by Ivan Shaman
Demon looked at the image again. They would end the era of human wars. They would become the crown of evolution, which would be able to break the vicious circle, even by force of arms. Turning away from the wall, he went out into a spacious hall, completely bathed in light and fire.
Large obsidian columns stood in rows and led to a high stone throne. The hall was large, but even from the entrance, Demon saw that an ordinary human corpse was sitting on the throne with a burning crown on its head. So, he just needed to throw off this archaism and take its place.
However, taking the first step, he stopped. People came from behind the columns. Warriors of all ages and nationalities came to the defense of their king, imagining that they were the tip of evolution, the highest link in the food chain.
Demon grinned. A samurai and a Viking attacked him first. Jerk! In the eyes of the barbarian, misunderstanding was read: the enemy, who had been just five yards away, had already pierced his heart with its claws. Strongman! The skillful Asian flew away with his magnificent katana toward the lake of the lava without doing any decent damage.
An assassin and a ninja circled around him while a crusader went forward, hiding behind their shield. Shoulder to shoulder, near him, a legion stood. What marvelous cooperation, but they were a couple of hundred years too late. Punch! The thick shield was stitched through. He didn’t even need to bounce, just to evade the poisoned daggers. Jerk! Ninja, get a gift from the assassin! A set of gorgeous overseas knives with selected poison.
Everything was simple. Too simple even. A musketeer, an archer and a guardsman gave a combined volley of single-shot rifles, reigned for almost two hundred years. A soft lead smashed into his horny armor and remained stuck in it.
“Attaboys!” Demon gave a bloodthirsty smile and made a new jerk. They weren’t protected; they were wearing only thin cuirass. Three blows caused three corpses, and even ‘Punch’ wasn’t needed. The musketeer managed to get to his sword, but he choked on his own blood when Demon’s claws tore out his throat. “Who is next?” He cried bravely, and he almost caught a good, heavy full-metal Mosin rifle.
The last squad, more than ten people – representatives of Poland, the Reich, Imperial Russia, China, Vietnam, Israel and Africa – all stood back to back. They bristled with machine guns, rifles and pistols. Well, that would be the end of humanity he supposed. The implacable enemies united to all die together.
Hiding behind a pillar, Demon carefully looked at his left hand. It was time to wake up. His palm parted to the side, releasing the barrel, which was bigger and thicker than before. Charging, the plasma accumulated energy, and with every second it became more deadly.
Jerk! He found himself in the center of the hall. A dozen weapons were aiming at him, but they would all fail. Shoot! The sparkling ball smashed into the very center of the group, and the blast threw them out like rag dolls. Demon didn’t need to check to understand: they all were dead.
He climbed calmly, approaching the top with each step. The corpse of the superior human had let out its last breath long ago. After removing the crown from the human’s head, he threw the body to the ground. Then he sat on the throne and placed the crown on his head, realizing, with a pleasant surprise, that it fit him perfectly.
He looked up and saw that the lava was coming onto the shores of the lake. The corpses of the defeated, one after another, flashed, but the hot air didn’t burn him. Instead, it warmed him. Demon absorbed the heat, becoming stronger as he did so. It seemed that the whole world gave him strength.
The fire, the intolerable bright flame, inflamed in him with every passing second, and it was necessary to try and restrain the speed of this growth so that he wouldn’t be torn into pieces. When he realized that he was ready, the Light burst outward in a wave. The wave of heat and flame spread in all directions, snatching sleeping grains from the darkness, and in each of them, its own Light began to glow.
The farther the wave went, the weaker it became, until it was completely dissolved in the vacuum. Hundreds of sparkles had already flared from all sides. Flickering, they all began to move, act, and live.
In a second, below, under his feet, it appeared. All-consuming. Warming. Inspiring. Giving Life. The Sun.
There was no pain. No blood. No darkness! Only the Light!
Demon opened his eyes and sat down. Kris was kneeling in front of him.
“Greetings, Luminary,” she whispered, lowering her head.
Chapter 35. Luminary
“What are you doing?” Demon said, lifting her from the ground. “Get up. Come on.”
“But, Luminary.” Kris looked at him in surprise. “You are the chosen one. You have awakened us all. Almost all of my powers have returned to me.”
“We are all chosen,” he smirked, then he closed his eyes and looked around, peering into the sphere of the Light. He didn’t see the sphere, only sparks no more than a mile away. The Sun didn’t shine. “Alas, not everybody—only in a radius of about a mile. We need something stronger than my song to wake everyone up.”
“Stronger than a Luminary’s song?” Kris asked doubtfully.
“Yes. The Sun is the best variant, but where can I get it?” Demon reached out to scratch his head, but he stopped at the last moment. What could possibly go wrong? Razor-sharp claws on his fingers, and a recently dissected skull, or was there something new? He gently touched the bandage on his head. His skull was fine, except that ... “Have I been unconscious for long?”
“About a day,” Kris replied and then shrugged. “If you are afraid that they’ll come to look for us, then this is unlikely. I’ve deflated the boat and raised it to the top.”
“Have I had this, whatever this is, for a long time?” he asked, gently feeling his neck from behind.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I’ve only just noticed it.”
Demon looked around. It was rather dark, but he didn’t need light. He needed a mirror, which wasn’t in the accounting office. He recalled that in the principal’s office there were a lot of various awards, prizes and cups placed behind glass. Their smooth surfaces could be used as mirrors.
However, it turned out that he didn’t need them. One of the doors in the third-floor corridor led to the toilets, and there was a mirror on the wall there. Coming into the room, Demon unmistakably headed towards the reflective surface, but he stopped after a couple of steps. The last time he saw his reflection was in the apartment, when he was thinking about whether to disguise himself as a human or not. The difference now was enormous.
Of course, hunger and lack of sleep had influenced him, but the nanomachines had done a lot more to alter his appearance. He had no hair on his head. Instead, there were sharp antenna-like pegs and then tight bundles that ran down his neck to the implant and his spinal cord. His skull had also changed – it was now angular and clearly more durable than before. His eyes had narrowed, as if his eyeballs had shrunk in size. He tried to smile: his thick gray skin stretched, but the black scales of armor didn’t allow him to lift the corners of his lips high, so he found that he couldn’t. Well, to hell with it. He took off his prison overalls. His whole body had shrunk and was now covered with black reinforced plates with a thickness of around half an inch.
“Hi, Emperor,” Demon muttered, looking at himself from all sides. “I thought you wore armor, but it turns out that you were naked,” he whispered. What did it even mean ‘naked’? Did it apply to him now? In a terrible conjecture, he lowered his hands to his groin and exhaled with relief—everything was in its usual place, albeit under the thick layer of armor.
He tried to open his character panel, but everything was a little different now. Instead of the interface screen, he fell back into the virtual reality and to his throne, towering over the lava lake.
Here, everything was different too. He was surrounded by enormous data, which concerned everything that he saw, heard, felt, or remembered. Maps, schemes, and the location of all enemy troops and allies. The number of his own soldi
ers was two hundred and thirteen. Clicking on this mysterious figure, Demon was surprised to reveal a list of classes, levels and stats of all the soldiers subordinated to him.
The first in the list was Immortal Luminary Marcus, level 62. He was the most senior and was on the shore. Slightly below was Protector Lancelot, level 41. Then, Immortal Jane, level 29; Ghost Kris, level 26, and a number of unknown brothers and sisters that were over level 25. All those who were below had only ordinal levels.
The presence of Marcus among his subordinates surprised him a lot. He opened the information about himself. His stats were impressive: the list of his current titles could have easily shocked him a week ago.
Eternal Incinerating Blazing Luminary Absorber Demon
There was no level. However, it, apparently, wasn’t needed. Instead of a level bar, there was an inscription: ‘Max’. Just like that. Just ‘Max’ and nothing else.
He opened his stats panel:
Strength: 200
Dexterity: 200
Intelligence: 500
Perception: 400
Stamina: 400
Well, he had leveled-up greatly, though, if his level was truly the maximum, then it meant that there was nowhere to go. So, was this the limit?
There was a pile of skills: everything he’d taken, and a lot of what he had been about to take. However, he had neither the Titan nor the Goliath skills, so he would be skinny forever. Although he had the ‘Strongman 4’ option. He was a little upset by the fact that he hadn’t taken the ‘Chameleon’ and now, as a result, there was no ‘Ghost’. The Emperor had been able to disappear and even fly. How had he done it, if Demon had already achieved the maximum level?
He had to think hard to find the answer. Among the skills and formulas, there was one line that was extremely easy to overlook – Selected for pumping parameter. When he touched it, an information window opened:
Select the desired skill or stat to automatically level-up to the desired level. The greater the stat and the older the skill, the longer it takes to pump them. You can shorten the time by absorbing nanomachines.
Not bad. Therefore, Demon no longer needed to take away the nanomachines from the dead bodies. However, he could take them. Not only from the dead – as the Emperor had done.
Demon remembered how the previous Emperor had ended: he had scattered into a sand of nanomachines. Alex didn’t want such an end. However, what was the alternative for him now?
He opened the list of new skills available. Opposite each skill or stat, the required time was shown. It would take three days to level-up his ‘Strength’ by ten points, but to do the same with ‘Intelligence’ would take almost a month. It took twelve days to level-up the ‘Chameleon’ option. His eyes quickly ran through the list of skills until they came across the inscription that was supposed to change everything.
Protection from EMP 1
Transforms part of the nanomachines into a Faraday cage; making it possible to reduce the likelihood of the destruction of internal bonds and protect the internal electronics. The probability of surviving EMP without damage is 25%
Protection from EMP 2
Binds nanomachines into fibrous flexible joints, contracting when exposed to currents, after passing through, the EMP fibers relax, returning to their original state without disintegrating. Adds a reload container to the implant. The probability of surviving EMP without damage is 50%
Protection from EMP 3
Converts nanomachines in the bones and protective plates into a single frame, creating an insulating layer. Probability of surviving EMP without damage is 90%
Well. What’s the catch? Why hadn’t the Emperor taken these skills? Although, of course, the probability of nuclear war had been rather low, but sooner or later people had had to think of using an EMP against them all.
Protection 1
Dexterity reduction by 25; the price of the skill growth and the Dexterity parameter increased by 50%. Lock the skill ‘Invisible’.
Well, to hell with it, actually.
Protection 2
Strength reduction by 25; the price of the growth of skills and the Strength parameter increased by 50%. Lock the skill ‘Titan’.
It was unpleasant, of course, but also not very critical.
Protection 3
Regeneration, Hard Skull, Horn Armor reduction by 1 point; Connection and Control reduction by 4 points. Lock the skill ‘Blazing’. The price of the skill growth and the Stamina parameter increased by 50%.
So, in putting up any protection against EMP, you became slower and weaker. Moreover, you lost almost a third of the ‘Luminary’ skill, and the ‘Advanced’ skill was locked. With all this, you didn’t have true protection. There was always a chance that you would be killed.
Having calculated all the losses on the restoration of the skills and stats, Demon swore. He needed to spend at least six months to take all these skills and stay at his current level, and that was without even speaking about the ‘Blazing’. How many nanomachines would he have to gobble to reduce this time to a minimum?
Now the Emperor’s choice became obvious – spend a lot of time and effort on protection, which might be useless, or pump up everything else.
On the other hand, he didn’t want to repeat the fate of his predecessor.
With a sigh, he chose the ‘Protection from EMP 2’ option.
Selected pumping parameter - Protection against EMP-2
Pumping time 24 days, 6 hours
It would take almost a month. The first level of the skill, fortunately, was included in the second one, so time was general. Still, it was twice as long as he had lived consciously. He needed to find nanomachines, and the more the better.
He remembered the Emperor again, but now in a different way – with interest. What if all these nanomachines could be reactivated? It would be enough for all the skills he needed. Even for the ‘Chameleon’ and ‘Goliath’ options. His next destination was clear as never before – Sakhalinsk. He needed to get to the center of the city. However, first, he had to solve another problem.
Chapter 36. Cruiser
Having folded all the interfaces, he carefully examined his minimap. Two hundred warriors needed help. Thousands of armed people were inside the fortified cruiser. Storm or rescue? Maybe get inside and flood it all to hell?
His skill ‘Master 4’ hinted that the cruiser had been built using unsinkable technology. So just making a hole or even ten in the hull was a pointless endeavor. Another option was the destruction of the residential premises through fire, but they were all separated by heat-resistant partitions. The power plant and lighting on the ship didn’t work, disabled by the same explosions as the implants.
It turned out that the main task was to destroy their commanders. Without competent commanders, people weren’t capable of fully-fledged military operations, which meant that it would be necessary to get rid of the leaders.
Having examined the future battlefield once more, he took a deep breath and returned to reality. Kris was standing in the open door, looking at him with her mouth open.
“What? Have you never seen a naked guy before?” He asked mockingly, wondering how to cover himself. Although they weren’t people, they had the same habits.
“I haven’t seen anybody like you,” the girl admitted honestly, without taking her eyes off him. “What’s all this?”
“Hmm, it’s difficult to explain.” He examined himself again. The armor, which covered his whole body, looked quite impressive, and he didn’t feel cold. “This is a twelfth-level kit, required for the ‘Eternal’ skill. Apparently, it can protect against an automatic bullet fired from fifty yards away”.
“Cool,” Kris answered. “It’s a pity that I’ve pumped only into ‘Invisibility’.”
“You’re wrong.” Demon smiled in response. “Today, your skills will be more useful than ever. We’ll kill the leadership of the Japanese army.”
“It’s high time.” Kris sneered angrily. “What do you
need me to do?”
“First, I’ll get dressed, and then we’ll make sure they have nowhere to run to.” He patted the girl on the shoulder as he passed by. “I seem to remember that in the principal’s office I saw his business suits hanging up. In the absence of the best, we’ll put those on. When an opportunity appears, I’ll replace them with army ones.”
In the principal’s wardrobe they found several suits and boots that came almost to his leg. He glanced at himself in the glass of one of the framed letters on the wall. He looked like a devil in a business suit. Maybe a little eccentric, but he was still stylish and tasteful.
Having taken a small case with all the important information about the Sakhalin scientific and production facilities with him, he went down to the lock on the second floor. Kris followed him.
“Hold on.” He handed the case to the girl. Then he looked at the door with his ‘Master’ skill. On the other side there was near-zero pressure: the fire extinguishing system had worked perfectly, pumping out all the air. The laboratory premises were originally built as hermetic. Thinking a little, he decided that he would leave this surprise for the next ones who would try to enter the laboratory. “We’ll go the other way – through the roof.”
The passage through the roof was free, and they easily found the escape hatch and then the fire exit. Rounding the laboratory building, Demon noticed that the nanomachines in the courtyard had been activated. However, one glance at them was enough to understand that it wouldn’t be possible to devour them. The reaction in the implants received energy from everything – the temperature difference, the changing magnetic field, solar radiation, and pressure change. Although each individual source of energy was insignificant, in sum it was enough to work and control the nanomachines. What would happen with such implants in a few years Demon didn’t know, but he assumed that it would be nothing good.