Reborn- Apocalypse 2

by L. M. Kerr

  "They are all related. Interconnected in a number of very specific ways. They are a part of the Morenkai, and the Morenkai are a part of them. We believe them to be a part of a directed collective, a sort of hive mind that leeches onto the planet, drawing energy and power to sustain themselves." The scientist dropped the huge store of information on Micheal, a theory that shocked Micheal to the core.

  "But… but…" Isaiah held up a hand, preventing Micheal from asking any questions as the doctor continued,

  "We need to test this theory. Right now, it is tentative at best. But if we are right... the implications could change the very world we live in." Isaiah smiled widely, his eyes gleaming with passion as he looked at Micheal,

  "Head Cameron did not lie to you, lad. If we do this right…"

  "We can transform this world into a paradise."

  .. .. .. .. .. ..

  Meanwhile…

  .. .. .. .. .. ..

  At the eastern border of the Nightrunners' territory, close to the center of the Main Cluster, a large, faded green skyscraper stood, slightly above average in height compared to its neighbors. This territory was unclaimed largely due to how close it was to The Towers. Its relative nearness meant larger numbers of Morenkai moved through the area on the regular, making it a nuisance to defend.

  Within this skyscraper, on the 42nd floor, Number 1 of the Nightrunners, Garen, sat in a chair facing a man wearing a set of white robes. This man was young, barely in his mid-20s, but had bright silver hair and glowing, golden eyes.

  At this moment, that man was replying with a rich, gentle voice.

  "Ah, about that… Garen, I have a couple of problems with this plan you have offered unto the Church."

  Garen blinked slowly as he looked at the gentle sounding man, giving off no emotion as he replied,

  "Does your message hold the full authority of Archbishop Andrew?"

  "Ah, right. About that. I am the Church's newly elected representative for this meeting. In fact…" The gentle looking man smiled,

  "I am the new leader of the Church."

  Garen's eyes twitched but he otherwise did not react as he listened silently.

  "I won't be staying here on the First Layer for very long, only a few weeks at most, but long enough to direct the Church's actions here. I have found that the Church has lacked proper direction, but I am here to fix that." The man continued to smile gently.

  "Ah, who do I have the honor of addressing, then?" Garen's voice never wavered as he maintained an image of complete calmness, taking the startling news without any obvious reaction.

  "I have no name, but only a title, that I can spread the hope of God, with no ego of my own." If Micheal was here, he would've recognized the peaceful looking man as one that had a profound impact on history.

  An impact not just on the First Layer, but on future Layers as well. An S Ranker that spread the religion of the Purgatory Church forward to encompass a huge portion of humanity,

  "I am called the Nirvana Saint."

  .

  Chapter 56

  "What issue do you have with our plans?" Garen's tone was pleasant as he questioned the new leader of the Purgatory Church. Not a trace of emotion appeared as he sized the man in front of him up.

  The Nirvana Saint ignored Garen's gaze as he calmly replied,

  "This proposed Nest Feeding program… I have read the full report and I can see some of the merits it may have." The man's voice contained a faintly ethereal quality that Garen was just now picking up. It was hard to describe, but made his words sound more important.

  "However… I notice that it specifies that all sacrifices are to be criminals or 'suspected' criminals. Is that accurate?" The leader of the Purgatory Church looked at Number 1 with a questioning glance.

  "Yes, that is correct." Garen replied slowly.

  "Yes, well. That is not acceptable." The Nirvana Saint shook his head as he continued,

  "A 'suspected' criminal might not necessarily be evil. With that logic in place, innocent men and women will perish. And I cannot support that."

  Garen studied the Nirvana Saint for a moment before replying stalwartly,

  "It is possible innocent lives will be lost. I cannot promise that they won't. However, the number of lives we will save will greatl-" Before he could finish, the Nirvana Saint held up a hand and interrupted him.

  "Unacceptable." The man shook his head sternly.

  For the first time, Garen displayed a hint of emotion as he frowned. The leader of the Nightrunner Numbers replied to the Nirvana Saint again, this time his voice infused with righteous passion,

  "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Can you not see that by implementing this plan, we can bring peace and harmony to the Main Cluster, saving many more lives overall and-"

  "Garen." Once more, the Nirvana Saint held up a hand and interrupted Number 1.

  "I can see the impact of your plan. And you are correct. I believe it would save more innocent lives overall, based on the data you have gathered."

  Garen blinked and stared at the man expectantly.

  "However," The Nirvana Saint continued,

  "I cannot accept your methods. They violate the Church's moral boundaries. And thus, this plan is unacceptable."

  Garen stared at the Nirvana Saint for a long moment.

  "I see."

  The Nirvana Saint shrugged apologetically,

  "I appreciate your goals, but we simply do not align here. As a result, I have instructed the Church to pull out of any future Nest feeding plans. Even the method of using criminals as a punishment comes across unpleasantly to me, though I don't fully disagree." The man gave Garen a nod.

  "I understand. We have reached an impasse." Garen sighed.

  The Nirvana Saint merely nodded his head, his eyes peaceful.

  After exchanging a few formal pleasantries, the Nirvana Saint abruptly left. He didn't stay to renegotiate any plans or anything of the sort, and instead seemed to wholeheartedly believe every word he said.

  After Number 1 confirmed that he was truly alone in his office, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

  A brilliant, awe-inspiring and overwhelmingly strong golden aura burst into existence around Garen as he slammed his right hand down on the table in front of him.

  The table exploded into wooden shrapnel and shards of dust, pieces of it catching on fire with golden flames as they scattered into the air. In just a split second, the entire table was burned from existence.

  None of this noise escaped Garen's office thanks to several sound capturing Artifacts that were set up. However, within the office, the palpable rage Number 1 gave off could be physically felt.

  "Every. Way. I. Turn. Constant. Failure." Garen's hands trembled as he stood up from his chair, his eyes bleeding golden light.

  "My original plans were perfect. Nothing should have fallen astray. Leila was a perfect target, I hid every piece of knowledge about her that I could. No one should have detected a thing." His breathing was ragged as he continued,

  "And yet I failed." He could barely control himself,

  "Is it because I planned poorly?" He wasn't Director Prime, after all. He considered himself a tactical genius, but Prime was a real prodigy leagues above him in planning.

  "No. No." He took a few deep breaths, the golden aura and flames vanishing as he slowly smiled,

  "I am Garen Olsteis, the Hero. I have saved countless lives and fought my way to reach the power I currently hold. How many times do I have to learn this lesson…"

  "Why did my plans fail? Because the men I sent out were too weak to overcome the obstacles thrown in their path." He muttered solemnly.

  Had Micheal been here and been willing to offer his opinion, he would've agreed. If Number 14 and Number 11 had been a bit stronger, it was likely they would've killed Micheal for real, and Number 1's plans would've succeeded. Of course, that would assume Micheal wouldn't have adapted his actions to account for stronger enemies.
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br />   "The Hero must always depend on himself. That is the basic tenet. One's personal strength must be overwhelming if he wishes to bear this burden." As Garen spoke to himself, he gradually calmed down, an air of serenity appearing around him.

  "This Nest Feeding program of mine…" Garen raised his right hand slowly and then opened it, letting it fall.

  "I give up on it." It was as if a huge weight had lifted itself from his shoulders. Despite dedicating months of effort, research, and work into this singular goal, Garen was able to abandon it without a second thought as he realized it was no longer feasible.

  Garen admitted his defeat, accepting his failure for what it was.

  "The world is in chaos right now. Prime won't listen to me. Our allies won't listen to me. I can no longer raise a great army to force the world to listen. But all is not lost." Garen reached down and tapped on his Spatial Ring, bringing out a small, round object.

  Number 1 held up the cracked Nest Core, his eyes flashing with dark light. After a moment, he reached down and tapped on a bracelet he wore, customary for all of the Nightrunner Numbers,

  "Number 6." He began, immediately issuing a command. His words would be stored for the next time Number 6 checked.

  "Send in a request and pull up the location of all of the Temporary Nests we control. Once you have that, meet me in Sector 48's Storage Skyscraper. Inform all of the Numbers below you." From Numbers 6 to 14, each and every one was loyal to Number 1, first and foremost, even if they trusted and believed in Prime.

  Number 2, 3, 4, and 5 were all faithful dogs of Prime, but they almost never left the grounds of the two Permanent Nests the Nightrunners controlled or the area near Prime.

  After a moment, Garen added one more command,

  "Also… pull up the location of the Permanent Nest controlled by the Angels Arcadia." He tapped off the Communication Bracelet, his movements steady as he spoke quietly to himself one last time,

  "I will bring peace to this troubled world." He began,

  "Because it is what I must do. After all…" A blip of darkness visibly flashed in his eyes for a brief moment, one that writhed and twisted. One that bled out from his eyes for a single moment, unnoticed by Garen,

  "I am the Hero."

  .. .. .. .. .. ..

  Micheal sat on his knees in a rather formal looking position. This stance was one of the many studying techniques he'd learned back when he was studying the blade at a much lower level.

  While maintaining such a position at his current level was meaningless in regards to increasing his understanding of the blade, it allowed him to help focus his train of thoughts.

  After meeting several of the members of the Hidden Truths Department and getting a general understanding of the basics of their group, Micheal had fully agreed to join them. There was no reason for him to avoid them, after all.

  According to Doctor Isaiah, the experiment that Micheal was needed for was a vital part of their research. His contributions would allow them to figure out several mechanics on how and what exactly the Nests were, things they weren't sure of at the moment.

  Isaiah had spouted off more than a dozen possible theories, each one seeming more fantastic than the next, and added that without this test, they simply couldn't determine everything.

  The Nests could function simply as spawners for the Morenkai, they could function as draws designed to increase the Points of humanity, perhaps they were put in place to moderate the spawning of Morenkai…

  Isaiah said they were certain the Nests operated on some interconnected level with the Morenkai. The key to everything, according to Isaiah, was the Monster Class Nest.

  And the mission Micheal was about to go on involved him infiltrating the Monster Class Nest.

  "Hmm…" He sighed out loud ruefully.

  After he learned the specifics of what they wanted of him, he realized why they wanted someone that was willing to die.

  The plan the Hidden Truths Department had developed was two-pronged.

  First, Micheal was to secretly invade the area of the Monster Class Nest. He was then to draw great attention to himself, all while killing a large number of Abnormals.

  According to Doctor Isaiah, this would draw out at least two Monster Class Morenkai to deal with him.

  In that time period, some of the members of the Hidden Truths Department would secretly infiltrate the Monster Class Nest, using Micheal's actions as a distraction. Micheal just needed to stall briefly and then flee, with Head Cameron appearing to act as his backup.

  Micheal didn't know what else they would be doing because the group hadn't told him. He knew they would be gathering data they desperately needed, but that was it.

  Despite his integral placement in this plan, the group hadn't even told him who the other members of the Hidden Truths Department were. These three members appeared to be the core members of the Godfather Organization that worked in the Department. The other missing members supposedly weren't members of the Godfather Organization at all.

  "I guess they don't fully trust me, yet, huh?" The group was also obsessed with secrecy, something that was on the orders of the Godfather.

  There was never a reason or explanation given as to why Head Cameron had them operate under such extreme secrecy, not that Micheal could tell. But because of that, he was only given the information he needed to know.

  He shrugged the thought away. The group probably didn't want any bit of information about their plan leaked and was minimizing any potential danger as much as possible. Given that they were unknown in history, they appeared to be pretty effective in that regard.

  "I'll find out who they are on the day of the mission, anyway." They couldn't hide from him forever if they were ostensibly going to be cooperating.

  Several moments passed as Micheal breathed in and out, in silent meditation. His Earth Tier Ki was burgeoning in his veins, the powerful energy supporting his very existence.

  He took several more deep breaths, falling into an almost zen-like state of meditation.

  Finally, after several minutes passed, he spoke aloud again.

  "Tomorrow."

  After meeting up with everyone and figuring out his mission, the group hadn't hesitated or delayed their plans. Now that they had him, they could work through everything safely, using information and data stored from years of observation.

  One of the final steps to the grand experiment and mission, one that would affect the future of the Godfather Organization, the Main Cluster, the entire First Layer, and humanity itself…

  It was happening tomorrow.

  "The ultimate truth of the First Layer… I want to know it." Micheal whispered slowly to himself, green energy visibly crackling around him,

  "Can we truly make this world into a paradise…? A way to make Morenkai spawn, but act passively like cattle?" He thought of his little sisters and his parents, family he hadn't seen in more than a decade. Family that would arrive in the First Layer well after he was gone.

  He thought of all the children the Godfather Organization protected, and the ones that they did not get to in time. The babies that were emotionlessly killed by Morenkai, toddlers that had their lives ended, unable to defend themselves.

  Innocent men and women who were killed by their neighbors in fits of rage, greed, or terror. Abnormals killing brave heroes trying to do what was right. Monster Class Morenkai ripping apart those who tried to do good.

  As these thoughts flashed in his mind, the Earth Tier Ki around his body fluttered. A memory from his Heart Trial broke into his head, Isabelle's eerie words echoing,

  'Your soul is stained with a red so black, it could flood the sea itself…'

  Micheal frowned, his eyes narrowing as he forced the crackling Earth Tier Ki to settle down. His heart jumped painfully when he heard Isabelle's voice, memories of his past trying and failing to fight their way up. The voice slipped away, but not before it left one last echoing message,

  'You will never be a hero.'


  Micheal sighed as he forced the thought from his mind, focusing on the present. He rubbed his forehead and shifted his knees, all of a sudden feeling very, very tired.

  "If there is even a small chance that the Hidden Truths Department is right…" Micheal collected his thoughts, his gaze full of steely, silent determination,

  "I have to at least try."

  .

  Chapter 57

  The next day…

  .. .. .. .. .. ..

  Morning sunlight crept in through the blinds of Micheal's room, revealing an empty and rather rumpled bed. The early light shined dimly, largely because Micheal's room faced to the south, neither towards nor away from the dawn. Just like on Earth, this world's Sun rose in the East and set in the West.

  The sounds of running water sounded off faintly, coming from the attached bathroom to Micheal's room. Just above that sound, a haunting melody could be heard, sifting through the morning light.

  ♫ Hello darkness, my old friend… ♫

  ♫ I've come to talk with you again… ♫

  Inside the bathroom, an old-time record player sat on the counter, scratching slightly as it played out one of Micheal's favorite songs, 'The Sound of Silence.'

  A dozen, vanilla-scented candles stood lit all around the bathroom, some on shelves, some alongside the bathtub, a few on the counter near the record player, and even one on the toilet.

  Sitting in the center of that bathtub was Micheal's muscular figure. His arms and legs were packed with muscle, but still somehow managed to seem slim. His skin was bronzed from being outside, but not the slightest bit weathered.

  One benefit from regenerating quite often was that he didn't build up any scars or splotches on his skin. One of the downsides was the difficulty he had in achieving a callus on his hand or foot. It was still possible if he willingly tried to form them, but they appeared much more slowly then they would naturally.

  "Ugh…" Micheal shifted in the tub, his eyes fluttering as he winced in pain.

  The water he was bathing in was a mix of transparent and red. The red tone wasn't from any magical liquid he added or a unique type of soap or shampoo.