Godslayer Arc 1.11 Verra

“You’re holding back aren’t you,” mutters Drakvar as he stumbles backwards after taking another punch from Galamin.

“If I were to unleashed my best, you would not stand a chance,” replies Galamin as he swings another inhumanly quick and extremely accurate punch at Drakvar.

He barely sees it coming and Drakvar is just able to raises his arms to block it in time. But it matters little as the force of the punch is still strong enough to send Drakvar staggering backwards.

I’m certain he can punch harder and faster than that.

“I suppose it is for the best,” grumbles Drakvar as he balances himself again.

“Indeed,” agrees Galamin, “I seek to train you to be experienced against superior foes, not to simply be crushed by them. Regardless, there is another matter I would like you and Valen to assist me with.”

“What is that?” inquires Drakvar as he notices Galamin isn’t sending anymore attacks his way.

“An old friendly acquaintance of mine has requested my assistance in an extremely personal matter of great importance and delicacy,” answers Galamin, “While I am more than capable of completing the task on my own, I felt that you and Valen are more than able in helping me and both of you can do with the valuable experience.”

***

“So where exactly are we going?” asks Valen as he trails behind Galamin and Drakvar.

“To meet with Verra Baric,” replies Galamin without looking back at Valen.

While Valen clearly recognises the name and seems surprised by it, he accepts it without further comment. Drakvar, on the other hand, wishes to know more about the person they are going to meet.

“Who is Verra Baric?” inquires Drakvar.

“One of de most powerful Warlocks alive on Lyatar,” replies Valen, “Not dat I would expect someone like you to know such basic knowledge.”

“Verra Baric is an independent Warlock that serves the Seventh of Knowledge,” answers Galamin, being more helpful in his answer than Valen was, “While she specialises in fire magic, she is more than capable in all of the other magic elements. In fact, Verra is strong enough and skilled enough that she can hold her own against a Saint or Demigod.”

“Something she proved when she engaged de Soldier of Pain,” adds Valen.

“The Soldier of Pain?” inquires Drakvar.

“Idiot,” mutters Valen, “The Soldier of Pain is a Warlock and de Seventeenth Demigod of de Third of War. Very dangerous and known to singlehandedly wipe out entire armies. Hardly anyone would dare fight him willingly. And he’s old. Ancient even.”

“Anyway, we are now here,” declares Galamin as he comes to a halt outside a small bar.

“We’re meeting her in a bar?” asks Drakvar.

“In a private booth,” replies Galamin, “This building is owned and run by a Warlock Cabal. Not Verra’s, but she is respected highly by them.”

Drakvar nods and both he and Valen follow Galamin in as he enters the bar. Once inside, Drakvar notes that everybody is staring at them. Or rather, they are staring at Galamin.

Not at all surprising. This place is a shallow, shady and dull dump that is inhabited primarily by thugs and other criminals. And a Knight in Shining Armour has just stepped in.

“Sir Galamin of de Good Sword?” asks a slightly hunched Kith in black and red robes with several rings dangling from his flesh.

“Of course,” replies Galamin, “I have come with my Squire and a member of the Northern Church to meet Verra Baric.”

“Zhe didn’t mention de other two,” says the Kith, “But zhe iz waiting for you. I shall escort you to her.”

Despite the looks they are getting, the Kith leads the three of them to a small wooden room before standing by the door.

“The Great Verra Baric awaits you inside,” says the Kith with a bow before slinking off.

“Pathetic Warlock,” Drakvar hears Valen mutter under his breath.

Galamin steps inside the booth and with a glance between them, Valen and Drakvar both follow him.

“You brought guests?” says an aging female Kith once they are inside.

The Kith, whom Drakvar assumes is Verra Baric, has pale brown fur with long sleek black hair. Her eyes are hard and cold while her features are regal and aloof. She conceals her body with a pale aqua dress and a brown, black and red shawl around her neck and shoulders.

“They will be helping with this case Verra,” replies Galamin.

“Az long az dey don’t screw diz up,” mutters Verra with a disdainful look towards Drakvar, “My daughter’s very being iz on de line.”

“Oh? Please tell,” says Galamin.

“As you know, Fatimir waz part of de Cabal of Lasting Loyalty, servants of de Zixth of Emotion,” answers Verra, “Of two days ago, their leader, Paliyil Dibar, renounced hiz oaths of loyalty to de Zixth of Emotion and slaughtered hiz entire Cabal short of himzelf and Fatimir.”

Both Galamin and Valen look disgusted at hearing what this Paliyil has done. Even Drakvar feels repulsed by the actions, even if he doesn’t know why.

“But dat izn’t de worst of it,” continues Verra, “Rather dan slay my daughter, de vile filth instead uzed Soul Binding to trap my daughter’s zoul and mind in hiz spear whilst claiming her body for hiz own.”

“I see,” mutters Galamin as he looks thoughtful, “I assume you wish for me to find Paliyil and Fatimir and bring him to justice while restoring Fatimir.”

“Dat would be most welcome,” says Verra, “In fact, I already know dat Paliyil iz enroute to Kar’mire. He should be arriving tonight.”

1.13 Quest Part 2

Legacy walks Leo with Allison and Cain behind her as their group follows the goblin scouts back to their camp.

The camp is in the middle of a local forest and Legacy grins as the sun rays break through the tree coverage. Jaylyn made the world a very beautiful one, a testimony to the skill of her niece.

“We’re almost there,” says Leo as he draws his steel halberd.

Despite initial using a sword, Leo has grown to favour the halberd, gaining a fondness for the weapon. Allison has been using a long sword while Cain is using a battle axe. Legacy on the other hand, is sticking to Gord’Ang as she is able to summon it within the game.

Which means I have a ridiculously overpowered weapon that can take on even the strongest enemies in the game.

“How large is this camp?” asks Cain, “We have half-a-dozen scouts here so it must be pretty large.”

“I’ll tell you once we get in sight of it,” replies Leo.

“I’ll go ahead,” says Legacy as she parkours up into a tree.

One of the good things about being able to access the skills and memories of the past Guardians is that Legacy has picked up plenty of hard to learn, but very useful skills. Now not only can she free-run through urban environment like most practitioners of the art, but also natural ones as well.

She gracefully leaps across the tree tops before coming to a halt in one of the trees overlooking a clearing. The goblin raiding party has made camp within the clearing.

There are the six goblin scouts they have been tracking in addition to the five others that Legacy can see. There are is also the more troublesome problem of ten goblin warriors.

While the goblin scouts have light leather armour, short bows and short swords, the goblin warriors are both better fighters and better equipped. They have crude copper chainmail armour and plate helmets in addition to wielding bronze shields and assorted iron weaponry.

Not only that, but the goblin warriors have better stats with significantly higher health. Legacy would trouble dealing with five goblin warriors on her own let alone ten.

Good thing I’m not on my own.

She makes her way back to the others and drops down from the leafy branches in front of her teammates.

“I found the goblin camp ahead,” says Legacy, “It is in a clearing.”

“How many enemies are there?” asks Leo.

“I spotted eleven scouts and ten warrior,” answers Legacy.

Both Cain and Allison cringe while Leo snorts.

“That isn’t so bad,” says Leo.

“Says the guy who has more levels than the rest of us combined,” retorts Allison.

“Okay, you got a point there,” admits Leo, “So how do we do this?”

“You take point of course,” says Cain.

“That is a given,” replies Leo, “So I take point with you and Allison supporting me?”

“Sounds good,” says Allison.

“I’ll take the rear and try and get around the flanks,” says Legacy.

“Good idea Legacy,” replies Leo, “So we all know the plan? Good.”

Legacy lets the others take the lead before following as the rearguard.

“Just remember, there may be more than just what I spotted,” says Legacy.

“We know,” replies Cain.

“A group this large should have more scouts and at least one spellcaster,” says Leo, “Trust me, Jaylyn and I were the ones to program encounters like this.”

“They’ll have a mage?” says Allison, “Crap.”

“I can take their spellcaster,” replies Leo, “Plus with our weapons and armour forged by yours truly, we should be near impossible to be killed by the goblins even if they have ten warriors and a spellcaster.”

“Good point,” says Allison, “We shouldn’t get sloppy though.”

“Yeah, always expect the enemy to have something capable of taking you down,” agrees Leo, “That applies to the real world as well.”

“We’re almost there,” says Legacy, “Just past these trees.”

As they get past the trees, the four Guardsmen reach the clearing full of tents, equipment and goblins.

“Charge!” yells Leo as he breaks into a charge, his shield in his right hand while his halberd is in his left.

Allison and Cain both follow him as he slashes the closest goblin scout with his halberd. The single attack inflicts significant damage with the scout’s floating health bar drops by almost two thirds from the green into the orange.

As Leo finishes off his opponent with a swipe of his halberd, Cain swings his halberd at another goblin scout. It dodges out of the way and Cain’s battle axe slams into the ground, but Allison follows up with an attack of her own.

She uses a ‘Skill’, special martial attacks that deal extra damage, but have to be done in a certain way to work. They also use up Stamina, which matters little in short battles, but can be very important in prolonged engagements.

Her Skill Prepared Stab is already at Level 6 and the goblin scout’s health bar drains to zero as Allison runs it through with her long sword. The scout screams before shattering into shards of red digital light.

As her three companions engage the bulk of the goblin forces, Legacy heads around the right side to take on two goblin scouts that are apart from the main group.

She stabs at the closest, Gord’Ang going past the scout’s own crude metal blade and into the shoulder. Its health bar drops by about a third into the mix between the orange and yellow and the goblin scout staggers backwards.

The other goblin scout as darted around Legacy and she realises her mistake too late as it slashes her with its short sword.

1.13 Quest Part 1

“So how have you guys been enjoying Eldrim?” asks Legacy as she, Leo, Cain and Allison meet at one of the in-game taverns of the virtual reality game that she, Leo, Jaylyn and Ceta have invented.

The virtual game is a Fantasy MMORPG as requested by Joan and runs off of a mixture of servers in the Guardsmen base and Ceta’s cyber world. She and Ceta mainly handled the physics and gameplay while Leo and Jaylyn did the setting and plots.

Overall, Legacy feels they have done a good job as the game feels real. It isn’t completely real as three days in-game is only one hour out of game and the damage suffered are marked by a red lines rather than realistic effects to make it kid-friendly according to Leo.

The name of the game is Eldrim and is set on a continent containing three different civilisations. The Clans of Mirgard inhabit the chilly north while the Empire of Augustia dominates the sunny plains of the east. At the moment, they are gathered within the Kingdom of Highrim, the nation that rules the hills and rivers of the west.

“I like this place,” says Allison as she leans back in her wooden chair, “It feels very realistic.”

Legacy notes that Allison isn’t using her real name as her username, but rather has chosen username Defender after her superhero name. Both Leo and Cain have done the same while Legacy has called herself Guardian Legacy.

The other three also have inbuilt masks to their virtual characters that protect their identities. These masks are purely cosmetic and have no impact on gameplay to the point that those with them can’t see them, even the one they are wearing.

Legacy has declined one of her own as she has no problem displaying her real face. She hasn’t exactly got a secret identity like her fellow Guardsmen.

“It is a fun world to play in,” agrees Cain as the NPC waitress brings them their drinks, “I have spent my time boosting my skills and stats against local thugs.”

“And yet you are a lower level than me,” says Allison, “I have spent my time completely quests.”

“I have better stats,” points out Cain.

“I have better abilities and skills,” counters Allison.

“Leo has the best character out of all of us,” cuts in Legacy, “He could take us all on.”

“I have spent the most time playing the game with all my play testing,” says Leo with a grin on his face, “Be thankful because you wouldn’t have all that gear I made for you otherwise.”

“He has a point,” mutters Cain and Legacy internally agrees.

While they have all got equipment from creature drops and quest rewards, Leo, with his level 27 Blacksmithing and his level 24 Enchanting, has provided all of them with relatively high level equipment of high quality.

“So why are you playing as a Rogue?” asks Allison, “I thought you told me you were playing as a Warrior the other day.”

“I was, but then you all chose to be Warriors as well and since my character was extremely powerful, I decided to start a new one,” answers Legacy.

“I suppose variety is good,” says Allison, “So what are we going to do next?”

“Well,” says Leo, “I have told by the local guards that there is a camp of goblin raiders nearby. I was thinking that we could work together to take them out.”

“Sounds good,” replies Allison with a grin, “So when do we head off?”

“Since we all have my latest equipment,” replies Leo, “I feel we should set out once we’re done with our drinks. Unless any of you have anything you want to do in town beforehand?”

“No,” says Legacy.

“Nah,” says Allison.

“I’m waiting until I get more kills to my record, then I’m going to join the local warrior’s guild,” says Cain, “So I’m fine with heading out once we’re done with our drinks.”

“Should I pay or should we split the cost between us?” inquires Leo.

“I only have a single gold coin plus twenty three coppers,” answers Cain.

“I have five gold plus some silvers and coppers,” says Allison.

“I have two gold coins, fifty six silver coins and thirty four copper coins,” states Legacy.

“Well, since I have over a hundred gold coins, I’ll pay the bill,” says Leo with a smug grin.

“How on Earth did you get that many coins?” demands Allison.

“I’m Level 27,” replies Leo, “And I have been selling some of my crafts off as well.”

“Well, the rest of us should share your share of the loot between us,” says Allison.

“I won’t contest that,” replies Leo with a slight chuckle.

“So are we all done with our drinks yet?” asks Cain.

“Yeah,” replies Leo as he looks around, “I’ll go and pay the bartender now.”

As he gets up and goes, Legacy looks at Leo. He, along with Cain and Allison, is wearing a set of chainmail armour with some plate armour helmets, arm pieces, gauntlets and breastplates on top. As with all of their equipment, it has been forged and enchanted by Leo.

Legacy is wearing leather armour. It lacks the Protection of the plate and mail armour that the others use, but it is lighter and more flexible, giving her increased mobility over them. And with her abilities, its Protection level is increased by half of its original value, putting on par with any normal plate and mail.

Interlude - Invicta

Jenny Hill slams the man she is holding into the wall. He cries out in pain before going limp as his body breaks against the wall.

Also known as Invicta, Jenny is an A Class parahuman and one of the Darkness’ Chosen, the elite of the relatively new Syndicate. While powerful, she only has two powers. But since those two powers are A+ nigh invulnerability and A+ regeneration, Jenny is effectively impossible to hurt and even harder to hurt for more than a second or two.

And to keep her well-rounded, Jenny is also a B+ Bellator. So while her figure is good and muscular, it isn’t as supernaturally brilliant as an Aphrodite. But she makes up for it with having her physical attributes at about roughly D Class.

Still I wouldn’t mind having a wondrous figure to show off in this gold and black spandex costume. Especially since Page has enchanted not to break or smell or otherwise go bad.

Invicta lets out a laugh as she tosses her brown locks behind her head. Her blue eyes glisten as she lets go of her victim, his broken body drops to the floor. While the gangster might still be alive, he won’t recover for several months if he even fully recovers at all.

So is the price for resisting her. He shouldn’t have tried to deny one of the Chosen if he didn’t want to get hurt. After all, who in their right mind would think they could take on Darkness and his Syndicate?

Oh yes, these pair of mid-level supervillains here in Seattle. What on Earth made them think they could get away with picking a fight with us?

So maybe that vigilante Gears up in Grand Rapids can. And so can the rest of his team. And the Fowler family.

The whole Chicago to Grand Rapids area is just weird when it comes to parahumans and such thinks. Thanks to Gears, Guardian and the other Guardsmen, Darkness has pulled the Syndicate out of that area.

And don’t get me started on the power levels over that. There is over twenty A Class parahumans up there. More A Class parahumans than several countries as a matter of fact. And the area hasn’t been levelled!

The Fowlers. Where do I even begin on the Fowler family? All, but two of them are parahumans with only one of those not being A Class. And that one is still B Class! Plus all of their boyfriends and girlfriends are A Class as well. Except for Leonard Geary, but he is £$%&ing Gears! The guy who beat Charles within an inch of his life. Hell, Charles only survived that night because Gears freaking let him.

Still, I do like the Fowler TV Show. Very interesting even if we don’t see enough of Joan. She is my favourite character. I really want to get to know her better. Which might be why she is my favourite. Bit of a circle there. That said, I don’t see how she won’t popping up more given the amount of high level parahumans in her life.

Invicta glances behind her. Forlock and Blackfire are holed up in a downtown office building with about ten henchmen, half of whom Invicta has already taken down. Not killed, but severely regretting their choice to pick Forlock and Blackfire over Darkness and his Syndicate.

In the future they should make the right choice or next time Darkness might send somebody not as disinclined to kill.

Jenny isn’t a killer. A criminal sure and a violent criminal definitely, but the major crimes like murder and other stuff on that level? No. Even if many of the people that she works would go to such lengths.

She was a career criminal as a teen, committing actions such as vandalism and repeatedly getting into fights. Not drinking and getting high. No way she would muck around with her body like that. But Jenny has always enjoyed a good fight.

And now at the age of twenty, she is a famous supervillainess.

Quite the jump in my criminal career. Even if I do maintain a secret identity. I can’t believe I got folks thinking that Jenny Hill has cleaned up her act.

Invicta kicks down the door into the next room and steps forward. She sighs in irritation as those on the other side open fire on her with their guns. While initially she still panicked when shot at and tried to avoid getting hit, in the five months since she got her powers, Invicta just ignores it when bullets come her way and has her costume altered so it is bulletproof.

There are two men and a woman, all armed with SMGs. Invicta moves forward, almost quicker than the human eye can track. She lunges at the woman and swings her fist into her chest. The woman staggers and cry out in pain as most of her ribs are broken.

As the woman collapses on the floor, Invicta turns to take on the other two. But as she does so, a blast of fire hits her in the back.

“About time you showed your face,” says Invicta as she turns to look at the extremely handsome and muscular man in a black suit, “Did you really think you could take on the Syndicate?”

Blackfire has red eyes and black hair and is a D Class Adonis. Which basically means he is good looking with only extremely minor benefits to his physical abilities. An Olympic athlete could outdo a D Class Adonis or Aphrodite when it comes to physical prowess.

“We aren’t just going to give in without a fight,” sneers Blackfire as he lobs more fireballs at Invicta.

I am so glad that Page enchanted my costume to be immune to the elements as well as bullets. I hated it when I would end up half-naked in a fight or even fully naked.

“You’re still going down,” snarls Invicta as she rushes Blackfire.

He panics and tries to get away, but Invicta is too fast for him. She grabs a hold of him and repeatedly smashes Blackfire into the wall until he is unconscious. And then again a few times just for good measure.

Invicta turns to take on the last two gunmen only to find they have fled the scene, causing her to chuckle.

At least they have some brains.

Invicta spares one last glance at the bloodied and battered Blackfire before going into the next room.

Inside it is filled with plants as a beautiful woman sits behind a desk in a green evening gown. Two women wearing body armour with assault rifles stand in front of her, their guns aimed at Invicta.

“Hello Miss Forlock,” says Invicta with a smile as she strides forward, “I’m here to give you the regards of Darkness and the Syndicate.”

Oh how I do enjoy a good fight.

Godslayer Interlude - First Battle of Hochhalde

Senior Soldier Zhing Tu Yulee of the Karris Monarchy jumps over the fallen tree and fires her bolt action rifle at the closest of the Hochhalden soldiers.

The male Kith, wearing the black and yellow armour of city’s defenders, topples over as the bullet pierces his chest armour, tearing through the metal.

With the enemy alerted to her presence, both Zhing and the forces of the Free City dart for cover even as more Karric soldiers arrive. Zhing hurriedly crouches behind a boulder.

With reinforcements arriving, Zhing stands upright and aims her at one of the two remaining Hochhalden soldiers. She pulls the trigger and ducks back down behind the boulder even as the fallen Hochhalden soldier falls backwards with a bleeding hole in head.

The last Hochhalden soldier, a burly and robust looking fellow, isn’t going down without a fight and aims his black powder musket at one of the other two Karric soldiers with Zhing.

The ball of metal strikes the young Kith soldier in the upper right shoulder, not quite piercing the armour and instead lodging itself in both the flesh of the shoulder and the metal of the shoulder plate.

As the Karric soldier cries out in pain and drops to his knees, clutching his shoulder. Now reloaded, Zhing and the other Karric soldier both open fire on the final Hochhalden. But both of them miss as the man rolls to the side, casting aside his weapon and he snatches up the unused weapon of one of his fallen comrades.

Even as Zhing hurries to reload, she can only watch helplessly as the Hochhalden fires his new black power musket at Zhing’s fellow soldier. The Kith girl doesn’t stand a chance as the metal ball strikes her in the forehead.

Her eyes are wide with shock as her head jerks back from the impact and Zhing stares as she falls backwards, her bolt action rifle falling to the ground.

With an angry growl, Zhing charges at the Hochhalden savage, using three hands to hold her bolt action rifle steady while her lower left hand draws a sword. But the Hochhalden moves faster than Zhing would have expected from a brute like him.

He smacks Zhing’s rifle off to the side as she pulls the trigger, causing it to miss. He grabs her by the throat and grips her lower left wrist, squeezing it so she drops her blade. As she begins to panic, a bullet flies past her and strikes the man in the left of his chest.

As blood pools around wound, the Hochhalden barbarian leads out a cry of anger and pain.

“1Mollis3!” roars the brute as he throws Zhing through the air.

Zhing slams into the boulder. Her back and head spike with pain as she falls to the ground, slumping against the boulder. Dazed and in pain, Zhing staggers to her feet and stumbles forward as she hears more gunshots and cries of pain.

Zhing glances towards the sounds of battle and see the Hochhalden soldier amongst another group of Karric soldiers. Two are already on the ground, moving, while another pair are fighting in melee combat with the Hochhalden.

Wielding two falchions, the Hochhalden soldier cuts off the arm of one of his opponent with one fell swipe. As the other Karric tries to aim her musket at the Hochhalden monster, he spins around, ramming one of his blades into her gut.

As the Karric soldier gasps in pain, dropping her musket, the Hochhalden uses his other falchion to stab her through the eye. With the Kith slain, the barbarian turns back around and slashes open the throat of the three-armed Kith.

Drawing one of her two remaining blades, Zhing charges at the Hochhalden soldier. With how strong and dangerous he is, Zhing doesn’t believe that she can actually beat him, but she needs to try anyway. She can’t just let him get away after what he has done.

The Hochhalden turns to face her as Zhing closes with him, a madden smile on his face as he readies his bloody blades.

But neither of them gets the chance to attack the other as a shell comes down between, blowing them both away.

Zhing is sent flying backwards through the air and lands with a painful thump as she hits the ground, unable to feel her legs.

In howling agony and barely keeping conscious, Zhing stares at where the Hochhalden soldier has landed, her vision flickering with the blackness that is threatening to overcome her.

The monster has lost his left leg and his lower left arm lies mangled and bloodied at his side. Zhing hears the crack of several bolt action rifles firing and several hit the Hochhalden brute, but he just unleashes a feral laugh and throws both of his falchions at the Karric forces.

While Zhing can’t see the results, she can hear two separate cries of pain. Another explosion goes off as another artillery shell hits the Hochhalden soldier and a second volley of rifle fire is unleashed upon the brute.

Zhing doesn’t get to see what happens next as unconsciousness finally overtakes her.

1.12 Virtual Part 8

“-safe right?” says Glowbug as she appears in Legacy’s cyber world apartment.

“Nic,” says Legacy as she strides towards her, causing Glowbug to snap her head around to look at her.

“Legacy!” exclaims Glowbug as she stumble and collapses in Legacy’s direction, “Urrgh, what happened?”

“You tell me,” says Legacy as she looks onward in amusement as Nicola gets to her feet.

Nicola isn’t wearing her costume, but rather a purple tank top showing her midriff and a pair of skinny jeans. Legacy is sticking to her power armour even if she has removed her helmet so Nicola can see her face.

“I was trying to fly, but my power didn’t work,” says Nicola as she strides towards Legacy, “Actually my power isn’t working at all. Could you explain why?”

“Your powers don’t work here unless Ceta or I let them,” explains Legacy as Nicola reaches her, “Would you like me to let you use your power?”

“Oh yes,” says Nicola as she and Legacy look each other in the eye.

Legacy notes that she and Nicola are almost the same height with the Aphrodite girl having only an inch on Legacy before Nicola kisses her on the lips.

Unsure on the proper way to respond, Legacy decides to simply not resisting. After a second, Nicola breaks away with a large grin on her face.

“It has been too long since we last saw each other,” says Nicola as her eyes swell with tears, “I thought you were dead until Gears told us otherwise. We all did.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get here?” asks Legacy, “I’m curious.”

“Oh, Gears invited Charlotte and I into your base so we could use two of those virtual reality helmets to visit you,” answers Nicola, “She is waiting so I can spend some time with you alone first. Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

“Not at all,” replies Legacy.

“How do you feel about us dating?” asks Nicola nervously, “Do you still want to be my girlfriend?”

The question angers Legacy.

What sort of person does she think I am? Does she really think I would just abandon her without cause?

“How you even ask that?” demands Legacy, “Do really think so lowly of me?”

“What-no!” Nicola replies hastily, “I just-I wasn’t-I’m sorry?”

Legacy grunts.

“Do you think I lack honour and would just betray you the moment we spent some time apart?” demands Legacy, some of her anger going away, “Before we even got to have a date with each other?”

“No, I didn’t,” answers Nicola, “But I had to know for certain. Speaking of that date…”

“I already have plans for it,” answers Legacy as she thinks of the virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game or VRMMORPG that she and the others are making, “Just give me a couple of days to finish a project I’m working on.”

“Oh?” inquires Nicola.

“It involves the virtual reality helmets, but I won’t spoil more than that,” replies Legacy mischievously.

“I’ll be waiting,” replies Nicola with a smile and equally mischievously tone, “So what do we do now?”

“We can hang out,” says Legacy, “I have full control here. We could play some games together or watch a movie.”

“Playing games sounds good,” replies Nicola, “I would prefer something cooperative.”

“What sort of game would you like?” asks Legacy.

“First person shooter,” replies Nicola, “A fun one with good plot and gameplay.”

“I’ll find something,” says Legacy.

“Can I ask you something?” says Nicola.

“You don’t need to ask permission to ask questions,” replies Legacy as she walks towards the couch and TV screen wall that Joan and Jaylyn placed.

“When you say you control everything here, does that include outfits?” asks Nicola, “As while your armour suits you, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind wearing something not so concealing of your body.”

“It does,” answers Legacy as she begins browse through the stored games, “Tell you what, I’ll let you pick my outfit if you let pick yours.”

“Deal,” says Nicola, “So how do I do that?”

“Just think about what you want me to wear and it will replace my current outfit,” explains Legacy, “Like this.”

Focusing on Nicola, Legacy replaces her outfit with a set of black and yellow power armour. The armour consists of a black undersuit with smooth black and yellow plates of armour on top.

Despite her preferences for practicality, Legacy still has to account for Nicola’s Aphrodite body, resulting it being rather form fitting with bulges in the breastplate to allow Nicola the ability to breath properly.

The helmet is also not as function as Legacy would have hers with room for Nicola’s long hair to flow out the back and sides. The black helmet doesn’t cover Nicola’s face except for a yellow visor that only conceals her face from the nose upwards.

“Power armour?” says Nicola as she looks at herself, “Seriously?”

“I like power armour,” replies Legacy.

“Well then, I’ll just pick something I would like to see you in,” replies Nicola with another mischievous grin that makes Legacy feel slightly nervous.

Legacy waits for a moment before her armour is replaced with a pink bikini. She blushes as she realises exactly how little she is wearing.

“Umm, Nic,” says Legacy, “I don’t feel comfortable wearing this.”

“Oh, sorry,” replies Nicola, “Give me a moment to change it. How does a green mini dress sound?”

“Better than this,” replies Legacy and a tight, formfitting green mini dress with two thin straps over her shoulders appears over the bikini, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” says Nicola as she gives Legacy a playful slap on the butt, causing her to yelp in surprise, “Now we have established what the other likes to wear, let’s get to playing that game.”

1.12 Virtual Part 7

You can just take control of my body?

Of course I can using the nanobots.

No-no-no! I was really looking forward to not having to worry about people taking control of my body.

I won’t except to special cases like that.

How was that a special case?

I was reassuring Leo that we would take care of you.

I guess…

We won’t control your body unless it is a special case, an emergency or you ask us to.

And we can’t even control your mind.

Are you sure?

Doing so would be dishonourable so I didn’t include it.

Okay. Is it wrong that I would much rather have you two in my head than Abby and Divine Magicka?

No. While Abigail is your family, Legacy and I are both honourable and experienced in these sorts of things.

Makes sense.

Speaking of Abigail, perhaps you should explain things to your sister. You left uninformed about the situation when Leo came in.

I suppose I ought to answer her questions.

It would be the right thing to do.

Abby?

Joan?

I should probably explain some things to you.

You think!

Umm, here it goes.

Using their mental link, Joan explains to Abby about what has happened from Ceta’s cyber world where Legacy has been residing to visiting her there to Ceta taking control of her nanobots to the fact Ceta limited Abby’s ability to control her.

And now I got both Legacy and Ceta in my head due to them being in the nanobots.

That is…an interesting tale.

I know right?

You don’t trust me?

I do, but you just use your power without realising. I honestly don’t care when you do, but I just hate it you control me without my permission.

I’m sorry.

I know you don’t mean to hurt my feelings, but I just-it makes me feel helpless again and I hate feeling that way.

Too much like when you were confined to that hospital bed?

Yeah.

May I come in and meet Ceta?

Sure.

Joan lets Abby in and blinks her as her mental scrape takes form again. She looks around as Abby glomps her, sweeping her off the ground

“Hey sis,” says Joan as she dangles from Abby’s hold.

“Hello Joan,” replies Abby, “Sorry about how I’ve been treating you. I didn’t realise you felt so strongly about it.”

“It is just that single thing about controlling me against my will,” says Joan, “The rest of it I don’t mind. You can put me down now by the way.”

“Oh right,” says Abby as she puts Joan down, “So where is Ceta?”

“Here,” answers the AI as she appears next to Joan in her bright green armour.

“Hello Miss Ceta,” says Abby, “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“The feeling is mutual,” replies Ceta, “Shall we discuss matters?”

“I would like to do that,” replies Abby.

“Well, if you two are going to discuss boring stuff, I’m going to do something else,” says Joan as she walks off.

Heh. If somebody told me that my mind was going to be full of as many people as it has been six months, I would have thought them crazy.

“What are you laughing about?” asks Legacy as Joan giggles.

“I’m thinking about how nobody would even consider any of this possible last year or any time before that,” replies Joan, “What are you doing?”

“I was listening on those two,” replies Legacy indicating where Ceta and Abby are talking, “But I decided to see how you were doing.”

“You don’t have to do that,” points out Joan.

“Yes, I do,” disagrees Legacy, “I promised Leo that I would take good care of you.”

“Yeah, I guess you did,” mutters Joan, deciding not to argue the matter with her alien best friend, “You’re taking that promise pretty seriously.”

“Why wouldn’t I take it seriously?” asks Legacy in a confused tone, causing Joan to laugh.

“Not many people do,” explains Joan, “Here on Earth, we’re not as serious about keeping those sorts of promises. Either token efforts or taking seriously when something serious happens.”

“I’m not that sort of person,” answers Legacy.

“I know and neither is Leo,” replies Joan, “One of the reasons I love him so much and I like you so much. I also want to be the sort of person who takes their promises seriously.”

“It is pretty easy to do so,” points out Legacy.

“For you and Leo sure, but not for people like me,” replies Joan, “You two both wield power while I don’t. Both of you are fighters while I’m not. Hang on a minute, I got an idea.”

“What is that?” inquires Legacy.

“We got virtual reality helmets right?” says Joan, “You and Leo are both genius inventors while Jaylyn and Ceta are super powerful AIs. Between the four of you, you could invent an absolutely brilliant virtual reality game. A proper one virtual reality game.”

“That we could,” says Ceta from behind Joan, causing her to jump.

“What are you doing here?” glares Joan, “Aren’t you talking to Abby?”

“I can multitask,” answers Ceta, “I am an AI after all. As for your question, it would be easy to create a virtual reality game.”

“What sort of game would you like?” asks Legacy.

“A Fantasy RPG!” exclaims Joan, “With multiplayer so we can play with our friends and other people!”

“That is doable,” says Ceta as Joan beams at her.