A Chronometric Defect

That godsdamned heir. He thought one world-ending monster wasn't enough, so he went and made another! Yet again, we simply don't have the forces to get this accursed thing under control.

On the plus side, we've confirmed that merging two experiments damages the mind clamp. I'm not sure how we missed THAT in testing. Fat lot of good it does us now.

On the minus side? Oh, the minus side!

Where do I even begin?

We've confirmed it possesses substantial mental and physical prowess, just like the merger of experiments one and two. We've decided to call that monster by its own self-declared designation, Pure Evil.

As for this thing?

Oh no, mental stats and physical power weren't good enough for the heir. That's where the similarities between these two disasters begin and abruptly end.

Going back to Pure Evil for a moment, that creature seems to have magic abilities we can't measure. Every data point we find is swiftly surpassed by yet another, less comprehensible display of magical prowess.

We found out why when our contacts received reports of the dragon's activities in Tangerii. It can eat anything. Then, it grows larger from whatever it eats. The fact we still exist may be because it hasn't yet decided it wants to devour the whole damn planet.

Wonderful.

Even if we do find a way to kill it, it'll just eat something else and grow stronger, or run off to one of its split bodies and swiftly recover. I know that. Pure Evil is like a cancer that spreads more the longer you leave it alone.

But that's not even the worst part. It's very calm. Scary calm. Contemplative, even.

Some of the upper brass want to negotiate with it instead of fighting. I contacted Raiz and asked him what he thought. Sure, he defected, but I understand why. We're still sharing intel.

He contended that negotiation is off the table. He then said that negotiations are conducted between two parties of more or less equal bargaining power. We don't have enough power to bargain with Pure Evil, so we'd best capitulate and take what it's willing to offer. Become its employees, slaves, worshippers— whatever it so desires.

I see Raiz's point. Pure Evil's death toll has been extremely low. Especially given the ridiculous power it regularly displays. Shockingly low, in fact. It's understandable to treat it as a god instead of a monster.

I can't do that. I won't.

Of course, then there's the brass who want to drop massive swathes of Mana explosives on it from the air.

Did they even READ the Tengerii report? I'm afraid those officials are panicking. That'd be like dropping firecrackers on a flock of seagulls. At best they fly away. At worst? You earn yourself a whole lot of pissed off birds.

Seagulls, huh. We definitely screwed up hard in Tengerii. The fact it displayed its ability to eat in such a dramatic fashion after eating the Seagull Flayer may suggest it gained additional abilities from eating her. Perhaps it was testing out what it gained. We don't know. The very idea that the damn thing could somehow be gaining additional talents and skills is downright nonsensical, and yet...

Ugh. It's the most logical conclusion.

Which is why I'm in the negotiation camp. Or, I was, until word broke regarding what the heir did in Lab 104. What he'd created. I now think we should beg Pure Evil to come over here and kill this thing. We've designated it as 'warp bug.'

I look outside my armored transport.

It looks like a giant, disjointed insect. Nothing sensible about its physical features. We also know its attributes. Intellect? Low. Appallingly low. Its status shows 'Int: 0.' That doesn't mean it lacks mental stats, though.

Quite the contrary.

It treats anything as food, but unlike Pure Evil, it doesn't seem to gain as much benefit from eating. It IS slowly growing larger, naturally. What good is a monster if it can't consume the whole world, right?

So, the warp bug eats everything. Constantly.

The matter it eats is expelled more or less unchanged, suggesting it gains little sustenance from its unhinged consumption. One warrior came out its backside, alive, for crying out loud. We asked him questions, but he's too shaken up to say anything helpful.

The reason we can't kill it isn't because of its armor. The few bits of armor we managed to chip off are surprisingly weak. No, we can't kill it because its mental, ah, psychokinetic abilities are simply off the charts. Stabbing it with a sword is like poking a city wall with a toothpick. Then, the toothpick detonates into a billion shards of shrapnel. It's downright horrifying to witness— assuming you survive.

I almost didn't.

I say psychokinetic because we can't pin down the skill. Much like Pure Evil, it doesn't appear to use skills. Moreover, its mental faculties seem to be all dumped into these psychokinetic abilities, so it also doesn't possess any Mana.

None. Zilch. Nada.

Our mages said that having both zero Int and zero Mana is physically impossible. Yet, just like Pure Evil, there it is.

We only know it had a Wis stat of 77,915 due to Aitos'... No, Pure Evil's status spy inscription. That seems to rise as it eats, so it's probably closer to 100,000 by now. Except this doesn't appear to have any effect on its abilities. Nothing has notably changed as its Wis has risen other than it's body's size. Its Str and Sta are both fairly normal.

So, we thought, shoot it with spells, right? Wrong. That was worse than hitting it with a sword. Far worse.

It absorbed the spells and grew larger, several times over.

Well, fuck me right up them river rapids, eh?

Still, we know it isn't growing from eating Mana, because it hasn't grown so rapidly from eating anything else. Not even from eating the mages themselves. We're not sure why constructed spells have such a drastically different effect, but regardless, thank the gods for that one saving grace.

So, now we have a giant unstoppable exploding pincushion running around razing buildings. There's apparently nothing we can do except keep people out of its way. We can't even get it to go in a single direction— it's so godsdamn stupid it ignores our existence. We're not even sure it HAS senses which can detect our presence. That's what happens when all your mental stats get dumped into one ability, I suppose.

Aside from being nigh-invulnerable like Pure Evil, this warp bug is almost Pure Evil's polar opposite. I shudder to think what would happen if one absorbed the abilities of the other. We've been unable to confirm whether either of them possesses such a capability. Though, it's likely at least Pure Evil does.

Which is why I'm the only one in the 'beg Pure Evil' camp. They're afraid he'll become unstoppable. They're right to be afraid. I'm of the mind that one calm and calculating unstoppable monster is better than the same PLUS an unstoppable murderbug. We already can't stop either of them, and it's not like the warp bug can kill Pure Evil.

We've already discussed that at length in our war simulations. Pure Evil defeated or fled from the warp bug every time. Granted, we're working with imperfect information, but we weren't able to form a plan which allowed the warp bug to defeat Pure Evil. It seems, using the warp bug to kill that accursed dragon is not an option.

Honestly? Even if he does get another power-up, what's the difference? He's already beyond our comprehension. We can only thank our lucky stars he's so calm. Given their personalities... I know which one I'd choose— and I say one overpowered monster's better than two.

I feel a dark shiver, internally. Like it stemmed from my existence rather than my nerves. What was THAT?!

Then— I feel something else. Except, it's not a chill. It's like my core is being scraped at by a monster's sharp, uncaring teeth. I look out the window again and see the enormous warp bug. The feeling intensifies when I look at it.

No...

That feeling is coming from the warp bug? It's doing something to me; likely to all of us. It feels like it's chewing at me from all the way over there. My hair stands on end across my entire body.

That's it! Enough is enough!

I bring up a green inscription. The Emperor said he uses this, right? Hell, he likely made the damn thing. Alright. I input 'Pure Evil' and press 'accept.'

To my relief, it swiftly connects.

"Hello?"

He sounds as freakish as hell itself... But his style of greeting is surprisingly normal.

"Hello, Pure Evil. You may remember me from Achiton. I was the man wearing all white."

"Oh, that was you? Leario's your name?"

"Yes, thank you for remembering me from the meeting room. It was rather chaotic."

"Perhaps for you all. I was quite satisfied with our meeting's outcome."

"I'd imagine you were. So, I've contacted you to ask a favor, if I may?"

"Me? A favor? I thought everyone wanted to kill me. Why ask me for a favor?"

No kidding. I'm regretting this so much already.

"It's a long story, but we've created a problem I don't think can be solved without your help."

"Two problems, hra? I'm listening."

I grimace. Two problems?

Is he referring to himself?

How the hell did he know?

Ainthia didn't know. How?

"There's a giant monster over here that we can't figure out how to kill. The others are against it, but I'm going behind their backs. I'll give you all the data we have on it, so you can figure something out. If you want more compensation, I'll do what I can. If the others here aren't supportive of whatever compensation you've chosen, just make me your slave or kill me. Enough people have died already. I'll be the last."

A pause. Then—

"Despite my name, I don't have a desire to enslave or kill. If you need help, and you're not planning a trap? I'll do it without inflicting harm, and without any excessive demands. That last sentiment of yours is quite admirable."

The last sentiment? 'Enough people have died already?' Is he considering our motives and choices, just like he did Maro's? So, he's scary smart and ideologically consistent?

I toss my head back and look up at the sky.

Gods almighty, what hells hath we wrought...

I almost want to turn him down, but I feel the gnawing getting stronger. I look outside and see that the damn warp bug is chewing on a stone watchtower. I must not falter.

"Thank you for your gracious terms. Meet me at Venifera, on the east side. I'll pass over the documents I mentioned. If the monster comes over there I'll go farther east. We can't stop it; I have to move out of its way."

"Venifera? So, the city where the mayor was delivering Haitos' treasury funds?"

What the WHAT?! How does he know? None of that was documented or written down!!! Gah... Why the hell does he seem to know everything? Did he eat Haitos' mayor, too?

"Yes, Pure Evil. That was delivered here to support our experiments. The warp bug I want you to kill is a merger of two different ones."

"Which experiments were merged to form me?"

DAMNIT! HE KNEW!

My scalp tingles. I've got one monster chewing my chest and another scraping my brain. I can't even tell what he knows and what he doesn't. Every question is inexplicable. Like it's all a test. I feel like if I so much as mislead him, he'll kill and eat me. Or do what he did to Maro.

I again look at the warp bug.

I can't even tell which one of these things is worse anymore. Are we all going to die regardless of which one eats the other? One of them eating the other is the only possible outcome. And deep down, I know. The winner won't be that thing.

Not unless it gets a lot stronger.

...

No. If I must pick one, it won't be that horrid insect, that's for damn sure.

"You were experiment two, then you ate experiment one. Oh, right. Our experiment numbers are refreshed weekly."

"In addition to this warp bug's precursor experiments, I require data on myself. Both experiments one and two. I am both."

Agh! He never fails to drive a hard bargain. Now I see why some didn't want to negotiate.

"Okay. When will you arrive?"

"Give me a few minutes."

...

...

Minutes?