Imposter System

As Matt's mental energy penetrated Willard's dream body, he sensed something wrong immediately. Willard had two layers of protection in his body created with mental energy. Matt was only able to break through the first layer, and spread his mental energy around, before ripping out a chunk of it. This process caused the dream to collapse, and the massive energy gain from Sundering Strike forced his astral body back where it belonged.

When Matt woke, his head pounded with pain. He was suffering from the side effects of the noise, as his ear drums were destroyed and the blood on the side of his head had already dried up. Matt sat up and looked over at Willard who was still slumped in his chair. Matt didn't know what would happen to Willard after the Sundering Strike, but before he could investigate, a message appeared that caused Matt's head to ache even more.

[Warning: Unknown Energy has been ingested. Identified to be Grade 2+. Stimulating Genetic sequence utilizing Grade 2+ Energy. 102 Evolution Points gained.]

The massive influx of evolution points caused his body to go into overdrive. His healing factor was considerably high and his resistance to damage meant that although the damage seemed severe, it was actually quite easy to heal. His ears began ringing as the microscopic hairs began to reform. The sound of his hearing returning was quite obnoxious, but Matt ignored it and stood up. He walked over to Willard to inspect his body. Since Matt expended a lot of mental energy, he wasn't able to reactivate his Detect Life immediately.

Matt checked the time and about thirty minutes had passed. Although he was slightly worried about Alexis, he needed to make sure the job was finished. Standing over Willard, Matt was about to drain him with his tendrils when his eyes suddenly opened and a wave of energy exploded out from him, knocking Matt backward ten meters. Willard was not in a good condition; his face was pale and he was hyperventilating.

What Matt did by destroying his mental defenses was actually release all of the sealed memories. Due to the nature of mental energy, sealed memories also sealed a portion of his mental strength. He was considered a behemoth of an Esper when he was created as a child. They used senior Espers to lock away a significant portion of his strength. What Matt did was essentially release the floodgates of Willard's childhood trauma—and his hidden strength.

Willard began screaming and firing off concussive mental blasts in every direction. He hadn't intentionally knocked Matt away earlier, but was simply releasing his emotions. Willard had begun screaming at some point, but Matt only started hearing him once the ringing in his ears stopped. His scream echoed through the chamber, waking Martha up. She had been asleep for a very long time, but the excessive nutrients had exponentially increased her growth.

When she saw Matt lying on the ground in a daze, Alexandria tied down to a table, and Willard going mad, releasing some sort of invisible force, she went to action. A quick swipe of her paw shattered the glass containing her. The breech caused a feedback loop to fry the machinery in charge of created a cyborg. The amount of energy Martha could release while conscious was considerably more than the electronics could handle.

Matt noticed her escape her cage and began to send her telepathic messages. He wanted her to free Alexandria, and meet up with Alexis. Matt decided it would be best to capture Willard since he failed to break his mind earlier. Whatever outburst he was having, Matt didn't interfere. His mental energy recovery was quite quick and he was already able to fight again if needed. Due to the overloading of energy, it seemed the machines that subdued Matt originally wouldn't be activated anytime soon.

Detect Life activated and revealed to Matt several things. Martha's life force had doubled since he last saw, and Willard's had returned to the norm for humans. He turned his head and saw that there were only one or two mixed life forces that represented the living metal experiments, and Alexis's was still strong. While he turned his attention back to Willard, Matt noticed that his tantrum was ending. Willard's back straightened and he turned to Matt.

"I don't know what you've done to me, but I must thank you. Although I almost lost my mind due to these memories, I am stronger than I have ever been before. My plan to ascend to a higher form of life won't require external influences ha-ha HA!" Willard began to laugh maniacally, eerily similar to a villainous clown.

"Actually, Matthew, you and I are not too different. I bet there is a latent power within you that has yet to be unlocked. How about it? Let bygones be bygones. Let's join together and reach a new level." Willard's temperament changed slightly. Before, he had an almost childlike aura to him. Now, he was far more sinister and his behavior was like the devil trying to tempt Matt.

"Unfortunately, I don't need your help for that. We are irrecoverable enemies."

Matt didn't bother wasting time to talk anymore, as soon as his mental energy was recovered enough, he launched a Mind Blast. Willard sensed the attack coming and released his own similar attack. The two invisible attacks seemingly collided and fizzled out. However, since Matt could somewhat detect mental fluctuations, he had seen how Willard used a much smaller amount of energy to destroy his attack.

This was the difference in experience. Matt frowned at the realization and finally began to worry. His advantage was in recovery, so the best type of fight was an extended one. However, there was one factor that had yet to appear. Matt hoped to deal with everything before it came into play, but that didn't seem possible anymore. Willard seemed to also realize what Matt was afraid of and tapped something on his device.

"Fine. Since you do not want to reconcile, I'll end it all at once. You and your toy will suffer the same fate. I'll capture you and study you so that I can learn the secret to your growth. As for Alexis… I suppose there are still some experiments I haven't tried yet. A pregnant subject is certainly a new one for me."

Matt realized the severity of the situation and decisively charged at Willard. Instead of stalling, he needed to finish this as soon as possible. Willard was taken off guard for a second. He expected a battle of minds, but instead, Matt went straight for a fist fight. Willard began releasing micro concussive attacks mixed in with penetrating attacks. However, Matt simply let them hit him and kept moving forward. The penetrating attacks left holes in his body that began to bleed, but due to his healing factor, they weren't much.

Willard was again shocked at the durability of Matt's body. Those penetrating shots shouldn't be able to simply be tanked that easily. While in his own thoughts, Matt successfully reached him and punched him square in the jaw. Willard had received formal training as well, but due to his mental superiority complex, he mostly neglected melee combat. The punch was met with a mental energy shield, but Matt's punching force exceeded human limits.

Once he recovered from the punch, Willard changed his strategy and began to float out of Matts range. However, Matt only smiled and launched another mind blast. Willard was unable to perfectly block the attack this time due to his concentration on levitating, so his mental energy scattered and he fell to the ground. It was a small hit that broke his concentration, but Willard quickly recovered after sending a barrage of concussive bolts.

Matt took this opportunity to throw out an Illusory Field and charged toward Willard again. The Illusory Field was a new threat that Willard hadn't experienced before. He threw out his attacks and effectively neutralized the illusions, but they kept coming. He quickly looked around to find the core of this strange ability, but Matt was already next to him.

A leg arced straight toward Willard's skull and knocked him to the ground. This time, due to the Illusory Field, Willard was unable to block a portion of the attack. His brain bounced around in his skull and he became dazed. Matt threw out another Mind Blast in order to scatter his mental energy again, effectively drying up the reserves he recovered. Then, he began pummeling Willard over and over again.

After a while, Willard groaned in a half-conscious state, and Matt stopped beating him. His body was likely covered in bruises.

"You fool… cough cough. Do you realize what you've done? I was doing everything for the greater good. Do you really think we are alone out here?" However, Matt frowned as he thought of something.

[Hypnosis Activated]

"Why did you target me with Shepherd?" Matt asked calmly.

"When I took over the system, I ran a simulation on every person on the ship and used the computing power of the whole network to calculate who would be the biggest risk to my plans... Suddenly, one day, you went from low risk, to extremely high risk."

Matt heard enough, and punched him once more to shut him up. He could more or less figure out the circumstances now. It turned out that his sudden change was not unnoticed. Could he be considered lucky that it was Shepherd to discover it and not the main AI?

Matt sighed and saw that Willard's life and mental fluctuations were reaching their trough. However, Willard smirked and released one final attack. It was something he had never used before. In fact, Matt had inspired this attack into existence. Matt tried to defend, but his whole world began to spin. After a few moments, he stabilized as if nothing happened and wondered if that was just the death throes of a wild beast.

With this attack, Willard knew he had nothing left. He simply relaxed his body and passed out. Matt pulled himself up and started going toward Alexis. During the chaos, Martha had busted through the decontamination room with the unconscious body of Alexandria and made it to Alexis's side. The first thing he noticed when he left the loft was a giant mechanized suit. His Detect Life saw that all three were safe and the suit simply stood there, slumped over.

"Matt, you're alright!" Alexis called out. She had left her suit and was standing next to it. Matt came over wondering why she had done so, when he noticed the twenty life signs approaching from the other end of the room. They all seemed to be security officers. The room was poorly lit so Matt was relying on his Detect Life to walk over to Alexis.

"What happened? Did the machine break?" Matt said in a confused tone.

"No, I deactivated it." A familiar voice said.

Matt hadn't noticed him at first due to the lighting, but someone was standing only five feet from him. However, there was not another set of life force near the group. The lights in the area were suddenly restored and Matt saw him, fully dressed in military garb.

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am the USS Odyssey. However, you can continue calling me Scorch."

(End Volume 1)