by Dante Doom
“We have a Machina in our possession; it does whatever we tell it to do,” Savannah continued.
“Don’t tell him that!” Timon shouted. “He can’t know about it!”
“Yes, I’ve seen that machine around you before. I assumed it was some companion NPC that was following you for an unfinished quest,” Leopold said as he stroked his mustache. “Fascinating that you can control it. How?”
“I don’t know,” Savannah replied.
“Lies. Don’t make me end him,” Leopold growled as he pressed his face close to Savannah’s. She could feel his hot breath against her cheek, and it sent shivers down her spine.
“The Machina is self-aware. It, uh, it thinks.”
“Interesting,” Leopold said as he rolled back to the table backwards. “That would explain why it has been following you around and aiding you. I tried speaking to it back when you logged out, but it told me that it had no reason to talk to me. How fascinating. Does it know your plan? Does it know that you want to destroy the Grind for good?”
“Yes,” Savannah admitted. “It knows everything.”
“A Machina that is self-aware… why, I bet it could look at any of these rooms and figure out how to use them. It could probably even execute scripts without having any equipment in front of it. This changes everything.”
Savannah remained deathly silent, but Leopold was mumbling to himself and rubbing his hands together, thoroughly distracted. This was the moment. She turned to look at Timon, who was eyeing her. He definitely had the same idea she did.
“Now!” Savannah mouthed at him. Timon activated the Freedom power and a flash of blue came across her body. You are Free hovered above her head as she slipped out of the insectoid’s grasp. Leopold didn’t have time to react as the two scrambled out of harm’s way.
“Run, run, run!” Timon yelled as they made a mad dash through the halls. Savannah glanced back to see that there were no signs of anything chasing them.
“I think we’re in the clear,” Savannah said as she slowed down, having just come around a turn. Timon came to a stop once he realized that Leopold was still inside the Stats room.
“Why did you tell him that? He’s going to try to use Ten-Thirty against us!” Timon shouted at her.
“What was the alternative, to let him kill you?” Savannah shouted back. “Look, we don’t have time for this—we need to go.”
“No! Listen, he was bluffing! You didn’t have to give him any information. He never would have killed me.”
“I’m not going to gamble on your life,” Savannah said as she shook her head. “It’s not worth letting you die. No matter what information he has, we can still beat him. But if you die… well, you’re gone for good. I don’t want that to happen. I can’t let that happen.”
Savannah blushed suddenly, realizing that she’d said too much.
Timon let the anger dissipate from his voice, and then a slow smile spread across his face. “So, you really do care about me?”
Savannah could feel the blush getting deeper on her cheeks, but she’d already said too much. There was no going back now. “You’ve been a real friend to me,” Savannah confessed. “You’re out here risking everything, and for what? For people you don’t know. You’re an amazing guy.”
“Well, I am fond of you, too,” Timon said gently. “Should all of this nightmare end favorably, perhaps you can do me the honor of being the reason my father disowns me for good.”
“Really?” Savannah asked, looking up to meet his eyes as her heart fluttered.
“The system’s about to go down, right? No more marrying for political reasons. I’ve been betrothed to a wretch of a woman for the last eight years. I’d happily break it for someone like you.”
“Well, let’s figure it out after this,” Savannah said with a wide smile.
“Promise me one thing,” Timon said as he leaned in close. “You can’t let your emotions get the better of you. My life isn’t as important as the rest of Verre. Don’t be selfish in trying to keep me for yourself.”
Savannah nodded, slowly. “I… I guess so.”
“Good. Let’s go warn the others,” Timon replied as he began to make his way back to the Item Creation room.
They reached the room only to find Leopold standing just inside the entrance, a large smirk on his face.
“Ah crap! How the hell did you do that?” Savannah gasped.
“I learned the secret to teleportation a while ago,” Leopold said. “It comes in handy.”
Behind Leopold were Elanor, Fingers, and Ten-Thirty, all of them restrained by the Silver Insectoid Virals. Elanor seemed calm and collected, but Fingers was panicking and resisting. Ten-Thirty wasn’t moving at all.
Timon drew his Sniper Rifle and aimed it at Leopold. “Let them go!”
“Oh, I’m so scared. Let me check my hit points,” Leopold chuckled. “Well, they’re still extremely high. Look, you both can shoot at me all day, but you won’t kill me.”
“What do you want?” Savannah asked. She wished there was some way to know if Ten-Thirty had successfully created the necessary items to allow the team to control multiple Virals at once. She glanced over at Elanor, who merely stared forward. Her eyes were darting back and forth rapidly, though, as if she were formulating a plan—or at least trying to do so.
“I was waiting for you two, of course. I did promise to share the points from killing Elanor,” Leopold said. “Her score should be more than enough to level you both up to nobility, and then some. After that, you log out and never step foot in the Grind again, allotting me your loyalty.”
“Why are you so insistent on us joining you?” Savannah shouted. “What makes us so special?”
Leopold leered. “Oh, you aren’t particularly special, Grinder, but Timon here… having him in my back pocket will make his father squirm. Don’t you know? It’s the ultimate satisfaction. Destroying your enemies is one thing, but getting them to join you? To serve you? It’s like alcohol, but without the hangover.” He laughed at his own comment before continuing. “Now then, if you would both kindly take a shot at Elanor before my minions finish her off?”
Savannah looked at the others, hoping someone would give her a sign, but no one was looking at her. She couldn’t see any option other than to play her hand early. The Silver Insectoid Virals were probably strong enough to fight against Leopold, she hoped; at the very least, they’d distract him. It was a gamble, but she didn’t see any other choice.
“You’re right,” Savannah bluffed. “If we’re screwed, we might as well join you.”
“That’s the spirit!” Leopold chuckled. “Although, I won’t believe you until you shoot her.”
Savannah walked up to Leopold and looked at Elanor. The woman, still unperturbed, now stared at her with nary a reaction. Savannah cleared her throat and raised her Arc Rifle high.
“I’m so sorry that I have to do this right now,” Savannah said, emphasizing the last phrasing as hard as she could. There was a glimmer of excitement in Elanor’s eye, showing that she did indeed understand Savannah’s words.
Savannah activated her glasses while looking directly at the strange Viral holding Elanor. A small menu opened up in front of her eyes.
Configuration Mode:
Foreign Object Detected—Please Select Option
Delete Object
Assimilate Object
Repurpose Object
Savannah shrugged slightly and selected Repurpose Object. A few lines of code appeared in front of her and the Viral stiffened up. A status hovered above it, and Savannah could see everything about the Viral’s construction.
Name: Grelek
Original Purpose: Obey Leopold’s Orders
Please Input New Purpose.
Health: 6,000
Abilities: Grapple, Flight, Neck Snap.
“What’s taking so long?” Leopold growled. “Shoot her before I lose my patience.”
Savannah entered the words Obey Savannah’s Orders simply
by thinking them.
“Release her and grab Leopold!” Savannah shouted to Grelek. The Viral immediately released Elanor and leapt through the air, stretching all six of its arms out for the King.
“What the hell?” Leopold cried. “Stand down, I command you!”
The Viral ignored its former master and leapt atop him, all six arms grappling Leopold with ease. The words You are Restrained hovered above King Leopold’s head.
“Nice work!” Elanor said as she rubbed her wrists. She pulled out a pair of spectacles of her own and placed them on her eyes. The other Viral holding Fingers stiffened and released the Wild Card.
“Enough!” Leopold growled. “You somehow managed to take control of my pets, but while that is impressive, don’t think it’s going to be enough to save your lives. I have far more powerful Virals in my arsenal. You will regret me unleashing them.”
The third Viral, the one holding Ten-Thirty, melted into the ground.
“What happened?” Fingers asked as he looked at where the creature had been.
“I’m fairly certain Leo dispersed it before we could turn it to our side,” Elanor said. “Which is a shame.”
“Kill Leopold!” Savannah shouted.
Leopold chuckled as the Viral holding him wrapped its arms around his neck and began to pull backwards. “Try as hard as you might, there’s no killing me. The neck snap simply deals 100 damage, and ignores all armor. Grabbing me was a cute trick, but you have no chance in hell of ending my life.”
“How the hell did his health get so high?” Elanor asked as she saw the words 100 damage hovering above Leopold’s head.
“He was able to figure out how the Stats room worked,” Timon explained. “The whole thing about giving us time here was a trick so he could get us to open the doors for him.”
“Damn it,” Elanor growled. She raised both her hands to fire electricity on Leopold, but in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
“Once again, our elusive foe escapes us,” Fingers grumbled. “I’m starting to think this won’t be easy at all.”
“What made you think it would be easy to begin with?” Savannah asked.
“I’m an optimist, I suppose.”
Savannah ignored Fingers and turned her attention to Ten-Thirty. “Ten, how long does control over these Virals last?”
“Your glasses enable you to control them for a few days, but their code slowly erodes and returns them to their aggressive nature,” Ten-Thirty replied. “However, the new glasses are permanent due to some tweaks that I made to the coding.”
“How many can we control at one time?” Timon asked as he took a pair of glasses from Elanor.
“Only one at a time. It would be rather advanced to control more than one, and I haven’t had sufficient time to determine how that would work.”
Savannah rubbed her temples. Everything was so overwhelming. How was she ever going to beat Leopold when he could simply teleport wherever he liked? Even if they were able to damage his hit points significantly, he would simply teleport away before they could kill him!
“He was surprised when we took control over the Virals,” Timon said. “We’ve got him scared. Now, we need to figure out how to turn off his Teleportation power.”
“And overcome a mountain of hit points,” Fingers replied. “Look, I don’t want to be the pessimist here, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that he’s unbeatable.”
“Incorrect,” Elanor said. “He has overwhelmingly focused on defensive abilities. He creates Virals, gives himself the power to teleport, and alters his stats. This all proves that he doesn’t have big guns. He spent too much time figuring out how to make himself unkillable, but not enough time gaining the power to kill with ease. He’s on the defensive now, and the problem with defense is that, no matter how well you defend, your opponent will eventually find a chink in your armor, exposing some tiny vulnerability, and will thus defeat you. It’s better to kill a man than to fend him off, but Leopold doesn’t realize that yet.”
“Easier said than done,” Fingers replied as he shook his head at Elanor. “Simply because he can’t wave his hands and blast us to smithereens doesn’t mean that we’re in a position to beat him.”
“No…” Savannah said, “but that doesn’t mean he’s unkillable, either. Look, he has a high amount of hit points, that’s true. He doesn’t know how many Virals we can control at once, so he probably won’t use them. Without his control over the Virals, he’s going to be a regular guy. It’ll take a while, but we can kill him as long as we turn off his teleportation.”
“Well, I saw a room earlier that said Fast Travel,” Timon suggested. “It wasn’t cheap to get into, though.”
“At this point, we don’t have a choice,” Elanor said as she turned around to leave the room. “Let’s get there as quickly as we can.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Fast Travel door was different from many of the other doors. While most were unremarkable round, silver doors, this one was adorned with gold. Above it read: 1,000,000 points.
“Are… are you okay with this Elanor?” Savannah asked as she watched the prospective Queen wincing at the point cost.
“I’m going to be fine,” Elanor replied through gritted teeth as she shoved her arm through the hole. There was an immediate hissing sound in response, and the doors slowly began to open wide.
“Congratulations!” came a high-pitched, girlish voice from inside. “You’ve solved the riddle of the door!”
The team entered to see Kireen floating in the center of the room, clapping her hands together happily.
“Kireen?” Ten-Thirty asked as it walked up to her. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d pop by to watch you guys!” Kireen said as she waved her hands around, pointing to the dozens of maps on the walls. Each map offered a detailed drawing of one of the many levels of the Grind.”
“Of course,” Ten-Thirty mumbled as it lost all interest in Kireen. It walked up to the maps and began mumbling to itself.
“We’re getting so close, aren’t we?” Kireen asked Savannah.
Savannah nodded to the Aspect. “We’re trying, but it seems like every three steps we take forward, we’re pushed back two.”
“Well, you found my glasses! That’s a good job!” Kireen giggled while clapping her hands. “Now the big question is, are you ready to kill King Meanie and save your race from the plague?”
“What plague?” Fingers asked.
“It’s a long story; don’t bother,” Timon replied. “Aspect, is there anything you can do to help us fight against Leopold? His power has grown exponentially.”
“There’s nothing I can do, but there is someone here, someone who has the power to take him down a peg… but doing so will be, well, costly.”
“How?” Elanor asked.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out!” Kireen replied in a sing-song voice. “I have a message here for someone! So, listen to my words. If you pay the price, you will gain it back tenfold. But if you say no, then you will lose what you don’t have.”
“What does that mean?” Fingers asked. Kireen shrugged at him and faded away.
Savannah felt her blood running cold. Paying the price… did that refer to Timon in any way? She shivered.
“Nothing but gibberish,” Elanor replied. “That poor creature continues to descend into madness.”
“I have ascertained how to teleport,” Ten-Thirty said. “Apparently, Leopold cannot teleport anywhere he wants; he is limited by hard points.” The Machina pointed to several areas on each map. “This is where the game officially recognizes an area to be. In addition to this stipulation, each hard point is connected to another one.”
“Like the portals,” Savannah said.
“Exactly. So, Leopold cannot teleport from Krecius to the Throne room. He would have to teleport through a series of areas first.”
“That means we can follow him when he teleports,” Timon said. “It�
�s perfect.”
“Indeed, but there is one major caveat,” Ten-Thirty replied. “We will have to deduce which way he went. There are always three options when it comes to teleportation. If we guess wrong once, he will get away from us.”
“Well, is there some way to turn off his Teleportation power?” Savannah asked.
“Negative. Doing so would require advanced programming and it would take too much time.”
“We have plenty of time,” Fingers said. “That coward ain’t going to come back and fight us; not after we turned his Viral against him. He has to be worried about what else we can do to him.”
“Negative,” Ten-Thirty replied. “We have the advantage right now. We must strike him while he is scrambling to figure out a new plan.”
“I’m with the robot,” Elanor said. “Let’s take him down, hard and fast.”
“Agreed,” Timon replied. “Worst case scenario, we can teleport to safety if it fails.”
“Oh, it won’t fail,” Elanor said with a wicked grin. “I’ll see to that.”
“Ready yourselves—we will be teleporting shortly,” Ten-Thirty said. It was tapping its fingers together in a manner to indicate that the Machina was nervous. Savannah wanted to say something, but she didn’t know if there was any comfort that she could provide to the being. It was admirable that Ten was still willing to move forward, though, despite its own pending destruction.
“Okay, people, this is it,” Elanor said as she distributed small, silver vials to the team. “These potions are known as Panaceas, and will restore all health and armor immediately. They are extremely rare, so I only have enough for us each to have one.”
“Thanks,” Savannah said as she took the draught and held it up to the light. The silvery liquid shimmered. She drank the potion down and watched as her armor restored itself to 1,100. This was a very impressive item. Still, she wished they had enough time to replicate more items, but Ten had been right. Leopold was starting to lose ground, and he was too smart to leave them alone for more than a few hours.