“So,” Administrator Gamma said, “This is pretty unusual. The whole, having a conversation with an Administrator before reaching B Grade. Not unprecedented, mind you, but unusual.”
Kyle was still frozen, suspended in space. From his view, he couldn’t see the Administrator, or even change his field of vision. He couldn’t move, not even to speak.
“Right, you haven’t gotten the whole telepathy thing figured out quite yet. Let’s see here, a quick adjustment to the temporal field… and you should be good. Go ahead and try again.”
“Who are you?” Kyle asked, forming the first question to come to his mind.
“Classified,” she replied.
“Why did you come?” Kyle asked.
“Also classified. But as I’m sure you gathered from the discussion earlier, there are certain rules of conduct that are enforced, and the Progenitor broke one of those. Thus, I had to intervene.”
“And Zierlan didn’t break any of those rules?” Kyle asked.
“Not directly. It’s a ‘letter of the law’ versus ‘spirit of the law’ issue, and he’s walking a very fine line on that front. Still, that brings me to one of the important items for us to review as it comes to your recompense.”
A sheet of glass materialized in front of Kyle, and he could see himself reflected clearly. Deep bruising was visible on his arms and legs, and blood stained his face where he’d coughed it up earlier. The most notable thing he saw, however, was seared into his stomach. The formation Zierlan created to extract Kyle’s Core of the Parasitic Devourer was present on his flesh, glowing with a cold purple light.
Administrator Gamma gave Kyle a moment to look at his reflection, then spoke. “This is your first issue. The formation is complex, and touches on concept you’re nowhere near ready to comprehend yet. Leaving it etched into your flesh pretty much guarantees that if you meet Zierlan again, he’ll be able to activate it, and you’ll be right back where you are today. With the caveat that a Progenitor won’t be showing up to save you, that is.”
That’s… a problem, Kyle thought. “Won’t your Sanction prevent him from doing anything?” He asked, remembering the Administrator’s words.
“Nominally, yes. Until your personal power grows enough to stand on your own, he’ll face pretty severe consequences if he confronts you directly. Of course, nothing is perfect. There are workarounds, and the Sanction will naturally lose power over time.”
“How long does it last?” Kyle asked, suppressing a creeping dread.
“Assuming you don’t ascend to C Grade or beyond, it’ll last for the rest of your lifespan. Each grade you ascend will decrease that by a substantial degree. If you make it to C Grade, you’ll only have a century or 2 left. B Grade, if you can get there in time, will only give you a few years.”
Kyle considered the information. He had some time, at least. Still… “Is it safe to assume that Zierlan is an A Grade?”
“Classified,” Administrator Gamma replied.
“Damn,” Kyle said. If that was the case, there wasn’t much Kyle could do. Even if he made it to B Grade, he’d be no match for Zierlan. A few years at that level simply wouldn’t give him the time he’d need to put up a decent fight against an A Grade. And while Kyle wouldn’t push the Administrator, he had a strong feeling that Zierlan wasn’t a weakling, even among A Grades.
“Don’t get too distracted!” Gamma admonished. “There’s still the second issue, which is the homing feature he added to the formation.”
Before Kyle’s eyes, he saw a pattern of the burned in sigils light up faintly, as though the Administrator was highlighting them for his view.
“With that, it would be a trivial matter for him to track you down, wherever you go. I’m not saying that he does have allies, but if he did, he could send them after you in a heartbeat to work around the Sanction as well. Not to mention that it will be feeding on your own energy to fuel itself, crippling you horribly! All this to say, the sigil is a death sentence for you. Fortunately, I have a solution!”
There was a cheeriness in the Administrator’s voice that made Kyle uncomfortable. “And what would that be?” He asked.
“I could remove it for you, of course! Well, more accurately, I can help you remove it,” she said.
“All due respect, but if it was put there by an A Grade, I don’t think that I’ll be doing much removing,” Kyle replied. “Also, C.H.A.D.D., what do you think? You’ve been awfully quiet back there.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” Gamma replied. “I had to freeze the flow of mana in the area to stop you from exploding. Your friend in the pack needs mana to flow in order to function, and given its attachment to you through your skill, allowing that would be a bad idea. So, it’s a little frozen as a result. It’ll be able to perceive everything when we’re done, but that’s about all I can do without risking an unfortunate end to our conversation.”
“I see,” Kyle said. “And you can just shut off the flow of mana in a given area?”
“That’s right,” Gamma said. “As for you being able to remove the formation, you can’t do much with it on your own. But what if somebody made it more digestible? Changed the properties so that, instead of being sustained by your energy, pieces of it were able to be broken down? Turned into fertilizer, perhaps?”
“And you can just… do that?” Kyle asked, skepticism in his voice.
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“Well, sort of. Look, I’ll be direct with you. Everything that happened here was wrong. There’s a reason your Collective has rule about specifically targeting individuals too far beneath one’s power. Occasionally, we get called in when that happens, something the powers that be don’t want to have a hand in.
“When violations occur, it’s our job to come in and try to restore balance. In this case, you and your companion were aggrieved, although not to the level that would have drawn my attention had the Progenitor not intervened. The circumstances surrounding your encounter with Zierlan were just cosmically bad luck. As such, the remedy I can offer you is somewhat limited. My Sanction has a pretty narrow scope, but I think that we can get a little creative with how we handle the sigil. Assuming, of course, that you would like it removed?”
“Obviously,” Kyle replied, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. Would it kill anybody to just be direct?
“Good!” Gamma said. “A much better choice than dying. Now, get ready. We’ve already established that Zierlan’s mana is too much for you on its own. So, I’m going to make some adjustments. Strip away the concepts that were woven in, and destabilize the formations. Most of the power should be lost as leakage when that happens. Except that I plan on leaving small packages of energy behind. What you do with them is up to you, but I’m sure that you’ll find them useful.”
“Wait,” Kyle said. “What exactly is a Progenitor? How does it fit into this mess? Was Zierlan involved in what happened to Earth?”
There was a momentary pause before Administrator Gamma responded. “I can give you answers to some of those questions,” she said, voice serious. “If I do, that will be the recompense for your situation. You’ll have to handle the sigil on your own. It’s your choice.”
“Dammit,” Kyle said. “Fine. Get the sigil handled, please.” He wanted answers, now more than ever, but survival came first.
“Then hold on, because this is probably going to be painful.” With those words, Kyle felt a gentle tingling across his stomach, slowly growing in intensity. As it did, he saw the runic formation on his stomach begin to glow and distort. The sensation continued to intensify, quickly turning into an uncontrollable itch, then a burning fire.
“Good luck! I get the feeling we’ll meet again!”
With that, Administrator Gamma’s presence faded, time resumed, and gravity reasserted itself.
Kyle fell to the ground in an unceremonious heap, his legs and arms unable to support his weight after the damage he’d done with Repel. That pain was nothing compared to the searing pain across his midsection.
Through Synaptic Barbs, he could feel his flesh burning and rippling as the multi-layered formation was broken. With each rune that was destroyed, most of the energy was released into the air with a sharp burst, though some of the remnant mana began to coalesce near his center. What was left had no intent, no affinity or purpose that Kyle could feel. It was simply a blob of incredibly high-quality energy that slowly absorbed into his body.
[DR. MAYHEW, WHAT HAPPENED?]
“I’ll… tell you… later…” Kyle managed through gritted teeth. Though the pain was nothing compared to what he’d suffered at Zierlan’s hands, it took all of his focus to circulate the pockets of remnant mana. If it hadn’t been for Jarberry’s training, he probably couldn’t have managed it at all.
Each of the small pieces left behind were incredibly dense, reminding him of when he tried to draw power directly from the World Tree Seed. If his mana flowed like water, these moved like molasses; slow and thick. It was uncomfortable to say the least, and with the sigils being continually dispersed, the motes of mana were accumulating at a shocking pace.
A stabbing pain threatened his focus as he felt something in his hip tear. Too much of the mana had accumulated there, causing his body to suffer the consequences. Kyle growled, redoubling his effort on moving the energy. More small tears began to appear across his body as the motes increased in number. Other than trusting Adaptive Regeneration, he didn’t have much else he could do. All of his active energy was spent circulating his energy toward 2 places; his Core of the Parasitic Devourer, and the World Tree Seed.
Slowly, painfully, the first stream of energy connected to the World Tree Seed. Kyle had the forethought to connect to the item directly, bypassing C.H.A.D.D., and he was glad that he did. He could only imagine the havoc the dense mana would have wreaked on his companion. The World Tree Seed was a different story.
The moment the first bit of mana was absorbed, Kyle felt a gentle pull through his connection. Circulation became much easier as the natural treasure quietly drained the A Grade energy, storing the power without any issue whatsoever. This was a good thing, as his Core of the Parasitic Devourer had a very… different reaction.
Kyle expected the core to greedily consume the high-quality mana. He could still feel the stabbing pain as it writhed and stirred within his center, clearly agitated and active. However, when he tried to guide it toward his center, its reaction was wholesale rejection. For some reason, it wanted nothing to do with the morsels of power Kyle offered it.
Time seemed to stretch for hours as Kyle kept pushing energy toward the World Tree Seed, the pain slowly easing as more and more of the sigil disappeared. Finally, what felt like an eternity later, the last piece of the formation broke apart. He carefully shepherded the last remnants of mana through his connection to the World Tree Seed, then allowed his focus to relax as he used Healing Impetus in his arms and legs.
Pain washed over him once more as he felt bones mend and flesh knit together, the sensation beginning to give way to relief the longer he waited. Unfortunately, a loud bellow told him that time wasn’t on his side.
[AN ABOMINATION IS APPROACHING, DR. MAYHEW. I AM STILL VERY INTERESTED IN LEARNING WHAT HAPPENED, BUT YOU MAY WANT TO SEEK SHELTER.]
Kyle stood, wincing as his weight rested on shaky legs. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do. He activated Ignition, and immediately doubled over in pain. His eyes widened as he realized the problem. Forcing that power through his pathways had left damage all throughout his body, damage that would take time to mend. While his other skills could still function, Ignition was too much for his body to handle in its current state.
“How close is it, C.H.A.D.D.?” Kyle asked, gasping as he composed himself. The Core of the Parasitic Devourer shot another piercing pain through his stomach. This is not good.
[IT IS NEARLY HERE, DR. MAYHEW.]
As if on cue, the ground shook as the monstrosity’s hand grabbed the ledge of the outcropping, pulling its bulk up behind it.
It roared.
No, Kyle thought, staring at the creature with defiance blazing in his heart. We’re not going to let it end like this.
It raised a massive fist, swinging directly at Kyle. Even without Ignition, it was an attack he’d seen before. Kyle ducked, even before the punch was thrown. He wasn’t sure what his plan would be, but he refused to die at the hands of one of Zierlan’s experiments.
That, it seemed, was a sentiment that the Core of the Parasitic Devourer agreed with. Tendrils of Parasitic Resonance, more than he’d ever created before, lashed out and dug deeply. Kyle felt himself be emptied of mana as he instinctively poured in every ounce that he had, suppressing the creature’s core.
Then he pushed in more. And more. He felt a vague sense of approval, and as the last of his mana was pressed in, he felt something give way. The creature roared once more, then its body shuddered. It fell to the ground, lifeless, as a wave of energy returned to Kyle, entering his Core.
His vision blurred from the exertion, and he could barely make out the resplendent colors of the shrike alpha approaching him as his consciousness faded away.
