Book 8 – Chapter 39 – The Spear of A01

“Do you really have time to ask these questions or are you taking the deal?” Superior asked the stunned Feather. “Because while Prime seems like he’s fine putting the past behind us, I’m really not as forgiving.”

Perhaps more of Tenisent had leaked into Kieth Superior than he’d expected. He wasn’t happy with the situation, but he understood the stakes. Sometimes, allies can’t be chosen. Situations force people together, and there was a lot of situation happening right now. End of the world and all that happening.

“I…” To’Sefit quickly shut her mouth and nodded.”I accept.” She’d been stunned to see a parallel Keith on the other end here acting as her link to the mites, but that just went to show how little Feathers knew or cared about humans. The information was surely out there, and she hadn’t bothered looking for it as Superior suspected. Not until it was needed.

Humility seemed to be a hard thing for Feathers to learn, but Superior could sense some of it coming out of the Feather as the realization of how little she knew about things was certainly hitting her right now.

Or the idea that a human was the one helping her survive through this. And capable of speaking to basically gods while she wasn’t able to. Must be humbling for a Feather with a name all about stepping into theosis.

Still. Keith Prime needed those plates unlocked or the airspeeder he technically rode in on was going to have more than a few maintenance issues, so Superior grimly nodded, then sent a message back to the mite collective.

At exactly that instant, To’Sefit’s unity fractal lit to light bright and visible in the occult sight – and she was whisked away.

Just. Gone. All at once.

Shit. Had she just been yanked, captured, and killed right before the deal went through?

He blinked, and thought back at exactly what he’d seen happen.

Another unity fractal had turned on somewhere, connected To’Sefit’s own, and then yanked her out. He just had no idea where, or what the hell that meant. But that’s absolutely something Relinquished could pull off to rip To’Sefit this far out into the mite collective. It had happened so fast, without any sign of warning. It almost didn’t seem like the Violet goddess’s style.

And Relinquished continued fighting against A01 in a deadlock, completely focused on him. Superior could tell, the protofeather was forcing all of her attention on him. The sediment wall of grasping hands reaching out of the ground blew past Superior’s own side on the mite sea, like a snowstorm pounding the cockpit window walls of an airspeeder, covering the entire space with darkness.

He couldn’t tell if Relinquished had even noticed. Was her entire focus on A01, or had she been watching To’Sefit this entire time with a sliver of attention to scoop her out of the way at the last second?

That didn’t make sense. She wouldn’t know the exact moment he passed information to the mites. If Relinquished had used the unity fractal to yank To’Sefit out of there, it should have happened the moment she’d said yes to the agreement.

Not the exact moment he turned and spoke to the mites to pass the word along.

So if it wasn’t To’Sefit that had triggered the unity fractal… had… had the mites snuck To’Sefit out using the fight as a distraction? As in used her own unity fractal against Relinquished and got away with it?

He didn’t have time to consider what they’d done. Or how they’d stolen a Feather from under the nose of Relinquished, almost literally given the goddess was right in this same terminal fighting tooth and nail against her firstborn son.

And that fight was something all right. The sheer occult power being thrown around was penetrating even down on this side of the mite sea. He could feel it like a rattle on the walls, with each spear being thrown into Relinquished.

Superior floated back down into the mite side of the sea, fading away from the blurry conflict above. He wanted to stick around, to see the fight. But a part of him knew A01 wasn’t going to win this.

That protofeather was powerful, stronger than Judge and just about every program Superior had met on this side of the world.

Relinquished still eclipsed him several fold. And once he was beaten, Relinquished would come after Prime. After Wrath.

He’d done what he could for To’Sefit, it was time to move on.

What he needed to do was get the miteseeker’s destination coordinates so that Prime wouldn’t need to play a game of find-the-nail in a snowbank. They didn’t have time for that, not with everything happening.

And with Relinquished gone fully mental, she’d be sending the entire fleet after the Winterscars.

Drawing back through mite space, Superior raced through the pathways he’d memorized, scurrying back to the terminal he’d tracked down. The source of it all.

Darkness engulfed him, and he sank down onto old weathered stone. A platform, surrounded by midnight black waters, that somehow showed him ruins under the depths.

What he stood on was the very top of a massive tower. The rest was all under that obscuring glass-like surface.

He tapped the ground. “Hello darling, have you decided to work with me or are we still in the getting-to-know each other phase?”

CEASE. I WILL NOT GIVE WHAT YOU SEEK. The ruins and rubble rumbled.

“Oh you sweet-talker you, you know I love a good challenge.”

YOU WILL NOT FIND WHAT YOU WISH. I WILL NOT GIVE IT.

He took a breath and dove into the water. It pushed him back up, trying to prevent even superficial entry into the lower tower. There was a trick to getting past here of course.

He turned himself more ghost-like. Transient. This barrier was built to repel programs of massive size. Only small data packages could come through – such as a request to the miteseeker on if the coordinates were close or not to any specific location.

But Superior was an occult ghost, a non-data entity. He sank through the water without any issue, following the marbled pillars and ruins of the tower downwards.

Soon, he landed on his old bulwark position. Broken stones and pulverized doorways waited for him here.

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. BEGONE.

“How about you escort me out yourself.” Superior said, walking into the structure, following the trail of data. Eventually he’d reach the vault where this terminal had to communicate back.

He flowed past traps, walls, hidden passageways, and different attempts to confuse or even attack him. Most of these defenses were built to repel Tsuya or Relinquished. Extremely powerful guardians, and tailor built for one purpose.

Of which Superior didn’t fit that target. The massive guardian at the bottom simply watched as he strutted right past, incapable of fighting or even recognizing him as a threat.

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Hyper-specialization had backfired. Dozens of barriers like this guardian failed to recognize him as an invader.

Progress had been steady. Every memory Prime had with Aztu teaching him the ways of the digital sea, he drew on and combined with what he’d learned from Judge. The result had carried him this far.

YOU WILL NOT BREAK THE FINAL DOORWAY. IT WAS ORDAINED BY MY MASTERS DIRECTLY.

“They aren’t here anymore to help fix things up, so I’ll find a way through eventually. Come on, after all this time we spent together, don’t you want me just gone? I’m trashing the place, breaking all the vases and everything expensive here. Just give me the coordinates, and I’ll never be in your hallways again. Solemnly swear.”

I REFUSE.

Superior sighed, the fortress here was stubborn. By nature of course, but at least he had someone to talk to while drilling through walls or breaking things down.

In minutes, he floated through the stone hallways until he reached the antechamber. The one place he’d been stuck in before.

This place only opened when there was a data package from the miteseeker itself asking for coordinate information. And so long as he was here breaching, it remained sealed even with a valid data package coming in. Keith Prime himself wasn’t able to use the miteseeker while Superior was stomping around here.

Although Prime hadn’t yet made the attempt, probably too busy dealing with an invasion force trying to laser his airspeeder.

So this was a job for Superior.

He cracked his neck and got back to work.

Cathida was probably the most pleased with all this. It had everything the old bat loved:

Stealing from the enemy, and murdering them with it. Extra points when it was an entire machine army.