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27 - Corruption
🕑 Added 2024-07-27 14:27:29 +0000 UTCVanda dropped the controller onto the ground as Energiser jumped onto it. Like a wild animal, it began to tear the piece apart, pressing any small piece it could onto its body. Wires and screws and even plastic. All of it was fused into its body in one way or another. However, as it did so, Ryan was able to grab it in the midst of its attempts.
He wrapped his hands around it and tried to keep it tied down, but his palm was quickly cut up by the sharp edges of metal and plastic that were covering it now.
"Fucking-" Ryan clicked his tongue, trying to persist through the pain. But the cuts weren't all; Energiser was also strong, far stronger than anything of this size should be. Rather, the only thing that Ryan could think of that had similar strength at that size was Maximus. Gaia's fragmented core seemed to be somehow reacting to this false 'body' that had been created for it.
He ended up dropping Energiser, but Maximus was already waiting down below. He caught the robot, holding onto the grooves of its body and quickly slammed it onto the the ground. For a little while, Maximus was successful at restraining Energiser, but Ryan was able to see something that he really, really didn't like. The formerly bright green, now dark enough to be called black, threads of mana were wrapping around Maximus. Ryan had a bad feeling; and it was quickly confirmed.
[A corrupting force is encroaching on Maximus]
Without hesitation, Ryan forcefully pulled Maximus into his domain, scanning the spirit's mana with his gaze. Some wisps of Maximus' mana were dyed black, but as they touched Ryan's skin, it was like a layer of oil or tar was scraped off. He could feel the corruption laying on his skin, like a living scab attempting to dig into his skin. But before he could even swat it away, it fell apart and disappeared, unable to live on without something to cling onto.
Ryan had managed to save Maximus from the corruption, but at the same time, this led to Energiser being freed again. The 'possessed' robot jumped up and immediately started running back around the room. None of the club members were able to catch it, no matter what they did; it was like trying to catch a mouse, but the mouse had sharp edges all over its body and the capabilities to break their hands with ease. Ryan couldn't blame any of them from rather running away instead of actually attempting to catch it for more than a few moments.
"Ryan, what's happening?" Modak asked with deep confusion and concern. He was squatting down next to Richie, trying to help him out as he recovered from that pain.
"I don't- Something is corrupting Gaia's fragment, and now it's going wild! It's trying to add anything it can to its body and grow stronger," Ryan warned the others.
Richie, hearing what Ryan was saying but not understanding, glanced over to him. His eyes were completely bloodshot, "What do you mean…? What... fragment?" he forced out, and Ryan looked over toward Vanda with some hesitation.
"The 'crystal' Vanda used as a battery is the fragment of a Spirit Core, and now something is trying to corrupt the part of the Spirit left inside of it," he explained, though that was really all that he could tell them. He had no idea why this was happening, or what was corrupting Gaia. That didn't seem like the kind of thing that could just happen from being used as a power source. There was something else that was affecting Gaia, Ryan was sure of it.
Richie stared over at Vanda, who was now hearing about this for the first time as well, "What... what do you mean, 'Spirit Core', that's not... That's not what it is!"
With a deep glare directed at the girl, something that came involuntarily, Ryan barked out, "Yes it is!"
It wasn't like he was mad at Vanda directly, she was just the only one that he could be angry at right now. It wasn't like he knew who was actually behind this; and frankly, he wasn't totally convinced that Vanda was actually innocent here.
"I'll try to control it again, I just-" Richie pushed himself off the ground, reaching his hand out toward Energiser as he started ripping into the case of one of the old computers stacked up in the corner of the room.
"No! The corruption was trying to take you over too, I have no idea what that's going to do to you," Ryan stopped him, pushing the gnome's hand down again, "Even Maximus was about to be taken over. I think I know a way to stop this, but we need to somehow get to the fragment."
"Can't you do that domain thing? Pull the fragment in? I thought you just need to be close enough!" Silvia suggested, but Ryan immediately shook his head.
"No, I tried earlier, and it didn't work. I think all the mechanisms are keeping it locked in somehow, it's not responding," he pointed out, turning back to the rampaging Energiser.
By now, it had climbed inside the computer's case and was pulling apart the broken electronics, making them part of its own body. Before long, it climbed out of the case again, larger and clearly stronger than before. It was now barely recognizable as the robot that it started out as; instead, it seemed to just be a mass of wires and metal and plastic in the shape of what it used to be. And from Ryan's perspective, the whole thing was kept together by threads of Gaia's corrupted mana.
Ryan looked down at his hands; they were cut-up and covered in blood. None of them were particularly deep, and they should heal quickly enough, but it was painful and annoying. And more importantly, it meant that Ryan wouldn't be able to do this bare-handed. He walked over to one of the nearby podiums; they were quite simple. Metal bars holding up angled wooden boards. It was really quite wonky. It was easy enough for Ryan to kick away the thin cross-beams that were keeping it at least somewhat stable.
Ryan handed Silvia the tablet that was on the podium. She saw the blood that was on it but wasn't able to stop him before Ryan picked up the podium, carefully approaching Energiser.
It was still running around, now hanging onto one of the monitors. It practically shoved its hand through the screen as if it were some thin fabric just waiting to break. The sharp shards of glass were also being fused into its body, making it even more impossible to grab it. But Ryan didn't hesitate to push the podium right against the robot. The monitor completely broke, and its stand fell over with Energiser still on it. Ryan pressed down on it, using his full weight to try and break it.
But instead of Energiser breaking, the podium's wooden top cracked apart, and the robot grabbed the podium's wooden legs. Its hand fused into the metal, starting to absorb it into itself.
With a click of his tongue, Ryan pulled away the metal bar that now had Energiser stuck to it, "Fucking idiot," he groaned, proceeding to slam the robot into the ground like a hammer. This time, pieces that it had only just connected to it were flung off. One was shot up at Ryan, scratching his cheek. Just a little higher and it could have hit his eye.
Ryan kept going, until suddenly the weight of Energiser seemed to mostly disappear. It had grown to weigh a few kilos at that point, so Ryan noticed it before he saw or heard it be thrown around the room and hit the wall. It seemed like its arm had been torn off and said arm was still attached to the end of the metal bar, in the midst of trying to absorb it. Not only that, but it was still wriggling around, and Ryan could see the threads of mana wriggle like worms trying to crawl out of the detached limb. Ryan placed his hand in front of it, pulling the escaping mana into Gaia's domain. The mana was properly pulled inside, while the 'corruption' stuck to his bloodied palm. And this practically confirmed it for Ryan.
This corruption couldn't do anything to him, at least not like this. It was like Ryan's body rejected it. He didn't know why, but that didn't matter right now. The important part was that this meant he could still save Gaia's fragment from this. He just had to get to the core, and the more he hesitated or waited, the harder that was going to get.
The room was filled with complete panic. The club members were picking up their Duellists, trying to save them before they were torn apart, like some of the others already had been. And then, they ran out of the room, not even thinking about what they were doing.
"Wait, no, stay in here!" Ryan yelled out, "Keep the fucking door closed!"
Taking the opportunity that was given to it, Energiser ran out of the room. It could clearly tell that it was going to be in danger if it didn't run away. This was different to the dungeon. Of course, in both cases, the fragment was being protected. In the dungeon it was done by a monster, but here, it was done by the body around the fragment itself. Instead of counter attacking Ryan, which it could tell would lead to a loss, Energiser fled. Or at least, for now.
This was the Engineering building; this place was stock-full with numerous computers and technologies that the robot could absorb into itself. And as it did so, it would get stronger. Without hesitation, Ryan ran outside and chased the rogue machine down the hallway, ignoring Silvia and Modak as they tried to yell after him. But he couldn't pay attention to that right now, he had to hurry. In his hand, Ryan was still holding the metal bar with Energiser's arm basically fused to its end.
And then, Ryan saw the robot enter a door at the end of the hallway and could feel his heart almost skip a beat. It seemed to be just a storage room... but a storage room in this building meant that it was filled with the exact things that Energiser needed. Ryan pulled open the door and immediately spotted the metal cabinet across the fairly small room. Its thin door was crumpling up as the metal was pulled into Energiser's body. Beyond it were a number of power tools. Ryan swung the improvised weapon in his hand down at the robot, but it barely made it budge. It released its grasp from the metal door, already having pulled a fair chunk off it that was now covering half of its body like an armour.
Energiser tried to jump into the pile of laptops and computers stacked up in the corner of the room, but Ryan stabbed the metal bar forward, hitting it out of the air. He was about to once more swing down at the Energiser, but before he could, someone pulled on his arm from behind.
"Don't! You can't break it any more!" Vanda was pulling Ryan back, tearing at his jacket and almost making him fall backward.
"What the hell are you doing? Get off me!" Ryan yelled out, as the hobgoblin flinched upon seeing his expression.
"You can't... if you break it, you'll ruin everything, you'll... I..." tears welled up in Vanda's eyes, as Modak quickly grabbed her and pulled her away from Ryan.
The Orc looked her in the eyes, trying to explain the gravity of the situation, "No! If he doesn't do this, then that thing is going to keep rampaging!"
"B-But just... why can't he just not break it?! Just take out the core and-" she pleaded loudly, and for a moment, even Ryan was hesitating, remembering what Richie had explained to them; the event tomorrow was something that could potentially change the lives of the club members if things went well. Ryan didn't know her situation, but Vanda must have put a lot of pressure onto tomorrow. He understood it, and he could feel her pain, but he couldn't let that dictate what Ryan was going to do.
"...I'm sorry," he responded, trying to tune out Vanda's yells and screams as Modak and Silvia were pulling her away. Ryan looked back inside the room, and was met with a horrible sight. All the electronics were covered in thin, tangled threads of dark mana. They crumpled and tore and were all pulled to a specific spot in the corner of the room.
Ryan stabbed the metal bar in his hand at that spot to try and open up a way, but it didn't work; that mass of metal and plastic and glass was too dense for him to get through. The crunch of the materials was so loud that Ryan could barely hear himself think, until it all went quiet.
Ryan backed out of the room as the large mass revealed itself. He had no idea what happened, but something made Gaia's mana spread so much faster than before, and now, Ryan was looking into the face of a 2-metre tall mass of electronics that had been completely torn apart. Gaia's core was deep inside that figure. More and more, the idea of safely recovering the fragment from inside the original robot seemed impossible.
The mass stepped out of the room, clearly not feeling the need to flee from Ryan any more. It stretched out its hand toward him, pushing a mountain of sharp edges toward his face. However, it still only had one arm; it hadn't been able to rebuild its limb from scratch. All it could do was build on top of an existing base.
Trying to be as fast as he could, Ryan pulled his jacket off, holding it in front of him while carefully backing off. Luckily, it seemed that, while capable of making use of the abilities that Vanda had given its body, essentially making it a sharpened, metallic Enhancer, the way that it moved and acted was fully on instinct. It didn't think about the best tactic or try to figure out what Ryan was doing. So, before long, the robot jumped at him to try and tear him apart.
Ryan threw his jacket over its arm and tried to push against it; it didn't work, due to the sheer weight of the thing he was trying to grapple. But that was fine; Ryan grabbed the jacket's sleeves and tied its arm up as well as he could. At least this way it couldn't punch him any more, which was a pretty good improvement from Ryan's point of view. Now, he was dodging back and forth, sometimes getting hit by the rapid attacks, but at least he didn't get cut up and would only end up with some bruises here and there.
All he was doing right now was wait something out, and before long, that moment came to be. The Spirit Link skill's cooldown had ended.
Ryan stared at the figure in front of him, trying to focus on the mass within its very centre. Like when he linked with Maximus, he tried to find some kind of spark to hang onto. Amidst the corrupted mana, there were some threads here and there that were still glistering in Gaia's original vibrant green. They were growing fewer and further between by the moment, but right now, Gaia was still in there.
From within Ryan, threads of that original mana appeared, climbing toward Gaia's fragment and piercing through that mass of metal and plastic, as Ryan connected not only with the fragment in front of him, but the one still within the domain in his mind as well.
