Juggernaut and James tumbled through space, grappling with one another, each trying their damnedest to gain the advantage over the other. Despite their difference in size and weight James held his own. Due to them both being in free fall neither could fully leverage their full power against the other. They fell through a tunnel of multicoloured light. In the middle of this impossibility they fought.
James grunted as he smashed his forehead against Juggernauts head, his grip on James loosening. It was enough. James brought his knees to his chest and kicked out, smashing against Juggernauts abdomen and breaking free of his grasp. Instead of James launching away from Juggernaut, the reverse happened. James had gone through the destabilised portal first and must of been the focal point of the anomaly.
Juggernaut went careening away from him with a grunt, smashing into the side of the tunnel and careening through it, disappearing in a shower of sparks. James continued to plummet, his speed increasing, the light brightening until he was almost blinded. And then it stopped. He was on the ground, grass beneath his feet. Silence.
He was kneeling on grass, one knee raised the other on the ground, hands either side of them. His clothing had changed. Gone were leather belt and chinos. He now wore plain cloth pants. His chest was still bare. James looked up in confusion, surprise and wonder not far behind.
He was in the center of a circle. Around him knelt figures in white robes, clearly exhausted in the was some of them slumped against each other and the ground. In front of him stood a man in armour. He was clearly of a high standing by the look of it. Brightly polished and highly detailed in its decorations.
The man barked something unintelligible at him. James merely looked at him, his expression speaking of his inability to understand the man. He tried to stand but instead just keeled over. Lying face first on the ground James wondered what was going on. He felt so drained. It was at this point that System informed him of a problem.
...Warning...
...Portal has drained significant energy reserves and has left the host weakened...
...All Nanites 7% Charged…
After this James passed out.
----------------------------------------
James awoke in a cell. It was dark and damp. He groggily tried to move but found himself fastened to the wall behind him with thick black metal chains. He felt a dull throb from the center of his upper back.
"You're awake I see", a voice from the darkness spoke.
James' eyes snapped in its direction. His eyes making out the shape of a man in leather armour, his hood up casting a shadow over his face that James' enhanced eyes could not pierce.
"Who are you? How can I understand you?" he answered.
"Who I am is not important. What is, is what your doing here...and what your going to do for me."
silence reigned as James tried to figure out what was going on.
System, what is going on? What is the state of my nanites? Have they recharged? why does my back hurt?
-James you have been captured and restrained. Nanites are back to full capacity charge and are functioning at peak efficiency. The region of your spine between your shoulder blades has a foreign element installed. Would you like me to analyse it?
Yes please, analyse its purpose and see if it can be removed and/or assimilated.
-Affirmative.
-Analysing.....Analysis complete.
-It is a control and translation module. It was implanted and released Nanobots of its own into your brain stem and system. Should you resist or behave in a way the controller deems uncooperative it will administer a shock to you central nervous system. These Nanobots also serve as a translation network. These Nanobots are Much more advanced than your current ones.
-Would you like to upgrade your nanites? All functions will be upgraded to peak efficiency and previous commands and programming will remain constant.
Hell yes!
-Upgrading now.
-Upgrade complete. Foreign nanites may now be assimilated and reprogrammed.
-Would you like to do so?
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Yes but do not remove the implant until I say so. Lets not give away all my cards just yet.
-Error. The foreign Nanites complexity will slow the rate of assimilation.
-Estimated time til completion: 3-6 weeks.
Fuck. Do it. Give me a list of options to beef up defenses when he leaves.
"What do you want from me?" James asked after a pregnant pause.
"I want to see you fight. You see, you are worth a fortune to me, when you arrived here I bought you before anyone could get a read on you. Call it a hunch, I paid more than I normally would because of it. I mean, look at you. Your so small compared to the other fighters. When I had you safely secured here I hired a Magus to read you, find out who and what you were. And what a pleasant surprise you were. You have no magical aura, a rarity, but you stink of power nonetheless....And your title! The Last Monarch. My my my, you are an enigma. We don't even know how old you are! Your body is in a state of constant repair and regeneration. I tried to take control of your nanites, tenacious little bastards aren't they? But their core programming - "Obey the Last Monarch" - is so integral to their function that I couldn't even turn them off. I'm not worried though, yours are very under-powered in comparison to my control chips'. Even if you could resist, you cant break through the Dark Steel chains your wrapped in."
James rolled his eyes, it was so cliche it hurt.
"Ok, so what now, 'Mr. Nobody'" James asked derisively.
"Now? Nothing. Tomorrow you fight in the Great Arena. And we'll see how powerful you really are. Goodnight, Last Monarch." said the man, before getting up from the bench on the other side of the cell and quietly moving away.
James felt unease. This was so far off base he was left almost reeling.
System, give me a list of all augmentations. Lets see if maybe we can change a few.
-Affirmative.
-Pulling up enhancements file…….
Enhancements:
Tungsten Carbide alloy bones.
Effect: Stronger more durable bone structure
Genetic Alterations - Muscular and Nervous system enhanced, Eyesight enhanced, Skin enhanced and Healing enhanced
Effect: Muscles are 12x denser than before leading to an exponential increase in explosive physical strength and speed.
*synergy with nanites detected* - strength has now been further enhanced and will need to be re-evaluated.
Effect: Nervous system reacts faster than before, synergy with stronger, faster muscles further boosts this to resulting reaction time of Approx. 35 ms.
Effect: Eyesight is now 4 to 8x stronger than before.
Effect: Skin is now denser and more durable, the extent of it's damage mitigation is still unknown.
*Nanites have built a durable sub-dermal layer of Armour plating.*
Composition - built with defense in mind, this sub-dermal light armour is constructed in plates that cover most vital organs. It is semi-flexible and has been placed over most muscles. Joints have been avoided due to the flexibility requirements not being met
Effect: Healing now occurs at a faster rate.
*synergy with nanites detected* - Nanites assist in the healing process, full regeneration now achievable, speed of regeneration further increased.
A.I. Enhanced Neural Processor - Communication between Host and A.I. occurs at near instantaneous speeds, thoughts of host now occur at a faster rate, image and data processing now also occurs at a faster rate.
*Update* - Nanites have been upgraded. All physical effects boosted. All commands executed at a faster rate.
Ok, analyse the make-up and effects of the Dark steel, see if it is superior to the current alloy I have for my bones.
-Affirmative.
-Analysing.
...
...
-Dark Steel is far superior to the current bone alloy. Would you like to replace your current bones with Dark Steel? Estimated time till completion: 4 hours.
4 hours? Last time it only took 5 minutes for my current bones.
- Last time you only had 32% organic bone mass remaining. This time I will be replacing 100% of your skeletal system.
-The Dark Steel also has a far stronger bond between molecules. It will take time to over come it, Even with the upgraded Nanites. I estimate this level of assimilation would have been impossible with the previously inferior Nanites under your command.
Fine. Do it. But unobtrusively. What about the light sub-dermal armour? Can that also be replaced?
-Affirmative. Weight would be increased exponentially. Maneuverability would be reduced and so would reaction time. Stress on joints would be increased exponentially.
Right, don't do that until I can enhance or upgrade those functions....Wait....
System.
-Yes James
Can you upgrade my genetic enhancements as well?
-Yes. But only if a different genetic sample can be acquired to analyse and built from.
I see, so what your saying is, you need a piece from a different person or animal to make a sufficient scan and replication of the trait. Correct?
-Affirmative James.
Awesome. Put me to sleep until Augmentations are complete or if someone approaches. I want an advanced warning to any hostiles. Designate everyone as a hostile or neutral depending on their approach or mannerisms. I will designate friendlies as and when I see fit.
-Affirmative. Sleep well James.