meakashi
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Chapter 89 - Future Proofing
🕑 Added 2017-12-25 10:13:18 +0000 UTC"[Everyone ready for takeoff?]" I ask through my avatar.
Everyone is gathered on the bridge - or rather communal area - of the Chaos Carrier and looking at me in anticipation. We left Anutawa shortly after finishing our big lunch together and traveled a distance away from the city. Since this form is massive, even bigger than the Godslayer Cannon, we had to go off-road and find some open space out of view, where I could prepare without causing any problems.
They nod in agreement as they brace themselves each in their own ways, so I begin to pump hot air into the balloon. Feeling my landing gear leave the ground, I retract them and apply wind magic to the boosters on the sides of the gondola, to facilitate a faster takeoff. Within moments, we've ascended to a height from which a drop would be fatal for a human.
I see Mereana stiffen up as she watches the landscape through the large frontal window recede below us. She should start to get used to this sight, since we most likely won't land again until we reach the capital, unless something critical happens along the way. And by critical, I mean a god coming to intercept us or someone getting sick during the journey.
We soon reach cruising altitude - an altitude where arrows won't reach us from the ground -and I turn to the red-haired woman to ask for directions.
"[Wait... where's Tahiri?]" Korenga suddenly asks and looks around.
"[You're right, where is she?]" Awhina and the others follow suit.
... damn, I completely forgot about her. We never actually agreed on a meeting time, so who knows how long she'll stay around in Aoranam village to get some more Oripiaw. I don't actually feel like waiting for her, but she's an integral member of our forces, when she chooses to become serious about fighting. And considering our last enemy, any help is appreciated.
"[Where did she go in the first place?]" Tokomaha asks and I glance at her with a frown. So she wasn't even listening during anything we said as we split up.
"[She went back to Aoranam to fill up on Oripiaw.]" Uten and Saten respond in my stead. I noticed only today that they seem to be getting along with the petite goddess rather well. Maybe because she was the first female experience they had as males - even though they were only her clones. Although I guess it's more likely because their mental ages are so similar, even if the latter should be far older.
Bringing my palm up to my face, I breathe a long sigh.
What do we do now? We could return to Anutawa and wait for Tahiri there, but I'd rather not do that. Considering she could just decide to stay in Aoranam for a day or two - or much longer than that - we would be wasting our time and risking more side quests popping up. I seem to attract a lot of those. And she's the God of Storm after all, an existence as fickle as the weather on an April day. So it wouldn't be surprising if she actually doesn't return for several more days.
"[It's alright, she'll catch up to us.]" I'm going out on a limb and guessing that she knows where I am due to our still outstanding challenge. At least I'm assuming that she somehow marked me as someone who issued a challenge to her but whom she has yet to kill, even though I don't think she'll go through with it anymore at this point.
Angling the boosters horizontally to propel us forward, I begin to fly in the direction Mereana pointed out to me. Since Anutawa was at the base of the pass between the Erua twin mountains, we still have to fly over that stretch of land before we can see the Nukumania plains. But considering my cruising speed in this form, we'll be over it long before the sun touches the horizon.
While it's not as fast as the dragon form and not even comparable to the Chaos Warhead Mode, it's certainly faster than traveling on land. A journey of two weeks should be over in just a few days instead, especially when I can fly through the night unhindered and don't have to make any stops for rest, as we would have to do, if we were going on horseback.
We're getting closer to our destination by the hour.
The Nukumania plains are a massive expanse of open steppe and grassland that stretches to the horizon. There are very few hills and not a single mountain can be seen in the distance. Calling it a sea of grass would not be wrong, as the winds create rolling motions that move through the blanket of green like waves.
The sight takes away my breath. As someone who grew up in Japan and never left the country, seeing a place that might as well be as big as the entirety of my homeland composed solely of open plains leaves me speechless. Of course, vision only goes so far and in reality this might be much smaller than I think it is, but from up here, nothing seems to be able to detract from the view.
According to Mereana, this will continue on for a journey that would normally take twelve days on horseback, before we come across the huge Maheranui river, beyond which Kairaki stands. There are some cities that live from the bounty of the land along the way, but none can measure up to the capital, which is fed by the largest river on this continent. Apparently it has a population of over a million and a half, which is quite incredible for a nation that seems much less developed than any of the others I've been in so far in this world.
I think this may tie into the savanna in which I was dropped off by Mithra when I first came here. I don't know what direction I traveled in to get to Awhina's village, but the large herds of buffalo-like animals I see below are the same as the ones I ate in huge masses back then. I guess it stretches across the entire continent and this part here is really far away from the place where I practically eradicated all life. And considering nobody seems to know about it, it must mean that it was far outside the borders of this nation, too.
The journey itself is quiet and peaceful. Mereana and Awhina have opted to stay on the bridge, where the former would look at the landscape from time to time, to make sure we're still on the right course. The latter seems to be asking for more stories of the kingdom and wants to know more about the capital that we're heading towards.
Korenga and Tokomaha seem to be talking about all sorts of things in the former's room, and I don't feel like joining them right now. They seem to have gotten pretty close after the big lunch they had together, but I assume it's because they're both gods and have lived for a long time. I'm sure they have a lot of stories to share.
Uten and Saten sometimes go to fly outside to feel the breeze and freedom of the sky, or swoop down and catch some of the animals from the herds that dot the landscape. Some end up in the cargo hold while still alive, to add to the provisions; others disappear into their insatiable stomachs immediately. I think that if Tahiri hasn't returned by tonight and after everyone else has gone to sleep, I'll ask them to show me their full sizes.
I retract my avatar and turn my consciousness into the entirety of the ship soon after everyone settles into their own little worlds aboard the Chaos Carrier. Feeling the sun and wind on my surface, I take in my surroundings through senses I could have never imagined existed while I was still a human.
Sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch; hunger, thirst, pleasure and pain; vibrations, heat, and balance - they are all human senses. I can shut off several of them, either because I will them to, or because of an automatic physical response to overstimulation. But there are other senses I can't properly categorize, since they are ones humans don't have and can't develop no matter what they do.
I can sense life all around me. At one point I had to make a conscious effort to do it and would get overloaded by feeling even microorganisms in the air and the soil. Nowadays, there's something like a filter which allows me to decide how big the life forms have to be before I can sense them on my internal radar. Usually, it's no smaller than a house cat, so that I don't have to feel entire rodent families hiding underground or flocks of birds perching in trees.
Then there's the sense that allows me to have perfect control over everything I do with my body, which a human could never achieve. Not only can I feel every part of myself and know exactly where every appendage is perfectly, but I can actually sense every single particle that makes them up. But at the same time, it's something I only get conscious of when I transform, which also makes it so easy for me to quickly change my shape on the fly solely through imagining what I want to turn into.
Remembering the first time I woke up and looked in the mirror, I smile internally. Back then, I still had to hold back a scream when I saw what looked back at me - even though that face had no eyes. It's something I haven't been able to grasp properly, yet; I could see without eyes, and I can still do so when I take on forms that have no eyes. But at the same time, I still require them when I take on the form of living beings through their genetic templates.
The same is true now, in my Chaos Carrier form. I can see all around me, not just horizontally, but vertically, too. Even with such an alien sensation, my mind isn't overloaded and I can easily make out all the details. It was the same with the Godslayer Cannon, or when I turn into an amorphous blob while expanding to swallow a lot of things around me at the same time. It should be strange to be able to see in front and behind you at the same time, but it simply doesn't feel wrong.
On one side, I see Uten and Saten flying in loli Hestia forms and playing catch with each other. On the other side, I see a group of birds turning away from me when they notice what I am. Below me is the grassy plains and a herd scattering as they run away in fear. Above is the vast expanse of the sky, featuring few clouds and an endless blue canopy that stretches in all directions. In my back is the mountain range from which we just emerged, the twin peaks of Erua and the valley between them.
To the front lies the convergence of blue and green, the horizon towards which we're traveling. And beyond that, our final destination on this journey, where we will find a battle to the death, or an all-out war of cataclysmic proportions.
"Show me your full size." I speak through the avatar standing on the plains below the Chaos Carrier, which I parked around a hundred meters in midair. I have more than enough matter to create a long umbilical cord that can reach all the way to the ground, which is attached to the head of the avatar like the bait of a certain demonic anglerfish-toad hybrid. Well, in this case I would resemble a blowfish more, but that's beside the point.
Uten and Saten are standing before me in the forms I first met them in, looking nervous. They must be afraid to show it, since I'm sure they already experienced the same loss of sanity points I did when I looked in the mirror after that fateful first awakening. In their case, it must have been when they first gained a consciousness and became aware of their surroundings, only to see each other in their real forms.
The others on the ship are either sleeping or cooped up in their own rooms. Leaving aside the issue with Korenga, who falls into oblivion every night anyway, Awhina and Mereana have gone to bed already, and Tokomaha is resting since she has nothing better to do. Nobody will disturb us, unless Tahiri suddenly decides to come back at this time.
"Um, I don't think we should do this here?" Their eyes are swimming all over the place as they try to find excuses so they can avoid doing it.
"Nobody is around to see you." Sighing, I pet their heads with my avatar. I've made sure that the only life forms I can feel with my Chaos senses are the ones aboard the Chaos Carrier and maybe a few smaller animals in the vicinity. "I just want to gauge your power."
For a Crawling Chaos, size is the most important feature, followed by creativity and then access to templates. I survived the Dark Continent with only a human template, because I had knowledge from my previous life and could use my innate transforming abilities creatively. Later I gained templates that have allowed me to stand toe to toe with beings considered gods in this world.
The twins look up and exchange a glance with worried expressions. Maybe they're self-conscious about the blob-like appearances we take on when expanding fully? Or is their true humanoid form just that horrifying?
"Don't worry, you can use all the mass you have to turn into giants. Like this." Pumping some of the mass I have left over from transforming into the Chaos Carrier through the umbilical cord and into the avatar, I grow it in size to about what I had when I fought at the academy, before I was thrown to the moon. Just in case something happens and the cord gets cut, I'm keeping more than half inside the carrier, since that one is the more important part. Uten and Saten are tiny in comparison, as they put their heads back to look up at me. "Now you do the same."
Finally, Saten is the first to gather his resolve and he begins growing. I can see that he doesn't have the same level of imagination that I have, since he can't picture himself turning into a giant at an even rate. Different parts of his body grow larger at different speeds, but he eventually manages to reach a height that surpasses mine by a bit.
Uten follows suit and also begins to expand, and before long, the two giant twins stand before me. I think if I were to use all my mass, our ratio would be about the same as when we're all at our human heights, though at this size, it would translate to more than twice their mass. In other words, they've eaten a lot and gathered a huge amount of mass, without ever losing any like I did due to battles. But my time completely disregarding nature and eating all life that I could find still shows.
I think it's time for me to give them my templates, including the dragon one. Last time they couldn't participate in the battle at all because it was all fire and lava, which they could never survive without the dragon template that I had. I mean, if I didn't have it at the time, I would have simply run away. After all, I have a trauma of getting almost my whole body burned away by an explosion of fire.
Shrinking myself back to human size, I gesture for the two of them to do the same.
"Alright, I'll be giving you injections." Not in the sexual sense. I wouldn't mind doing it with them again, though they did tell me that they don't like taking on female forms - just like how I dislike taking on a male one. But this is an important matter so I want them to be concentrating on it, since I have to teach them their limits and limitations, once they receive the templates.
"What do you mean, injections?" They look up at me with a hint of fear in their eyes. Really, I don't think there are needles in this world - least of all in this scientifically backwater nation - so where could they have picked up that aversion to the concept of injections?
"I'm going to give you some very important templates. They will make you much more powerful and resilient, and they will allow you to join battles like the one against Felgar." Not going to mention Roamukao, since that one's still out of their league.
He was actually out of my league, too. If it wasn't for the combined firepower of Tahiri and me, as well as Korenga's sheer indestructible body, which allowed for the crazy plan I came up with to succeed, I wouldn't have been able to do anything myself. Three of me would most likely not have made that much of a difference at the time, either.
With this, I turn the index fingers of my hands into something like syringes, into which I first load the genetic material of the Vularen - most specifically in the form of a solution consisting of stem cells. Of course, I don't intend to actually pierce their skins and inject them with it, and instead make them open their mouths. The syringes are more like those you see being used in animal shelters to feed newborn orphaned animals with.
"Now, what do you see?" I ask them after they swallow the loads and absorb them. A Crawling Chaos is able to perfectly visualize appearances solely based on the templates they have ingested, so the twins should have no trouble turning into Vularen immediately.
As they do.
Standing before me are two specimen of the first enemies I encountered, and the first living beings I killed with my own hands after coming to this world. It's a nostalgic feeling, looking into their fierce visages, since I haven't seen any of them ever since my short trip to the Dark Continent. I did turn myself into one quite often, but I never had the opportunity to see myself in a mirror.
They turn back into their human shapes and I begin to cycle through various templates, including humans and other animals that I've eaten. They might come in handy someday, even if only for infiltration or having fun, like I did with Hestia in the Mineva Republic while using various shapes and sizes. But I leave the most important template for last, since I need to make a point that it's something special.
"This is the last template, and for this one I need you to listen very carefully." Before I give it to them, I need them to know several things and make them promise me not to abuse it. They look at me with sparkling eyes, because they already know what it is. After all, they gained all other templates and are aware of which one in particular is missing. "It's a great power that comes with great responsibility. Not a responsibility to do good or anything like that, but one towards the people around you - most specifically towards me."
Listening intently and making sure to appear attentive, Uten and Saten are clearly eager to finally get it and start to play around with it. It's for that very reason that I'm giving them a lecture now.
"The dragon's plasma breath is incredibly destructive and very dangerous to all living beings, including others of our kind. Don't ever use it for playing around." I've lower myself onto their eye level and speak with a resolute gaze. Their smiles fade away at the realization that this is indeed very serious and a matter of utmost importance to me. "And don't ever fire it against each other. Identify your targets well, know who they are and be aware that you're not just taking their lives, but eradicating their bodies."
The plasma breath can melt rock and steel, so an organic body will be evaporated almost instantly. My theory in regards to why a dragon can shoot out such beams while their throats remain safe is that it's a form of magic, which they're incredibly resistant to. A magic unique to dragons, just like the magic-imbued shouts in a certain game where one has to slay them to acquire their powers.
"Promise me that you will use this power responsibly." That's all I can ask of them. If they wanted to abuse it, they could do it and I wouldn't really be able to stop them other than through force. And I don't want to be a parent who would beat her children. To me, that would speak of failure in parenting - failure to properly educate your children to listen to you.
"We promise." Uten and Saten speak in unison and nod with determination. Their faces show that they have understood what I'm telling them, and their excitement has taken a backseat to a mature comprehension of the matter. I'm sure they're feeling like grownups, now that I've shown that I trust them to be ready to take on this responsibility.
Finally, I give them the template. They immediately transform into copies of the dragon that I fought against to the death over the Mineva Republic, and from whom I gained this incredible power. It's testament to their will to honor the promise that they haven't instantly tested out the plasma breath by shooting somewhere into the air.
Turning back into their human forms, they look up at me with broad smiles, before jumping into my arms and embracing me. I give each of them a kiss on the forehead and gaze into their eyes with a smile of my own.
"Along this journey, I will teach you many things that you can do with those templates." I point up at the Chaos Carrier which appears to be moored onto my avatar through the umbilical cord. "Most of that is created using a dragon's materials. Before long, you'll learn how to do that, too."
Once again, their eyes begin to sparkle at the prospect. I think they're most likely looking forward to being able to take on the Chaos Warhead form much more than turning into an airship, but I think that's still far beyond their abilities at this point. For now, being able to form the dragon carapace to protect themselves from magic is the first step they need to take.
Thinking back, I wonder how things would have gone if Asoko had the dragon template. Would she have been able to save our mother? Could she even have helped her defeat the gods?
Clenching my first, I look in the direction of where Kairaki lies beyond the horizon. There's no point in thinking about what could have been. After taking down this self-proclaimed God King, I'll return with a vengeance and eradicate the sorcerers. Then I will ascend to the demon throne and see what can be done about the feud between humans and demons.
Relaxing my hand, I look down at my children. I would have never imagined it possible, but I can feel my maternal instincts flare up at the thought that out there are many who would want to bring harm to them solely for what they are. Now that they have the dragon armor, they will be able to protect themselves.
But I would like to see the fool who tries as long as I'm alive.
