High Priest XLR8

That horrible bitch had left me behind. Of course, XLR8 was not important enough to get on the evacuation airship. I was a critical member of the government. I ran the Power Church! We dropped the shield for a moment to broadcast, to recall Emperor Michael in desperation, but were forced to raise it again in seconds to prevent mass casualties.

“We must pray!” I shouted to the teeming masses that had gathered in front of the Power Church. While martial law was in effect, I was deemed to be a calming influence by Commander Carlson and was told to keep the civilian population in check as much as possible. “Word has been sent to Emperor Michael.” I was not about to say anything nice about the bitch who had left me behind to die. She had taken the Avatar lady and not me. That just rubbed me the wrong way.

“Emperor Michael will save us!” Cries of relief went up from the crowd. Based on his last known position, we were looking at six days or so before he arrived. Even then, it was questionable if he would be able to do anything.

From what I had learned the energy pressure on the outside of the city was building up. We had enough shielding power to last for 64 more days, by chaining several City Shields togeather. But all escape and communication were cut off, except for my last broadcast, which I could only hope got through.

There was no clue if Clarissa had successfully escaped, but she was a horrible person. There would be nothing she could do. It also didn’t help that my teeth ached from whatever the City Shield was doing. Like a constant hum in the back of my mind as well.

“For he is the chosen of the Almighty System, we must have faith. For only with faith will we survive this crisis.” What I really needed was a lot of spare crystals to purchase an airship to make a quick escape from this city before it completely collapsed.

Unfortunately, Carlson had locked that all down. His orders were to hold out, so he would hold out until the end, and it was too late to escape. I was cursing him mentally as well, while I gave my sermon.

Supreme Governor Clarissa

“We have lost Truth, Esperanza, and Purgatory is still under siege. Hong Kong, Heaven, Neo Brasilia, Normandy, and Wuhan have all lost at least one zone. Tax revenue has completely collapsed, and communication with East Bastion is not possible.” I rubbed the sides of my head while the general situation was conveyed to me.

“What about on the research side?” I looked over at Jacob and Doctor Katz. They had been flying with my airship to run tests and try to gain more information. They just got back this afternoon.

“The energy levels aren’t decreasing. I have arranged for astrolabes and pressure tubes to be set up to detect the expansion and rate of energy increase. Right now, we are looking at a non-linear rate of expansion, that doesn’t correspond to volume or area either,” Doctor Katz explained.

“There is also another concerning development based on long range observation. People are falling under the sway of the energy signature. Mass puppeteering through energy osmosis. Well puppeteering might not be the right term, since their brains are being completely scrambled. Once there is a enough energy built up, it strikes at the minds of people, twisting them to its own purposes,” Jacob took a breath.

“That purpose has not been determined, but the monsters in the impacted areas have been disappearing. Has the Avatar said anything useful? Any kind of direction for my research would be helpful in figuring out what to do?” Jacob asked and I let out a sigh. The last couple of days had been exhausting and the Avatar hadn’t helped in the slightest.

“No. She has been ranting and raving incoherently. While there are guards listening to her and rotating out, it is suspected she only wanted to save herself,” I replied.

“Then, the only thing we can do is wait and hope whatever is doing this loses power or the Almighty System itself intervenes. Or that Emperor Michael has the ability to explore against the increased energy density,” Jacob replied and there was silence at that statement.

I wanted to demand that he think of some solution, but if he had one, I had no doubt he would share it to get lots of credit and build up his importance. A man like Jacob was scum, but he was predictable scum. One just needed to know how to leverage him right away.

Now I started considering the consequences, if this issue couldn’t be fixed. The economic disaster would be immense. Even if the energy pressure stopped at where it was now, that was way too many zones lost. I didn’t even want to look at economic projections, but I knew that catastrophic would be putting it lightly.

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The cities should be able to hold on. They each had a shield generator. But I had no idea about their upgrade status. That kind of information was back in Purgatory, not out here. My guess was that it was under built if anything. The governors would want to keep as many points for themselves and their projects. They would also think that Michael could save them and fix everything.

I knew better than anyone else that he wasn’t invincible. The Avatar’s feigned mental regression wasn’t helping. She was the only supposed link to the Almighty System, and she wasn’t sharing anything. It was infuriating beyond belief.

The one thing I hated about this place was losing control with no way to respond. It was incredibly frustrating to invest millions of points into research with no solution to this problem. Retreating was not a solution. This wasn’t like the Divine Empress. At least with her, there was a target to kill no matter how impossible. The shards were clearly at fault, but it was like a nuclear meltdown.

This was why I went into business, since there were always options there, and not politics back on Earth. The entire situation was more akin to a natural disaster. And it wasn’t just a nuclear meltdown, it was like you are on a tiny island with no way off and then nuclear plant on that island is having a meltdown.

I thought about that assumption some more. We could risk escaping on a super large airship. No. Even with Michael, if a level 9 or 10 monster showed up, we would be dead. The risk was too high. We wouldn’t be able to leave that easily.

“We need to get the Avatar to respond. Bring her here,” I ordered after thinking about the situation. Two soldiers quickly rushed off. There was silence as everyone realized how screwed we all were. Soon the avatar was carried into the room by the two soldiers.

“Set her on the table, move the maps to the side,” I order and they were quickly moved and the Avatar set down on the table. I leaned over her. I took a deep breath.

“I have a couple of options. First option, do nothing and hope this goes away or Michael fixes the issue. Second option, I strap you into an airship and send you flying at whatever this is. Hoping the Almighty System fixes the issue with your death. No, I will get a volunteer. And they will only turn around if you give us information,” I declared.

“Nooo,” she sent out a mental moan to everyone nearby.

“No what? That was the stick, now here is the carrot. You explain what is going on and how to fix this, and you get parole. Or even exile to another part of the Systemic Lands out West. No more endless paperwork. I know you are in there. You talked to Emperor Michael,” I demanded.

“I….the….connection,” she mentally broadcast.

“What connection?” I looked and what visible muscles she had went limp. She had passed out. “Wake her up,” I ordered. Doctor Katz came over and peeled open one of her eyelids. He then did the other. After that he gave her a light slap on the face. He then put his hand over her mouth.

“She is breathing and alive, but she has been forced into unconsciousness. I can’t spot anything wrong. But her health isn’t the best and mentally she has been doing quite poorly. It could be the stress, or whatever occurred is impacting her,” Doctor Katz explained.

“Now, the energy pressure wave isn’t here. It is impacting the Almighty System,” Jacob cut in. “It intervened directly last time. The only time it has intervened to any of our knowledge in a truly unique way. Meta-points, anti-points, and even city destruction have all happened multiple times in the past. But the Almighty System has only acted once in a unique way outside of those events.”

He was right. This was beyond a disaster. This was a…calamity. We might have to just consider the entire East portion of the Systemic Lands completely lost. “If her connection is cut, we could kill her,” Jacob added, his blood thirsty nature coming through.

“What no!” Doctor Katz said.

“She is an enemy. And I was just mentioning it as a possibility. I do think your idea of putting her on an airship and sending her into the death area would be a good idea. It would draw the Almighty System’s attention most likely. If not, then we disposed of someone who Emperor Michael wants dead,” Jacob said, hoping to score some brownie points when he finally showed up.

“No, we are not killing the Avatar. That is final. We can’t risk making our situation worse. But, taking her into the disaster area isn’t a bad idea,” I replied while thinking about who was strong enough to take her out there while coming back alive.

There was no guarantee this energy eruption would kill her either. There was a very good chance she had some kind of survival skill. Despite being a human nugget for years, she kept hanging on out of sheer spite. I had no doubt, if she really wanted die there would be ways out there.

“We need more information. Jacob, you need to assess the rate of expansion. I want as precise readings as possible. Is the worst over, or is it spreading or contracting and at what rate. Doctor Katz you are to look after the Avatar and attempt to wake her for more answers. If she wakes up you are to question her and get any answers that you can. I need to arrange for the continuity of our government and start arranging for the government to function out here.”

This would be a lot of work. Work I didn’t ask for or didn’t want, but I was the only one that would handle the work. With no good options right now, the hope was that a miracle would show up. “Could Michael survive the epicenter?” I asked.

“Maybe? I am not sure. While it appears like a slow eruption, there is no way of knowing until I get to where this first started. I should have a better idea in a day or so,” Jacob replied.

Well, I could live by running away, at least longer than other people. What hurt more than anything were all the grinders, who didn’t get the memo.