one of the vehicles just for Tabitha, not letting her body exposed to the isles with her less controllable mana easily be detected by the deranged mana addicted creatures. This vehicle is ridden for the luxurious Enders who have possessed nobility, but highly contain powerful mana they need to hide from the creatures on the surface. They made it inside a special containment unit where Tabitha will be wearing her own rune protective suit.

Once they got in, there is an elevator going deeper down. The way it uplifts from the deepest level of the depths suddenly pop up in front of her as she is wearing her suit. Kiege says to her with a warning.

“Don’t exposed anything that your mana had. We are going inside one of the ruins containing archscience equipment. It will be difficult for you to step inside with the sea creatures readying to lay an ambush out of you”

“Gulp* Ah, ma’am, don’t you think it is better just to have me doing my quest in Kinteinnou?”

The healer responds “Nope, the Jigeram’s light is in its strongest state. I think your cards will be useless when you cast it without any reinforced runes”

Archivist’s mother watches him passing through readying the elevator to descends. “If you wish to learn about archscience. Then you need to see the immortalized state that you never believe what we are trying teach you. We are heading where you can learn the finalization of this world’s latest tech”

“You mean, there are still alive down there. Why didn’t you guys couldn’t shut it down”

Kiege shakes her head and taps Tabitha’s shoulder multiple times. “archscience is an incredible new form of creation. It is one, and only, source of mana that defies the powers of the gods. It is both a blessing and a nightmare. What you will going to see is the godless path of archscience”

In the meantime, while they are ready to descend, Archivist’s mother first needs a proper introduction in their little team. “First of, we need to properly know each other. Our meetings at first were not as pleasant. Calling me ma’am is so respectful of you, Tabitha. I will allow to call me that, and you need to learn more a bit of us. Dewn, could you please share the circle? We need to understand each other and our roles needed for this quest”

Kiege and Tabitha looks at him as he was joined because of her request. He was personally called for because he is one of the easy to get supports who is temporary assigned in the infirmary.

The healer is setting up the elevator and feel a little bit forced. It doesn’t bother him, but the interaction feels like from the others he didn’t want to. He turns around and trying to say nothing. He sees Tabitha is trying to figure out what she was going to do in this quest. He points out to everyone

“Tabitha, Kiege, Viste, and called me Dewn. That’s right, I used her last name. If you don’t get it, it is mostly old war names back in the Heroes and Demons Era. Ma’am Viste shouldn’t be mentioned her first name as it is named after magic chant to cast her abilities . . .”

Ma’am Viste chuckles that Dewn is not taken likely of his serious tone. A serious doctor and called out here because of her veteran being Raker Mawn Guild. While him continues on as Tabitha is taking an interest of his explanation.

“. . . Kiege, already a profession to loot and use archscience tech. She has her eyes in the archives searching for upgrades with simple magic items. I see, you have your ocesl”

Kiege introduces her lamp “Yup, it is rotating lamp and eight frames consist of magic scrolls. The burner is low and can last or even stop completely to burn one frame as my magic caster”

Kiege spins the lamp like a roulette and one of the frames takes a light. A spell is cast and it casts air flowing light, it releases a gust of wind with strong bright light and the wind blows around them. Then it calms down. Dewn knows about the scroll.

“The light guarding the archives. You were able to harness it”

“That’s right, it can be a good scout on its own as we are not going to expose ourselves with our own light source”

Dewn nods of her versatile innovation. Kiege remains ambitious for her adventuring through the Rune Isles.

“To my respects, I am just a doctor calling me Dewn or better write my name as ‘Dune’, and there is nothing I could say to pronounce it in your dialect, Tabitha. Like what Ma’am Viste wanting a healer, even though there are more versatile healers. She brought me as a need both support and fighting”

Tabitha leans to Kiege if she knows any detail about him. She can’t say and only left her to see that they never group up together. Dewn can’t say much of his skills and rely only the equipment on his doctor’s bag.

Ma’am Viste can explain to them vaguely. “Just imagine like he has the same abilities like Oue’jhnr, a friend of yours”

Dewn turns around not feeling amused that he is being compared a strong candidate. He tries to protest. But he is too unwilling to have a talk with her stubborn attitude. Viste continues

“He is magic item user, but no regards to the use of runes. He is more sided with elven artifacts, but still leaning to use tools instead using it, right?”

Dewn still kept his face unamused “Then what am I in terms of strength?”

“I don’t know” Viste said it without a clear reason.

He turns to them, neither of them can’t put him how capable he can be. He is a healer, and only thing he can say to the both of them

“Sigh* Just provide me the support and I’ll be showing you what I can do. I am a ‘battle’ doctor and also can manufacture what materials lie underneath. We won’t be losing medical supplies. But in regards to food, I don’t think I can provide you with that experience”

Tabitha turns to Kiege, her eyes shared the same smirk from what Yui and her had argued before. Kiege can cook, and Tabitha is worried what she is going to cook in such the filthy apocalyptic ruins.

“I think it will be easy for us guild members to know each other, except for you, newcomer. I have my eyes on you from what the line of conversation in the guild tower. You have the rituals from Circoston by Archivist, and you learn chain of commands in your training in the sphere. I have no idea why you are ready to descend here of all places without proper battle training. What can you do besides act like Myrrkei?”

“Acting as Myrrkei?” Tabitha was confused.

Kiege explains it to her “Myrrkei was never a fighter, but his swift research is always getting data while being chased or having someone else to do it for him”

“Oh, I see. No, I think I can handle myself with these . . .”

She shows it to him with her decks. All the women in her team know about it, except for him. The serious look of his face as he didn’t know anything about magic cards. He honestly replies

“Pardon for my inexperience, I have never seen such magic item. Like what Ma’am Viste told us to know each other. I think it will be better for me to learn how you do it than what it is. I think this is enough, Ma’am Viste. Shall we sink into the depths?”

Viste sees that Dewn is making it short and simple and she thinks that it is enough. Tabitha is a beginner in these isles and there should be no problem.

“Alright, let’s go”

The elevator starts to descend and the exit is starting to open. Into the depths of the sea where the island they can see through the darkness under the sea. Tabitha sees the islands are floating itself up. The bewildered of her eyes never would witness such islands floating where the sun rays little by little as it floats by like clouds. She continues to look at the window as the others watching her amazed rather than feared. Dewn leans to Viste and said

“To where are we going?”

“One of the sinking vessels”

“Will she be ready to witness the aquatic creatures? Those are not the same dark horrors from what I heard among the city adventurers”

“They have feared the horrors not the natural kind”

“I thought they are getting used to the monstrosity looks”

“And you think they could fear the bright colors. These are sea creatures”

“Then my problem will be the machines. The archscience domesticated those creatures, strong or nightmarish”

“She will be more surprised than she had ever expected it. The surface has its monstrosity, but under the sea is where it hides its remnants of the past. The creatures where not influenced by the magic hunger. The irony that archscience can save it”

“. . . while at the same time trapped them into becoming worse”

A large thud landing somewhere in the middle of sea levels. Tabitha looks at the window and saw sea creatures swimming, healthily as its scales and eyes are perfectly healthy in her eyes. The difference from the monsters here and above that they don’t have mana within them. Perfectly fine as the world is fully engulfed with neutral man. They step out from the elevator and found more Enders stationed and resting inside the room. They look at them and Viste shows them their quest.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“We are here for a quest. We brought someone from Isekai City to gather data”

Tabitha hears Viste mentioning about it in a different detail. At first, she was here to know about archscience but why change the information. She reaches out to her.

“Ma’am, what’s going on? I thought we are going to learn about archscience”

The Enders told her “Yes, you are going to learn archscience. You need a software to gather data here. If you have strong memory chip to store the data completely then the reward is already fulfilled”

Viste added “We don’t know how many bytes needed to fully to take it all. But if you succeeded to get as much of data you can. The Enders Bridge will pay highly in gald”

Kiege turns up and sees something is wrong. “Huh, but we are in the entrance. The main data storage lies deep within the core of the ruins. This area is too exposed to leaking waters crushing in the inside. It would take days to get there or are we . . .”

The Enders gives her no worries “This moon cycle had made the creatures headed west. You will be experience healthy ones, their numbers are chasing the Alga’s light. They recovered much of their mana, that’s why you can’t see them a lot swimming here”

Dewn feels like Viste is trying to find something, and Tabitha’s personal device might have enough memory to get her there. He turns to Tabitha questioning about her device.

“Say, if we are going to gather data. How much memory does your device has?”

Tabitha checks her device. She forgot that in the convention, she found some nice upgrades and boosted her system in such an impressive condition. She surprises herself and said

“10TB?!!”

“T? B . . . What’s T stands for. I know G is the highest form of memory. Is it bigger?”

Tabitha coughs herself and trying to kept in line. If gigabytes are the highest form of memory this world have. Then the imagination of her getting the reward with so many programs she could get in terabytes. She is looking forward what files she could get in archscience. The Enders watch the team looking confidently especially Tabitha within her disbelief. They give them the direction and ways how to get into the main storage data. It will take long as the only entrance is open while around it is sealed tight.

They set out, inside the vessel is massive and it connects to the ruins able to blocked the sea water in. The technology it had to prevent the water from leaking in as magic converting the water into air, but side effects occurred where the water turns to air including the salt. The salts are forced into gas with its poisonous substance release inside the ruins. The Enders provide them a full head covered gas mask. They step into the strange ruins as the sounds of machine echoing inside still functioning since the years it fell into the sea depths.

Tabitha and her team entered the main docking area, the sight to be hold where airships still able to restore its integrity. There are robots around able to maintain a clean environment except for the air. The poisonous fumes roaming into the air and she saw a massive hole being utilized and converting the water into air. It exhausts the excess air out from the vessel as few numbers of massive sea creatures can’t go close to it as the gas is releasing to the surface like a barrier. Tabitha asks Kiege.

“Where in the world am I right now? What kind of apocalypse is this? Medieval or Sci-fi?”

“I have no idea what are you talking about, except being an apocalypse. Yeah, this place is really made you fear what archscience can do to build it”

They reach to the boarding area and the door opens itself. A monster thrown to their direction and almost land above them. The chain attached on the monster pulled back in, but only a short distance away from them getting hit. The monster is a sea creature trying to moves it body to find water for it to swim. The Enders come forth and forced it lying on the ground, suffocating it into the poisonous air. Viste guides them to move on the side as the Enders are busy trying to kill it. The Alga’s light inside of the sea creature continue to held it for dear life until the gills washed it down with poisonous vapor.

It dies as Tabitha’s team moved passed it. Tabitha can’t believe her eyes as the sea creature is here and inside.

“How did that thing make it here?”

Kiege explains “It has magic now. It probably trying to run away from the starving or it find its prey”

Dewn added “If they have it here. I can imagine that thing can heal itself”

Tabitha takes a deep breath and guessing “Can you imagine my people with strong mana would be able to stop it?”

Dewn replies “Yes, but you won’t be finding rest in this inhabit isles. The desperate hungers will find you leaving you drained and exhausted. Feasting you with everything it had”

Tabitha grips her device and takes her video inside the dockyard. The absurdity of how archscience can do made her wondering of all possibilities it can bring to her city. Able to sustain the facility with robots and keep going like it is alive on its own.

“Do you think it is better to use it as a Foundation”

Dewn rejects the idea “Archscience indeed have its incredible sights, but without knowledge to where are you from is the knowledge of the gods know. If this technology truly can able to do it. Just imagine the invasion it can do to bring other worlds from here. The gods won’t be able go against a hybrid with only a part of their powers within it”

They are now in the waiting room, and Kiege goes to the terminal and recharges her own equipment. She opens her bag and the robotic arm is being charged by only the phase of the light beaming in. It powers up and now floating above her shoulder and holding her ocesl. Kiege takes a deep breath and trying to control the floating robotic arm with her mind. It responds correctively and able to move as swift as her and spinning the ocesl and reloading the mana scrolls into the eight frames.

After others are preparing, they step into the corridors and the hallway is in front of them. Viste gives Tabita a warning,

“Once we are heading to this direction, we are going to take a long walk instead to the open short paths. You need to gather as much data as each terminal is open. Different rooms that had purposes and facilities that your device hopefully can update and collect the data. Alright?”

Tabitha nods as the corridor starts blinking, another Enders step into the waiting room. Dragging a sea creature already dried up, they watch her cuts off some guts and scales and something inside of it was able to make it move.

A robotic exoskeleton, a parasite like phenomenon controlling the fish possessing runes as its power. The woman looks at them going into the corridor and said

“The cybernetics workshop is clear. Be careful, the AIs are now remade into the shamanism as their brain. Don’t show any hostile or dare to interact their ‘rituals’. You do understand me clearly”

Viste bows for her help and continue to move on. Tabitha followed her team as the door of the hallway shuts, leaving the last glimpse of light as she turns around blinded by the strong lights.

As they move along, the robots are repairing the hallway after a big messy fight. The parts are being removed and replaced with new ones. They are coming from the vents taking piece by piece of the materials from out of no where as the hallway is being fix fast. They disinfect the taints from fish’s blood and bits of its flesh were turned to dust with crystallized dust. It feels like a horror is trying to reset itself as the dents and damage left like there are something is going to come out from the walls. As they moved passed it, the sounds from vents are getting louder as the footsteps is coming beneath them.

The floor has starting curved and bend, the sounds, it keeps going beneath their feet and everybody is readying their weapons. Viste and Kiege positioned themselves to the front and Tabitha sees the pacing and tried to follow them. Dewn pulled her in front of him as she quivers by the noise.

“Ready yourself, we don’t need to get closer or we will be cornered each other”

Tabitha nods her head and ready to face her first enemies.

The walls and the floors are banging in, the noise is coming out as the floor starts piercing a hole to the floor plates. One small hole appeared then the rest followed from different directions. The air flows in as the vapor leaking in. The floor bounces off and the plate flies off to the ceiling. Viste moves in and stomps the sea creature from getting inside. The creature splatters and its body spread into the hallway. The body of a crustacean as its shells weren’t strong enough against her powerful attacks.

The other floor plates are opening, and the front trying to destroy them before getting in. At Tabitha and Dewn’s back as the wall breaks open and a stinger comes at them. Dewn brings out his rod and parried the sting. He holds it with his hands as the poison is tainting on his gloves. He tries to pull it to them, but he was being pulled instead. More stingers are coming at him as Tabitha uses her magic card to boosts his strength. He was able to break the stinger but the rest hits him. He dodges his head to protect his gas mask. He then pushed away as more stings keep hitting his body, put away his rod, and pull out his flare.

He uses the fluid the poison on the flare. It lights up as he wipes on it. The poison fused with magic able for the flare to react. The burns on his body as the flare is interacting with releasing a blinding light to attract his enemies. The stingers entered the hallway, as it hypnotized by the flare. The flare is burning in the middle of it and unleash healing pathogen into the air. The poison had been cured as he sprays it on him, then later as it burns to the last line of the flare. It comes out with lethal dosage imitating the same poison and he throws it at the crustacean stingers.

The creatures were hit to only their eyes and mouths. Couldn’t breathe nor see, they use their healing magic, but the poison from the flares contaminated the healing process. Dewn’s flare is a mechanism stages spell. 1st layer is to detect the magic, then release a compound to attract the source of magic user. The second layer is the cure, both cleansing and healing. Third, when the last of the flare burning light overdose the cure with intoxicating substance. It will overwhelm any healing effects and persist the effects of the spell losing control of the original caster.

It was not over. The blinded crustaceans are backing away. Dewn didn’t let them go and finished them off with his rod. He hits them but bounces right off.

“Tsk*”

The obvious of his strength of his weapon is laughable, and with the boosts given by Tabitha becomes fruitless. Kiege steps right in and attacked the crustaceans with her bladed weapons. Piercing through its armored shell. Taken down the creatures as fast as they could. Kiege’s robotic arm pulled out something from her bag and release the scent into the dead creatures. She then pulled them out from the hallway.

Viste managed to clear a path then opens the door. They made it out as another noise is coming in. Louder and bigger as before. As the door closes, Kiege’s robotic arm is stuck by the door. It opens its lens and watch creatures she brought upon the crustaceans. Tabitha reacts as fast as she could during that fight. It was too fast for her, but able to use her support magic cards on her team. She didn’t even look for her attacking cards as the numbers of those crustaceans keep coming as they entered.

Kiege is by the door, where they left the fight. The hologram coming from her robotic arm on the floor as she can see the glimpse of the creatures.

“They are still here in the sea. They still eat it raw like any predator would”

“What are you looking at, Kiege?”

“Some old enemies that I was able to bait them into. They are fit and healthy. Biting it raw, they can chew the shells like they are like biscuits”

Kiege gives her a view of the hologram and saw really beef sea creatures with limbs, chowing down the crustaceans, ignoring the poison and its strong shell as they fought back. It looks amphibians with teeth and partial limbs. After chowing it down, their bodies start to adapt and poison needles coming out and grown its own spikes.

She backs away and ask Kiege “What was that?”

“Temporary adaptation, if you don’t know what they are. They are old rituals trying to cleanse the Rune Isles abomination. Don’t be deceived how they are thriving in this environment. They appeared by the scent of my bait. They didn’t come here normally, but summoned by the scent”

“What did you give them?”

“Their ashes, it is forbidden for the spirits to manifest in flesh. If something like that happen, they are going to look around and wipe it clean including who are near to it. That will hold them off”

From the other side of the hallway, Kiege understands that killing them will attract the predators. More and more of them in different species will follow the scent of struggling prey. She didn’t know whether they are following Alga’s light or stay hunting like it normally would, always desperate. They can possibly beat it, but in a tight room. It will be hard for them to fight against a specific creature. She hears Viste’s voice calling out to them, the two followed Viste as she shows them the terminal.

“This is your first attempt, Tabitha. I hope that device of yours will be able go against the odds”

Viste shows it to her the terminal. Tabitha takes a closer look, she doesn’t know whether she can understand it, but she placed her device near it from what she learned from Myrrkei. The terminal reacts and it starts to update itself in the presence of her device.

‘Analyzing’

it spoke and redirect the data to her device. The device itself replicate the sounds of the terminal.

‘Converting . . . Processing . . . Updating . . . Complete’

Viste and the other guild members hear the words that they never hear before. The words coming out of Kiege’s mouth was a big surprise

“Updating? I never heard the terminal saying it, neither would be saying complete”

The room fell into electrical static as the terminal resets itself. Tabitha sees the room blinking as the lights shuttering and the terminal rebooted. She checks her device and saw the data is fully downloaded into her device and saw the memory it used. Her mouth drops and her eyes wide.

“286 GB! transferred into my device. That was so FAST”

“Fast indeed” Viste never would be imagine that this room, the prep room for the cybernetic workshop has so many data. The previous years they can’t get the whole data and only get a partial. Even when trying to stable the corrupt data. This room pretends to show electric static pulsing the terminal to reboot. Now laying her focus on to Tabitha, Tabitha is taking a look at the data. She opens the file and found the same tech that Kiege is using.

The term called as psychic exoskeleton. Comparing with Kiege’s robotic arm, from what parts it has. It is a floating arm and treated an extension of their limbs. Rely heavily to most magic users such as mage and mana fluent individuals. It is their main strength to counter against runes and stronger enemies in natural strength. It is base on how many mana they have to feed on the robot. The more mana it had the more they can puppeteer it in different ways. If it was used by less magic user, it can only act as an extra limb and nothing added it except adding components.

Tabitha looks at the limb stuck into the door. She can’t believe that Kiege’s scavenged item has more it can do than just an extra limb. Unfortunately, it limits how much mana she had to her control and requires energy. She turns to the next file as her expectation of discovery turned horrid. Another cybernetic limb, relies on bio-machinery. It requires dead cells to control a dead body. The dead body has remaining mass of neutral mana within, and this cybernetic body can use the dead husk as fuel. Turning it into a decaying zombie.

The rest of the files becomes darker and darker and see the historical records when the desperation went through the roof after years of the war between heroes and demons. She turns to Viste with her expression felt cold.

“What are you trying to show me, Ma’am Viste?”

She sees her eyes looking grim and the desperation of the past led them into the apocalypse they have to live by.

“This is the final advancement of archscience when it comes to war. Be prepared for the rest of these ruins. You may saw the horrors of the war. Be ready to find a way to end it. Your city may become one in the future”

Kiege and Dewn are stepping aside as their conversation were going to what she needed to know. Understand about the archscience. Tabitha has a long way to go and take her time to go around the ruins in this underwater vessel. After seeing the dockyards meant for flying airships, this vessel wasn’t meant for the sea. It was supposed to be in the air. She says to Viste

“Will it also help me to stop my city from becoming like this?”

Viste nods and put Tabitha more she could follow Elrond’s words, go with the flow.