I watched on with utter disbelief as Myra, Alina, and Bishop charged into the enemies. I’ll give them some credit, they did take out one of the huge creatures almost immediately with a carefully aimed headshot with Myra’s laser bullet. They also managed to waste all of their limited resources there as well, and they were facing down 5 very, very pissed-off monsters.
I was becoming more and more frustrated seeing them lose all semblance of tactics after they had done so well before. It seemed that the only reason they had any kind of discipline was because I had been there to supervise them, and the moment that I left, some of their old habits came back. What was worse was that they had been cautious before, whereas they had abandoned all semblance of caution after I had praised them on their growth. I needed to figure out how my Charisma was affecting people’s thinking before something went really wrong in the future.
I think they realized how badly they fucked up after that. The three of them were quickly being boxed in by the creatures.
“Shit!” Bishop muttered, “I… I can’t debuff more than two of them at a time!”
Myra grunted, “We retreat back to the rooftops, Bishop, try to slow down the leading pair, I’ll provide support! Alina, get back first!”
Alina went to protest, trying desperately to supplement Bishop’s abilities with her own, but it was becoming evident that nothing she did was helping. The creatures before them were too strong, and there were too many of them.
“Just go!” Myra shouted again, “We need to regroup somewhere where they can’t reach us! Secure us an escape route, Alina, while Bishop and I try to slow them down. I got a few mags left that should at least hinder them!”
The leader turned her attention back on the quickly approaching monsters and expertly swapped out of ammo. She let off a few bursts of shots that left a sickly green trail behind, but she immediately frowned when she saw that whatever she had fired into the abominations did almost nothing to them.
“Shit!” she cried out in frustration, “Toxins don’t do shit to them! Anything you can do, Bishop?”
The other man was sweating heavily as he quickly shook his head, “I can’t confuse them like I did the other one, not enough time to prep, but I’m doing what I can to slow their advance. I can’t hold it for long, I’m running out of mana!”
“Then we retreat to the guide!” Myra said decisively, “Alina, go!”
The other girl scrambled to distance herself from the looming threat and started to advance to my position. I winced at the stupidity of their action. Did they forget what would happen once they were separated?
I wanted to warn Alina but the demons were faster. As she ran in a panic, a dark patch of shadow started to form beneath her feet, and before she could understand what was happening, a claw grabbed her ankle and pulled the woman under. Alina didn’t even have time to scream. Worse still, the other two didn’t even notice that one of their own had been taken.
Oblivious to the demise of their teammate, Myra, and Bishop continued to attack the five massive hulks. Myra swapped to several other types of ammunition, but everything that she threw at the massive creatures did little more than piss them off. Bishop was even less helpful.
Nothing was working, and worse yet, they were losing ground.
The massive monstrosities may be slow, but they had incredible reach. Each step they took covered enormous ground, and if I didn’t do anything, then the fate of this party would be all but guaranteed. I was about to step down from my perch and help, but a force prevented me from moving at all. It wasn’t a very strong force, and I was fairly confident that I could break out of whatever was trapping me with enough effort.
“I wouldn’t do that, Lord Arbiter,” Jordan’s voice cut through the cacophony of destruction and noise below, “Well unless you want all of Pandora to be purged that is.”
I felt that force ease up then.
Jordan continued, and I can just imagine that annoying grin on her face, “But if that is your intention then please, go ahead and step in to help the humans. It would honestly save us all a lot of time and trouble if you did. I won’t even tell the Overseer that it was your breach of guidelines that led to them getting erased! I know that’s very kind on my part; you don’t have to thank me.”
I clenched my teeth shut, tasting the faint coppery tang of blood as I used every last ounce of my will to stop myself from doing something I would regret. Could I use the Absolute Luck Skill to somehow save them? No, that was a useless thought, Noe’s skill only applied to me and it only ensured the best possible outcome for me. I can't imagine a situation where it'd help. I turned it on anyway and saw, to no one's surprise, that nothing happened. What was I thinking? Even if I could somehow envelop the other two in my ability, I only had 100 total charges to work with.
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I could only watch on as the last of Bishop’s stamina gave out. He fell on a particularly rough patch of ground and couldn’t get up in time. He looked in horror as the monster reached his position and he was trampled underfoot; at least his end was quick. Myra stared at the spot where her friend died and started to shout in grief and despair, calling for me to help, to do anything to salvage this situation.
“Quite the sight, isn’t it, Lord Arbiter? But if it’s any consolation, you will be working with a more competent race after this farce is over with.” Jordan chuckled, “That’s the problem with the Human species as a whole, I’m afraid. They have the potential for greatness, but the general population's slow on the uptake. Slow to adapt as well, and they’re much too emotional for their own good. Fragile creatures, really, woefully unprepared for the larger existence as a whole.”
I didn’t reply. I just watched on as Myra gave up trying to fight entirely and she tried to run. She wasn’t fast enough.
“Ouch,” Jordan said with false sympathy, “That one has to sting, well, it would if she would have survived the blow that is. Like I said, fragile things. Good swing though from her opponent, wonderful form.”
I continued to stare at the smudge on the floor that used to be Myra. I… I failed. For the first time since the start of my Trials, since the start of all this chaos, I had finally failed to accomplish one of my goals. I mean, I knew that it was only an eventuality for something to go wrong, for one of my hare-schemed plans to break, and I had told myself this fact over and over again before, but to actually face it? It was devastating.
“Well, at least your other bodies are doing well, all things considered,” Jordan continued, “And that Anomaly’s party is all but blazing through these training stages. Now that specimen and its helpers are a great example of the pure potential of this species. We'll make sure to keep it safe.”
I still didn’t respond. I already knew that Jae-Hyun and the rest would be fine here.
“You can rest assured that we’ll provide Aspirant Jae-Hyun and its party ample rewards,” Jordan added, “In fact, I think they’ve shown so much potential that the Overseer has decided to accommodate all of them into the bonus Trail, they’ll be going along with the Anomaly and its sister. No sense leaving such great Aspirants to waste, after all.”
Which meant that I couldn’t even rely on the Abyss guild to help out during the battle against the Restus…
Jordan’s cheery voice continued to beat into me, “And I have other great news! Your intervention has decreased the number of casualties down to a mere 27%! That’s quite the accomplishment given the worthless Aspirants you had to work with. At this rate, you'll have maybe 5000 Aspirants once this is all said and done. That's almost enough to fill one of the medium-sized stadiums these humans had back on their Earth planet!”
So the number of humans in Pandora was down close to a third of what we started with, and that was only going to continue to go down. How do I work with these numbers?
“Anyway, I think I’ve talked enough for one day, my Lord Arbiter W,” she continued, “And I’m sure that your consciousness can be better used elsewhere. I’ll leave you to finish up with the rest of the parties. Good luck, although I'm sure you hardly need it!”
I continued to sit on the rooftop, just lost in thought until the cityscape around me started to dissolve and fade away like a dream. I felt so… hollow, so strangely empty at that moment. What had I done wrong to lead up to this disaster? I couldn’t see any way out. At least the friends that I made with the Aspirants would be safe, even if I’ll never see them again. I think I’m going to miss Vadeem’s cheerful outbursts, or Noel’s unpredictable nature. I’ll even miss the stoic Regressor and his sister; I never did get to know Yoona all that well. At least the twins will be safe under Vadeem’s care, I could be certain of that.
Then there’s Xalla. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I lost my Arbiter position here; would the Overseer transfer me to some hellhole where I’d be forced to accept his offer of working by his side? I can’t imagine that wouldn’t be the case, given how predictable that piece of shit was. I would love to be able to take Xalla on her offer of just… leaving all of this behind and living in Xolloid. Maybe get a nice little cottage on the outskirts and raise some Shoggoths of my own, but I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t a real Xollon…
I sighed and looked into the horizon. At the fading illusion of a city made solely as a way to test the Aspirants that Central so cruelly took away to place in these Trials. I laughed at myself; I didn’t even know why they chose to do that, other than some vague notion of war and manpower. That’s when I truly understood why the Overseer was able to beat me so readily this time. I was ignorant. I foolishly thought that I could beat the leader of Central at his own game when I didn’t even know what game he was playing.
I overestimated my abilities and underestimated his.
“Hey, Noe,” I muttered aloud, I didn’t care if anyone overheard me at this moment, “You think I could have done any of that better?”
“You did your best, my Host,” she answered, “With what limited resources that you had. Unit Noe is amazed that you made it as far as you did.”
“But it wasn’t enough, was it?”
“No.”
I sighed again, “I should have used the tools I was given more effectively. I should have done something different… damn.”
“You have done enough, dear Walter,” Noe comforted, “You have done more than enough. Rest now; rest and unburden your mind. You have done more than what was required of you, and I think it is time to awaken, if only partially and for a time.”
I felt my eyes droop as an overwhelming sense of exhaustion spread over me, “But there’s so much more than I need to do. There’s so much more…”
I saw Noe then, a radiant angel of cosmic gold, and she shook her head, “That is not a burden for you to take on, not now. As I said, dear Walter, you have brought enough time, you have grown enough even when you were faced with such limitations. Rest peacefully for now, and when you awaken once more from your rest, you shall be unburdened. Dusk approaches, my Host. Good night.”
I nodded and looked down at the dissolving landscape one last time. It was beautiful. I felt this fragment of my mind wash away along with the ethereal landscape...
And I Awoke.
Eternal Soul Title: It That Sleeps at the Edge of Dusk
Progress to Awakening: 50%
Description: Your rest has ended early and the Light begins to dim with Dusk's approach. You grace the universe once more with Your presence, if only for a time. Command us as you see fit, for all will become one under Your Truth.