Chapter 61
The knight who ate from the Tree of Knowledge
But not once from life
location: The oval office, Presidential Palace, World Capital, The Central Nation
Date: the 12th of June 5027
President Fredric sits at his desk, his old tired eyes are immersed in the document in front of him while his index finger constantly taps on his desk.
Two large glass windows on each side of him illuminate the old president and cause his grey hair to shine with luster like that of metal while keeping the area behind him shrouded in the shade.
The document in Fredric’s hand is a proposal from the newly formed Round Table group. The group consists of the heads of the thirteen wealthiest families in the world, led by Eddie Patton.
They want the right to implement their own laws within their companies, effectively governing them like miniature monarchies, in exchange for raising worker wages and providing housing to quell the growing protests over low wages.
-what a sick joke, Demos –
President Fredric calls out to Demos and then throws the document in the air.
A large fire erupts from behind the president and incinerates the document.
For a brief moment, the light of the fire illuminated the darkness behind the president, revealing multiple people dressed all in black and wearing large visors that cover their eyes, similar to those of a virtual reality headset.
One of them had her arm extended forward and her hand was the source of the flame.
Fredric notices a button blinking repeatedly on his desk and clicks on it.
In response to his action a hologram forms in front of his desk.
-what’s wrong William? –
- I have an urgent report, Sir-
William the director of the GSTF responds as he bows respectfully to Fredric.
- go on –
Fredric says as he studies Williams's hologram and notices the beads of cold sweat dripping down his forehead.
-Sir, the living weapon HOTU started moving again, Strike team one moved immediately to intercept HOTU and the bounty hunters with her as planned, however when they arrived there they found the Royal Guards of Kim Sungta suffering from a mental attack –
- a mental attack? –
Fredric raises his eyebrow at what William said.
-yes, after examining the satellite footage repeatedly and through multiple scanners we believe that the bounty hunters used electromagnetic waves to induce nerve impulses in the brains of the Royal guards, it’s similar to Transcranial magnetic stimulation which is used to treat mental health conditions but much more sophisticated-
-hm, that’s impressive but I still fail to see why you said this was urgent–
-HOTU, used decay, Sir-
Fredric’s eyes grow wide for a moment and he sits up straight.
- did strike team one perish?!-
-no, Sir, thankfully they were not the target of the attack, it was the Bulgasari’s mountain and a portion of the Royal Guards, however, we believe that strike team one was subject to the same mental attack as they were seen conversing and interacting with no one. likely they were suffering from mental hallucinations at the time, furthermore upon witnessing the wave of decay they did not move to intercept HOTU, instead, they left the scene completely, we believe they might be under mind control-
-hmmm -
Fredric leans over his desk and seems lost in thought for a moment.
-I assume you already informed the Dragon Lord-
-yes, sir, and she was kind enough to send nine dragons to the scene –
-hmmm, that won’t be enough, I see why you came here you want to use Demos don’t you-
William nods his head.
-Yes, Sir-
-Alright, I will Authorize the use of the Priest, Demos bring model 110 –
A small square door opens on the floor of the office, and then an old man wearing long black priest coat and a large black visor that covers his eyes rises from the floor.
The man’s body is stiff and rigged and the small amount of skin that is visible from his face is full of wrinkles and deathly pale.
************************************
location: The edge of the Bulgasari’s forest, Kim Sungta
-ha, you will stall us? What a funny joke-
The violet yong sneers at the bounty hunter.
-let’s end that miserable fool first –
The red true dragon comments as she descends on the bounty hunter along with the golden true dragon and four of the six yongs.
The white yong notices Saiko completely ignoring them and focusing on the Book of Knowledge despite being surrounded by six dragons.
‘something is off’
-don’t underestimate your opponent, vaporize him immediately -
-you got it, geezer –
The white yong commands and the red true dragon responds before all six dragons open their jaws and release torrents of colorful flames.
Ken immediately uses his aether magic to increase the electromagnetic force between the water molecules around him from the rain and hail.
The increased force makes the water quickly freeze in hexagonal patterns around Ken forming a dome of ice. The colorful flames slam into the ice and numerous explosions erupt from where the fire and ice collide as the active elements in the dragon fire try to react violently with the water.
However, the ice dome does not break.
The increased electromagnetic force weakens the chemical reactions and continuously draws water from the rain and hail to feed the dome. Strong as the dragons may be, they could not beat the storm
Although Ken maintained his confident demeanor on the outside, internally his mind is racing to find a solution to his current predicament.
‘I have to think of something, some weakness to exploit some advantage I can abuse’
-let me see you block this-
The red yong says interrupting Ken’s thoughts and then opens its jaws.
THUNDER
A pinkish red beam of plasma splits the Sky dyeing it red as it rushes toward Ken.
Ken quickly pulls out the demon sword and points it to the side.
The eyes of the demon skull glow faintly and it starts humming then suddenly the plasma beam fired by the red yong turns sideways and flies away from Ken.
-what the?-
-what is happening?-
The dragons watch with bewildered expressions as the plasma breath seemingly obeys Ken and flies away from him.
Ken had used the electromagnetic field of the demon horns which is usually used to control the demon Skull’s plasma beam to control the red yongs plasma breath and deflect it away.
~phew, I am glad at least this one is still working ~
Ken sighs in relief while swinging the demon sword around.
His expression then turns serious.
‘Now, let’s review our situation, my watch, glasses, and grimoire are not working and I can’t contact Rin. But at least thanks to the miniature aether shields that Rin added to the nano pots my sword is still working.’
He looks up at the dragons and studies them making use of their moment of shock.
‘They are stronger, faster, and have better senses, I also can’t attack their internal organs they are so big and heavy that any damage I do would be the equivalent of getting pricked by a needle’
Ken’s eyes narrow slowly before growing wide as an idea flashes in his mind.
‘wait that’s it, they are too big, that means their reaction time would be slower, even if they are faster than me, their reaction time would be slower because their nerve impulses would have to travel much longer distances’
Ken’s lips curl up into a smug grin.
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~ my turn ~
He says as he points the demon sword at Red yong.
The blade of the demon sword splits down the middle and each half moves to one edge of the skull forming two large demonic fangs. The demon skull opens its mouth and starts hissing loudly.
~let’s see who wins dragon fire or a demon’s breath ~
ROOOOAAAR
Ken taunts the red yong before the demon skull roars loudly and releases a bright white plasma beam that illuminates the darkness of the night.
-hmph, cheap imitation –
The red yong comments before firing a plasma breath of his own dyeing the night sky red.
The two sun like beams of plasma collide in the sky and split the heavens in two, one half a hellish red and the other a bright white like the daylight. A powerful shock wave erupts from the collision of the two beams shattering the trees below them and causing powerful gusts of wind.
Soon the white light overpowers the red and devours it little by little but then the red yong’s eyes glow as he activates his magic, energy magic, a magic derived from the fire elements that allows him to manipulate the energy of particles.
The temperature drastically drops as the dragon absorbs the energy from his surroundings and injects it into his plasma beam.
The hellish red light that was being pushed back becomes invigorated and overtakes the white light and devours it.
The red yong’s eyes cloud over and he glances down at the human with pride, eager to see the human’s reaction to witnessing his weapon losing to his dragon fire, but instead of anger, surprise, or shock, he notices a smirk forming on the human’s face.
Before the yong has time to wonder, Ken uses his aether magic to tug downward at the electromagnetic field of the demon horns which controls his plasma beam.
Ken’s magic is not strong it can only move it very slightly, in fact, it was less than an inch but that small tug bends the demon sword’s plasma beam like a whip and travels up it like a wave. The two heavens, the hellish red and pure white spin around each other, no longer opposing each other but layered one over the other, and each of them quickly rushes past the other toward its targets.
Having been the one who initiated the action, Ken is able to quickly jump out of the way and narrowly dodge the red plasma beam, However unlike him the red yong was shocked to see the white plasma beam speeding toward him.
Nerve impulses are very quick, even for massive creatures like dragons where nerve impulses would have to travel many times the distance that they would have traveled for a human, the delay in reaction time would only be a fraction of a second, but a fraction of a second is the difference between life and death in a battle, after all this whole sequence only took three seconds.
The white beam of plasma reaches the red yong and rushes past it.
A fraction of a second later the white beam disappears. The red yong’s body has been split in two and the two halves fall from the sky and with a loud thud, they crash on the ground.
A moment of silence overtakes the chaotic battlefield as the dragons stare in disbelief at the body of their fallen comrade and the only sound that could be heard is the falling hail.
SHshshhshshshSH
SHshshhshshshSH
SHshshhshshshSH
~one down, eight more to go ~
Ken’s comment breaks the silence snapping the dragon’s back to reality.
-Chaofeng!?–
The golden yong shouts and rushes toward the red yong.
~hm, correction two down, seven more to go ~
-you bastard -
The red true dragon shouts before the dragons all open their jaws releasing torrents of colorful flames to burn the blonde bounty hunter.
Ken, once again, uses his aether magic to increase the electromagnetic force between the water molecules forming an ice dome around him once again blocking the torrent of fire.
-tsk, fine then, let’s see how you block this –
The golden true dragon shouts as he slams his claw on Ken to crush him causing the ground below to crack from the force but then he immediately groans in pain and looks at his claw and sees the blue blade of the demon sword piercing through his claw.
Ken had extended the handle of the demon sword turning it into a spear shaft and rested it against the ground with the blade pointing up letting the golden dragon impale his claw on it.
YAWN.
~I really need to sleep ~
Ken yawns, then places his thumb on the spear's shaft, and the blade splits open as the demon skull begins to screech.
The golden true dragon’s eyes immediately grow wide and he instinctively pulls his hand away but the two halves of the blade which had already lodged themselves in the dragon’s palm cause him to pull the now demon spear off the ground along with Ken who is holding onto it.
Ken turns off the recoil function before the demon skull roars loudly and fires its plasma beam blowing a a hole in the golden true dragon’s arm and sending Ken flying through the air.
The golden dragon roars in agony while holding his claw and stares at the hole. Lucky for him, the extreme heat of the plasma beam melted the edges of the hole cauterizing it and preventing him from bleeding out.
****************************
On a floating ice platform a small distance away from Saiko, Celine sits up and places a hand on her forehead.
-uh, my head, that was one crazy acid trip –
-well it wasn’t an acid trip but you are close, the dragon incorporated the Diviner’s sage into its fire, and their fumes contain a powerful hallucinogenic and psychedelic compound –
Vioarr comments through the lyrebird which is resting on a tree root next to the ice platform.
Celine looks around and then raises an eyebrow and her expression twists in confusion.
-are you sure you neutralized all the poison, cause I think I am still hallucinating-
-pfft, no you are not hallucinating, it’s very impressive, isn’t it? –
-so you are telling me that Ken is acutely holding his own against six dragons right now? –
She notices a shadow pass over them and looks up to see the Egitian seraf flying toward Ken. It seems he decided to ignore the Bulgasari and aid the other dragon.
-make that seven dragons.-
- I know right? At first, I was going to risk it and help him but then I saw him cut one in half was like, hold on let’s wait and watch this for a bit –
Celine raises an eyebrow at the lyrebird.
-even if he is doing well we should still help him, one wrong move and he could turn into dragon feed -
She says then turns to look at Daxia hoping she backs her up but she finds Daxia lost in thought and staring off into space.
-Daxia? –
-I saw it –
-huh?-
Celine blinks and looks at Daxia with a confused look.
- I saw sound, I heard light –
-Daxia we were hallucinating, I saw all sorts of crazy stuff too –
Daxia shakes her head.
-you don’t get it, I think this is a specific thing, he told me about it-
Celine raises an eyebrow at Daxia’s comment.
-who did?-
-… the ghost–
***********************
A few moments earlier.
Ken flies away from the golden true dragon propelled by his demon sword.
The red true dragon raises her arms up and following her command a portion of the ground melts turning into lava then flies after Ken.
~hmm~
The bounty hunter quickly scans his surroundings then pulls himself up toward the shaft of the demon spear and rests his foot on the demon horn to give himself better control over the trajectory of where he flies.
He tilts the shaft to change directions and dodge the lava but the lava follows after him.
~hm, as expected ~
He flies through the air until he reaches the ice wall that Saiko created earlier to protect Daxia and Celine.
He lands on the top of the wall, then quickly turns around and increases the gravity on the lava behind him. The sudden increase in gravity causes the lava to fall slightly down and crash into the side of the ice wall, instantly vaporizing a portion of it and releasing a cloud of steam that covers the wall and hides Ken from view.
The red true dragon creates more lava and observes the cloud of steam carefully waiting for Ken to come out to attack him once again but then suddenly from within the cloud a white plasma beam is fired toward the red true dragon.
She quickly moves to the side to dodge it but then she sees the plasma beam bend like a whip chasing after her cutting her right arm and wing.
The old white yong guesses where Ken is standing by observing where the plasma beam was fired from. Then, with his jaws wide open, he dives into the cloud of steam to swallow the arrogant human but he tastes no flesh only a metallic object which he assumes is the human’s weapon.
the old yong notices a metal wire hanging from the edge of his mouth. He follows the wire with his gaze and finds the other end in the hand of Ken who is crouching in the cavity in the ice wall that was created when the lava collided with it.
Ken notices the old yong make eye contact with him, so he smiles at the yong and waves to him then uses his aether magic to press the trigger on the demon skull inside the yong’s maw.
RAAAHHHH
A plasma beam blows a hole through the yong’s lower jaw causing him to roar in pain and flail his head wildly.
The yong’s flailing causes him to fling Ken into the air by the metal wire. Once in the air, Ken tugs on the metal wire in his hand pulling the demon skull out of yong’s maw.
The old yong’s cries of pain grab the attention of the Eigitian Seraf.
The Seraf’s gaze shifts repeatedly between the Bulgasari and his elder and he makes a split second decision.
He decides to ignore the Bulgasari as it is still under the effect of the poison and rushes to aid the other dragons against the arrogant human.
The Eigitian Seraf’s eyes meet the gaze of the blonde bounty hunter who is still flying in the air. He watches as the metal wire recedes back inside the demon skull and is replaced by a sword handle which the bounty grabs onto.
The bounty hunter adjusts his stance in the air and holds the demon skull at his side. With a powerful roar, a plasma beam erupts from the skull, forming a blade that pierces the ground behind him.
The seraf watches as the blonde bounty hunter swings his arm diagonally. A path of hellish destruction and scorched earth follows his arms as the blade of the demon sword rushes toward him.
Recalling how the other dragons were injured and expecting the beam to bend at any second, the Eigitian Seraf quickly flies up and away to put as much distance between him and the plasma beam so that even if it bends it can’t reach him.
The seraf looks behind checking the distance between him and the plasma beam. Feeling confident that he is out of sword’s reach, he shifts his gaze back to the bounty hunter but then suddenly, he notices the bounty hunter switching his stance and twisting his arms.
The Egitian seraf’s eyes tremble and shift to look in front of him only to be blinded by the white light.
Following Ken’s movement the plasma blade has spun two hundred and seventy degrees and is now rushing at the Egitian seraf from the opposite direction.
The Seraf quickly tries to stop but is unable to due to his momentum, so instead, he tucks in his wings and bends its tail performing a nose dive barely managing to avoid the plasma beam by a hair's breadth.
~gotcha ~
Before the Egitian Seraf can process the word a terrible stinging sensation assaults his mind overwhelming all his sensations.
As soon as the plasma beam passed above the Egitian seraf, Ken used his aether magic to tug on the electromagnetic field of the demon horns causing the plasma beam to bend down like a whip cutting the Egitian Seraf’s body in half and setting its feathers on fire causing him to crash to the ground as he roars in pain.
-ROOAAAAH-
Saiko’s whiskers twitch, alerting her to the location of the plasma beam which is about to vaporize a seemingly random tree. She quickly sends her intentions to the water to protect the tree as she has to keep her focus on the book of knowledge.
The falling hail quickly responds and gathers in front of the tree forming a massive ice wall to protect it from the plasma beam.
_ Ken_
She calls out while keeping her focus on the book.
_be careful there are surveillance unit members hiding in the forest _
~ not now Saiko, I am busy? Besides, if you are worried about them then hurry up?~
He responds as he turns off the recoil function on the demon sword and uses the recoil to dodge the jaws of the green yong.
_don’t rush me, it said I could get cancer if I do this wrong…or are they the ones who will get cancer? I need to reread that part, what are free radicals anyway? _
The book of knowledge responds to her question and quickly flips through its infinite pages landing on a chapter titled free radicals.
_NO, NO, NO, GO BACK, I don’t need to know that now _
~free radicals? ~
He raises an eyebrow at the words and repeats them in his mind over and over as he wonders what Saiko is doing.
His gaze shifts to the ball of water behind her. It looks like just a normal ball of water. It doesn’t look like anything is happening to it at all.
~hmm ~
He quickly strengthens the effect of gravity on his body to fall quicker dodging the calcium fire breath of the white yong and carefully studies the water ball.
Finally, he notices it.
The ball of water is full of air bubbles. Although it is fairly common to find some air bubbles in water, these ones are different. Normally, if you pour water anywhere or move it around some air bubbles will get stuck inside the water but these air bubbles would then quickly float to the surface of the water and disappear.
However, that is not what’s happening in the ball of water. The air bubbles in the water are not floating to the surface and they are rapidly increasing in number.
~oh, I see how it is~
Ken’s lips curl up into a wide grin.
Although the ball of water looks normal to the naked eye, it is in fact an intricate maze of pure water and salt water.
When salt dissolves in water, it breaks down into positive ions and negative ions and these ions are what allow electricity to pass in the water, by contrast, pure water with no ions doesn’t conduct electricity and is considered an insulator.
Using her control over the molecules of water, Saiko carefully separates the positive ions from the negative ions and surrounds each of them with pure water to insulate them, once enough ions have accumulated, Saiko connects the positive and negative ions together with salt water which causes an electric current to run from the negative ions to the positive ion.
When the electric current passes through the salt water it breaks the water down into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. The two gases are then immediately collected by the surrounding water molecules and stored in the form of an air bubble.
This process has been repeating over and over in hundreds of places throughout the massive water ball since the fight began.
Once she is satisfied with the amount of gases she has generated, Saiko stretches her neck and arms then looks up at the dragons with murderous eyes as a wide grin forms on her lips.
_Now, shall we end this?_