Prometheus was asleep. But, that didn’t mean that his body needed to be immobile. Right before he had been approached by the Sleep golem, the shapeshifter had thrown together a simple Algorithm to take over the body, while he himself was sleeping. It had simple instructions: Moving to the sleeping Numbers, and waking them up. After that, it needed to walk away, hiding until the Unsafe Hours passed OR the sleep golem killed the remaining priests.

The shapeshifter straightened up in a mechanical way, its limbs moving jerkily. The golem turned around, observing its surroundings. The Algorithm had trouble even walking on its own, especially with the humanoid form that was the Goliath, but it still managed to move to the other doors. The other doors weren’t locked, but even if they were, the algorithm could find a way. Waking up each Number and running out, the Algorithm managed to lure the sleeping golem, who sprinted towards the newly awakened priests angrily.

That continued until he reached Number Four, one of the two priests who had captured the children and probably tortured them. Theo’s Soul shook, tendrils of Influence whipping around the room at the sight of the woman. She still missed an arm and had a bandage over her eye.

Waking her up with rotten smells, the Algorithm ran to the two remaining Numbers and woke them up in the same way. Its last instruction was hiding, so Theo’s body controlled by the Algorithm moved to a safe corner and observed the situation, noticing how Number Four staggered outside her room, holding a hand over her working eye from the lights of the chamber. When her eye set on the sleeping golem, which was sprinting at her, no fear appeared on her face.

She sprinted back inside, and loud sounds began emanating around the room, resembling an alarm. Both Number Three, the muscular man without a leg, and Number Two, the thinner priest with only an arm and a leg, came out just as tired as the woman. They were using the technique that gave them limbs made of Influence.

Four was already out of the room, keeping her eye on the smooth golem that was right behind her. She had a belt with various bags on it, which began opening to reveal dozens of weapons floating around her.

“We need to distract it until the Boss is back! I’ve sent him a [Message]!” Shouted Number Two.

“And how do we do that, prick?!” Responded Four just as loudly, while she tried her best to evade the golem’s strikes while her weapons hit the construct from the side with incredible power.

“I don’t know! Try your best!” Said Two.

Number Three raised his palm to the sky, and brought it down quickly, upon which a large, room-wide spiral of metal flew from the roof of the chamber, which snaked its way down toward the golem. Number Two conjured dozens of clones made of darkness, which began moving forward to intercept the light-blue enemy. The spiral of metal jumped off the golem ineffectively, not even pushing it away a little bit. The black clones began hitting it from all sides, which managed to slightly make it stumble to the side, while Number Four was retreating desperately, always keeping her eye on the enemy.

“We aren’t doing shit to it!” Number Four said.

“Just keep at it! It doesn’t have an unlimited amount of Influence!” Two reassured.

“And neither do we, jackass!”

Four continued complaining and screaming as she avoided the golem’s strikes by centimeters, her many weapons helping deflect the enemy when she wasn’t fast enough. At one point, the golem stopped abruptly.

“Is-is it over?” Four asked.

The golem’s head whipped to look at Number Two, who began sprinting at inhumane speeds backward with many techniques to speed up. Unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly as fast as Number Four was, as he wasn’t a physical fighter. He usually let his clones do all the work. Unfortunately for him, the sleep golems were designed to fight anything short of the Defenders.

The running man dared to look backward, making him stumble slightly. That was the last mistake he would ever make, as a blue fist flew at his neck multiple times the speed of sound. Two fell to the ground, his body spasming continuously. The golem turned its attention to the other priests, who did their best to keep it distracted while looking for an opportunity to escape.

Theo, or more specifically, the Algorithm made my Theo, kept observing the fight, huddled behind a cage. The fight went on for hours, and the two remaining priests managed to survive, if barely. At the end of the Unsafe Hours, all three of them stood on the ground, on the brink of death. Just before the golem managed to finish them off, it turned around and walked outside. The Unsafe Hours were over, and its role here was over.

On the clock, Theo took over his body, shaking his head. He checked the Algoithm’s memories to see what had happened, nodding. I’m glad the Algorithm wasn’t considered ‘awake’ by the golem. I don’t think I could have ever created this Neural substitute without my new points in the Mind stat. It gives such a massive boost to my Core’s performance. Maybe I should experiment more with that.

Turning his attention to the three priests, all of them bleeding profusely, an idea came into his mind.

“Hey, Soul, you there?” Theo asked internally.

“Where else would I be, dumbass?” It replied.

“I wanted to kidnap these guys, but I’m not sure if restraining them physically is enough. Do you think they can use techniques even now?”

“I wouldn’t risk it. Remember that guy that blew himself up, during the raid? I bet all of them know how to do that. Although…”

Theo waited for his Soul to continue.

“Get closer to the girl one. I want to check something with her Soul.”

Prometheus walked over to Number Four, who was currently unconscious from the blood loss.

“This is…help me out, just follow me.”

Theo felt his Soul move a single tendril of Influence, so he helped it. After all, both of them held control over Influence. The shapeshifter remained silent to observe his Soul’s actions, watching how it probed the other Soul, which looked so dim compared to what it was at the start of the fight.

“Is her Soul exhausted?” Prometheus asked.

“Yes, but what I’m trying to see is if…”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Theo scoffed at the silence.

“Just tell me what you’re doing!”

All he could see was the tendril of Influence tapping the other Soul on various spots.

“I’m trying to see if we can break her Soul. Wouldn’t that be helpful?”

“Not if it kills her, I want to keep her alive to check what her ability is. Although, if it just cripples her, then it could be even better. I feel like death would be too kind for this scum."

“Right, right, what a barbarian you are. Anyway, I think I need your help here. Even when out of Influence, it seems like Souls have some kind of ‘barrier’ around them that protects them. Good news. I can get some cracks on it, but they get repaired too quickly for me to break through. Do you think you can help me with that?” Theo’s Soul asked the shapeshifter.

“What’s the issue?”

“I think I need to find a pattern that allows me to break the barrier faster than it can regenerate, but there’s only a limited number of Influence tendrils I can use at once.”

Prometheus focused on what his Soul was trying to do, noticing how the Influence was tapping Number Four’s Soul, small cracks appearing on its surface. Relocating half of his processing power to a simulation program he created in half a second, he began looking for possible solutions. Five minutes passed, with no solution. Ten more ensued, and something came up.

“I have something. Shape the tendrils this way,” Theo then demonstrated a spearhead-like shape to form their Influence. “Strike it with this pattern,” Prometheus sent his Soul the very specific pattern that utilized four Influence tendrils at the same time.

“Let’s try,” His Soul replied.

Theo supported his Soul by moving the Influence around, which began striking into the other Soul, increasing the number of cracks on its surface. Number Four’s eye suddenly flew open. An eardrum-breaking scream erupted from her mouth, and she tried her best to move away from the shapeshifter, managing to only crawl away. Theo simply walked alongside her as his Soul continued hitting the woman’s Soul.

His Influence tendrils slithered and whipped at the soul like demonic snakes, unrelenting in their pursuit to destroy the barrier that protected the enemy’s Soul. The woman’s screams only became stronger and louder, so Theo kicked the woman’s jaw. It didn’t break immediately. He used [Enhancement] over and over on her jaw until he heard a crack when the bone dislocated from her mouth and shattered on the ground under Theo’s leg.

“I’m getting close!” His Soul shouted internally as it continued barraging Four’s Soul, again and again.

The change happened half a minute later, when one tendril of Influence shattered the barrier, its insides spilling out like air out of a balloon. Theo stepped back, analyzing what would happen to the woman. Her scream immediately stopped. Her eye stopped blinking, and her body stiffened. Her heart’s still beating, and I can still feel neurological activity. She’s not dead.

He snapped his fingers in front of her face, attracting her eye to him, “Speak to me. What’s your name?” Theo asked to check her responsiveness. A blank face stared back at him, and a gargled and incomprehensible voice escaped the bloody throat.

“Genius, she can’t talk without her jaw, you know?” His Soul exclaimed, satisfaction clear in its voice.

He started a mental connection with the woman, “What’s your name?”

“Julia.”

Theo nodded. “We need to do the same to the others, let’s move.”

Prometheus and his Soul spent the next half-hour to destroy the Souls of Number Three and Two, who both reacted in the same way as their colleague.

Prometheus nodded, satisfied. Time to bring them home. I have a lot more in storage for them. A sound behind him caught his attention. It was Giuseppe, who began yawning and rubbing his eyes. Theo sent a mental communication, “Good morning. You got up at the perfect time, we’re moving out.”

“Prometheus? What happened here?” Giuseppe looked around at the bloodbath, where dozens of corpses stood motionless on the ground, most killed by the sleep golem. The young man bent over forward and puked, stopping only to take a breath.

“Revenge, that’s what happened. Come with me.”

Giuseppe walked over to the shapeshifter, taking a step back at the pungent smell of blood and organs all over him. Before he kidnapped the three Numbers, he broke their spine in a specific way that would paralyze their body but still allow them to speak freely. Except for Number Four, of course. She would need a new jaw to talk. With his enemies paralyzed in body and Soul, he was ready to return home.

He saw a handful of humans in the cages look at him suspiciously, not taking the risk of getting out of the cages. So, he sent a mental communication to each one in turn, sending a single thought, “You’re free, the exit is that way. From now on, your survival is entirely on your hands. The kids will be waiting outside, where I dropped them off for their safety. Good luck.”

He increased the size of his Goliath form, as he needed bigger arms to hold onto all three bodies. Giuseppe walked right behind him, not uttering a single word. Upon walking outside, a breeze of fresh air invaded Theo’s face, which he appreciated deeply. The smell of death had gotten stale and disgusting.

Most of the children he had dropped outside were still there, grouped together and looking around uncertainly. Prometheus sent a group mental communication spell, including all of them, “You’re free and safe, for now. Your parents will arrive shortly. Good luck.” Before he ran off, he noticed how skinny and hungry they all looked. Surprisingly, they weren’t afraid of him.

Theo shifted a mass of lean muscle on his shoulder, and cut it off. Creating a flame from his mouth, which needed him to expend most of his reserve biomass as fuel, he managed to cook it nicely. After that, he made sticks of wood from his hand, using his knowledge about plant cells, and cut them off hoping they wouldn’t degrade for a it.

With that, he cut the meat nicely and made some kebabs for all of them, asking Giuseppe to distribute them. Not bothering to check them again, Theo and Giuseppe ran off to the opening in the wall, which was slowly getting repaired in the distance. Now, how do we escape? I guess the right choice would have been to wait until the Unsafe Hours arrived again, but the Numbers said that their Boss was coming. I don’t have the firepower to do that. I guess it’s time to use the bombs I made.

“Throw the bombs at random, away from us. We need to create a distraction.”

Giuseppe looked at Theo like he had gone crazy. “I won’t do that, what if it hurts someone?”

Theo clicked his tongue and took the bombs from Giuseppe’s pockets, adding them to the ones in his inventory. He moved all three Numbers on his left arm and used his right to throw the bombs as far away as possible, which began detonating with small tremors. They’re stronger than they should be. Is that my Perfected Manufacturing at work?

The people on the street began running away while screaming and shouting ‘Monster’ when they saw him. In just half a minute they arrived at the breach, where unfortunately fifteen armored Guards looked into the distance, immediately turning back to Prometheus. Let’s see. Twelve are tier-six, two are tier-seven and one is tier-eight. That woman with the nice dress has a foggy Soul, I can’t judge her tier.

His Soul began laughing hysterically, “You’re so done for!”

The woman in a black suit was talking with the stronger Guard, the captain, when she also turned back to look at him. All of them were equipped with full-plate armor and halberds, except her. She looked more like an office worker than a Guard. She then took out a small, coin-shaped object and she moved her eyes between the object and Theo, who was currently paralyzed in place. He couldn’t afford to make any moves, so he simply observed his enemies, who decided to stay put in place as well.

Surprisingly, the woman began speaking to Theo, “Are you the monster that killed more than a million people, some time ago?”

Theo was surprised at the question, but he saw no reason to lie.

“Correct. That was me.” He replied in the same language, which she found abnormal by her raised eyebrows. Why even ask me a question when you don’t expect me to talk?

A single word escaped her mouth, “Why?” She stepped forward, but the guard Captain stopped her by the shoulder.

“Why? What kind of question is that? I just needed to take out those guys with the colored costumes, so I did that with my Twentieth-tier technique. Things happened and I accidentally killed everyone else. What’s so weird about it?”

One of the guards exclaimed, “T-Twenty?!”

Prometheus slimed, which looked terrifying with the serpentine face of the Goliath form, and nodded, “Yes, I am a tier-twenty, and these humans here,” He raised the bodies he was carrying, “Did something that made me very… annoyed. So, I took their lives as payment.”

The woman gulped and stepped forward, ignoring the captain, “I am Lidia of the Golden House, and I declare you under arrest for acts of mass murder, mass destruction of city prop-“

Prometheus interrupted her and said, “Should I use my technique once again? I wouldn’t like having to resort to such a destructive move to get away, but you clearly are leaving me with no choice,”

“Miss Lidia, please calm down!” Exclaimed the Guard Captain through gritted teeth.

“No.” She shook off his arm. “This…this…this thing,” Tears formed in her eyes, and she sobbed once, “It killed everyone, we can’t let it get away!”

Prometheus said, “Should I use my technique, Miss Lidia?”

“You’re bluffing. You must have incredibly heavy restrictions to use such a technique. I bet you can’t use it again,” She smiled and crossed her arms. “Guard Captain Noto, take down that monster, we’ll use it as an example to the city of what happens to monsters that attack our citizens.”

Giuseppe raised his hand, which attracted the attention of everyone present. Theo understood that he wanted to say something, so he created a group mental communication spell, “Please let us go. He’s crazy enough to kill half of the city if he doesn’t get what he wants.”

Lidia’s eyes went to the young man on Theo’s side, and asked him in a motherly tone, “Are you alright? Has this demonic monster captured you?”

Giuseppe thought about it and replied, “Technically, yes. But I have nowhere else to go, so I stood by his side.”

“Come with us, we’ll take care of you,” She extended a hand forward, and Theo could see that the immortal man was hesitating.

“Giuseppe. Sayuri told me that you want to die. Correct?”

He nodded.

“I can find a way to end your life, I can promise you that. These people have nothing that can help you,”

Giuseppe stopped, eyes going from Theo to Lidia.

“It’s clear to me that you want the city to be pulverized once and for all. Twentieth-tier technique, [God’s-“

“GUARDS. Let him through!” The Guard captain shouted while ordering the other Guards to move to the side. Lidia was grabbed by one of the guards and dragged to the side while she kicked her legs in the air.

Grabbing Giuseppe with his other arm to prevent him from switching sides, Prometheus ran forward, leaving behind Golden Lake. He slightly turned his head to look at the enraged face of Lidia, who was snarling and crying at him.

He stuck his tongue out, moving back to his base.

Low-rank Acting leveled up twice, reaching lvl 5!