December 13th

Ripley

"You want… a sword?" I wasn't sure if I was hearing Diana correctly. Yet, she was holding a blade in front of my eyes, one she'd plucked from the hands of The Bladedaughter.

She looked worried, more than I'd ever seen her before. "Just something capable of withstanding that... woman. I've never felt so... seen-through or useless. It felt like she could cut through anything."

I ruffled my hand through my hair -- remembering all too well that Mei had even cut through Livewire. "Yeah, even I'm not entirely sure my Arachnodyne would withstand her."

"You should have seen her — came in with no hesitation, took both me and the Staff Sergeant out in moments." Diana sighed, before lifting the cuffs of her jeans up to show a gnarly scar by her ankle. "Cut my foot off with a kick. But… at least now I know I can put my dismembered limbs back together."

"God damn? Through the bone?" I leaned down, tracing my claw along the clean cut. A single slice. "Well I think your armor could withstand some attacks, just nothing too strong."

"She's Gold, Ripley. Tier III… I don't want to say it but… we're kind of fucked on this." Diana's hands reached for invisible holds in the air. "Anything in your brain capable of looking for a weakness in her?"

The Bladedaughter, based on Diana's lens-capture of her, had blades on every joint of her body — the name fit. She could dodge and dissect you at the same time, had reaction speed comparable to when I used Hypermind, and not to mention used the same electromagnetic blade principle as the R0N1N.

She had range, speed, power, and penetration — all the while I didn't have the slightest true insight into the inner workings of her Shardware. "Honestly, we're not going to be able to defend much from her, for that I'd need time to reinvent a few Warp Materials into alloys beyond just Yttrium Steel… but I think we could outdamage her. I got a steady supply of Dianium in production from your bone marrow, if you're good with it… you could sink it up her nose and pierce right into her brain."

Not that the Bladedaughter would ever let that happen. Diana tapped her chin, looking like she was seriously considering that option.

Fuck, I had to steer her away now from doing something stupid.

"Alternatively… I'd suggest you just fry her circuitry to the point that I can get a few good hits on her." Bladedaughter had allowed to let me live, but that same grace wasn't guaranteed for Diana — while our chances of beating her were slim, we could get her to retreat. "A shot into the eye will be lethal."

"Right, Shard Adapters don't heal from brain damage." Diana followed along. "How's the look through my suit gone?"

"It's a damn masterpiece." I whistled. "Complex, Shardware built for an electrokinetic Esper has to be — damn thing could be struck by lightning ten times and it would only get more powerful."

"I still haven't gotten a hang of using it." She lowered her voice. "Doesn't feel right, wearing it all the time."

"Hey, it can be a symbol of you taking shit seriously." I consoled her. "You don't always need to wear the suit to be powerful — but when you do, that's when thunder strikes twice!" I added with some flair.

"Lightning." She corrected me sternly, before a weird look melted over her cheeks and mouth as she giggled.

"What?" I didn't see what was so funny.

She let out a thick sigh. "Just… you don't need to wear that mask or the goggles to be really weird. Ripley Donovick can be very…"

She struggled to find the words so I helped her. "Endearing."

"Yeah, endearingly weird." She said with a sly look before coughing herself into serious-mode. "And uh, how's the vaccine going?"

"Experimenting with Topaz's blood right now, I think it could prove some use in exterminating Soul Killer's Mutations — Quartz is also helping me out with his weird mystical genetics insight, but more on the Implant side of things. Otherwise, I've actually been making quite a bit of progress with Anthony's treatment and..." I wasn't eager on saying too much too soon.

"You are?" I saw rays of light brighten in her eyes.

"Still experimenting… but I think I could have a viable mutagenic cure ready by the new year." That was all I said to end it. She tried to press on, but it wasn't Anthony who I was scared of discussing. It was Anabelle, and more accurately -- that anomaly within her. An isolated ego of Soul Killer's... similar to how the Crimson Heart was an isolated Kaisel Clone.

I hadn't been back to her in a while. Truth be told, I ghosted her after figuring out she was both an ally of Skeleton, and a former piece of Soul Killer's hivemind, but Diana informed me that Dryder was busy working something out with Crimson Souls. Regardless, Anabelle and her parasite remained a complex factor in the grand scheme of plans for this city... and removing her would mean receiving an Implant that could save my mother.

Looking at Diana, her growing excitement as I showed holograms of blades and potential features of the weapon, my Personality Matrix manually worked to erode any guilt before it could arise. I had to prevent myself from feeling, otherwise her Soul Resonance would pick it up. I was sure she felt a few off fluctuations from me, with the way her eyes swiped at mine or the nervous flinches when I got a little close, but she never raised her doubts.

Eventually, she left my clinic with her briefcase and I sighed from relief. The upcoming mission was nerve-wrecking… the less I told her, the better.

The less I told her, the less she'd hate me. My goal was fundamentally different from hers, I was ensuring Bladedaughter's survival of her sect while letting any men loyal to her father and Skeleton to die. Whereas Diana needed both of Father and Daughter dead… and those Implants to be taken back into police custody.

I overlooked my schedule and preparation. If everything went to plan, she'd never know a thing.

Because the murder of Anabelle Grazhe would be the perfect distraction.

———

Diana

Holding the wooden blade up, I let my focus slim down on Kim Liyung — her body had slim Shardware modifications on the surface… but deeper in, there was a thick branching series of Neurowing coursing beneath her mutated muscles. And an Endoskeletal coating atop her organic bones.

Unlike others, I didn't feel a Resonance from her that I could properly read. Instead I felt like I'd become blinded by a wall of flowing ink. When she moved her arm and blade, it was like the world moved with her like paint from a brushstroke. She was telekinetic of sorts, but an odd one. A green glow encompassed every attack of hers, the air igniting with every movement into a verdant flame.

A flame that packed a physical punch. I let it strike my practice sword, and then the sword moved to twist out of my grasp. I had to wrestle the blade down, otherwise it would fly into her grasp and she'd just whack me with it while I was defenseless before saying something about an incorrect grip while never properly explaining to me what was wrong.

Motions of silver and green blurred, our steps shuffling back aforth amidst cleaving, lunging, prodding, slicing, thrusting and deflecting. There was a casual ease to each of her movements while I struggled to even take a step towards her, she could read into the slightest start of everything I did. There was no way to misdirect her, to falter her, to trick her.

She was a Dual Adapter. Her mind and body were both subjected to Warp Energy, Three Features supplemented the backbone of her Mutations, and according to her files, they were Analyze, Database and Energized. She was accredited with dozens of successful Murmasa takedown operations, and was a star in conduct and professional behavior. Her reports were clean and succinct — except for their details.

Kim Liyung was a born killer. I wasn't sure what her life had been when she was raised to be a Princess of Muramasa, but the Bladefather expected his children to be warriors who were ruthless and efficient. To be forged by way of tempering with spilled blood and clashing steel. Only the best children were offered Silver… which meant to be offered two Silvers and become a Dual Adapter, Kim was special even among their ranks.

I was glad she was not our enemy. Her blade was sharp, but at least it swung away from us.

At least before this training. By the end of the first few bouts, she had looked bored while I was a gasping mess — and I had intense metabolism.

"How was my performance?" I asked, wanting some critique from a professional.

"Adequate… but lacking." She let go of the practice sword, the wood floating and stowing onto the side as a green liquid seeped out of it and back to Kim's hands. I was sort of understanding her Mutation now, but…

I had Sabrina to thank for actually explaining it to me.

Ectoplasm. That was the name of the Warp Material she produced, a liquid capable of soaking into any material and allowing her to wield a telekinetic control over them — it drifted through the air as an unseen poison, one she could manipulate and form shapes with. In high concentrations, it could even act as shields, limbs, or even soak you to the point that it could crush your organs.

That made sense for her Tendencies as well. The Earth Tendency seemed to be present in her Mutagenic side as ectoplasm solidified into the world around us, but a faint hum from her BUG felt like whispers of wind — the Air Tendency reached far to every corner of the space around us.

She was comparable to a Gold in every way, maybe even…

Fuck, was she better than me? I wouldn't have liked to say I was overconfident, but I was sure that at Tier II… I was probably one of the strongest around the Tier. If not from my Gold and Mutations, then from my skills, physique, and training.

Kim strode deeper into the hallways of the SIO building's training center, and I felt compelled to follow her. Deep down, where we were going, were the Special Investigator wreck rooms. I technically could visit it anytime, considering I was an Associate Special Investigator, but a part of me wanted to wait until the accreditation was legitimate.

This was where Special Investigators pushed themselves to the limit. The equipment was top-notch from scenario simulators to punching bags that felt like concrete to a shooting range that spanned hundreds of yards. Quite a few people were here, they all looked at me with surprise and then at Kim with… apprehensiveness.

Kim ended up at the gun range, and I was in a challenging mood today. "Want to compete?"

"Are you a sore loser?" She asked, her eyes narrowing down.

"Hardly." I picked up a scopeless rifle, single-shot and ballistic. A Magna Rengten.

"How many guns can I use?" She trailed her fingers across multiple weapons, as though trying to choose the right one.

"As… many as you normally use?" Did she dual-wield pistols? Maybe I should do the same to make it an even playing ground.

Instead, seven rifles began to float and form a batallion around her. There was a cryptic glow in her eyes as she stood there without a weapon in her hand, only pointing her finger as targets began to appear for both of us.

I was quick as my finger squeezed trigger after aim after shifting, I was accurate — more accurate than her.

But I was one gun against seven. Even if I landed perfect headshots, the sheer quantity of the hellstorm she unleashed was impossible to weigh against. Kim was a monster of tremendous power as bullets stormed down the distance between us and the targets.

I had an accuracy of 99% but had only managed half of the targets she did. Kim took in the score retelling with a disinterest, only turning to me to say one thing. "You're better with a gun than a sword."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"I am." I gritted, unwilling to admit my frustration at the significantly higher target-count she had.

Then she asked me a question unprompted for the first time. "How much have you practiced with your telekinesis?"

"Not much…" I admitted, before she nodded and guided me to a room where scrap and debris were everywhere. "Here, pick up as much as you can and defend."

"Defend from what?" I began zapping bits of metal around me.

"Me." Her indifferent gaze was terrifying as a green glow extended around the piles of broken concrete, wood, stone and metal.

I barely had time to call a shield before a conglomerated orb smashed into me with the force of a cannonball. Then, that green glow tried to infect my own collected scrap… with a tug of gold, I burned it away and saw Kim visibly flinch. "Hot…"

She then began to float, her hair flying into the wind as ethereal ghost hands pulled out of the air like they were clawing from another realm. "Try to burn this too."

Each hand dove in like a dragonfly, mere streaks that obliterated my shield until one grabbed me by the throat, until I used pure Gold to cinder it. She flinched again… was she actually getting hurt from what I did?

They began to punch and jab all around me, so I assorted to rising to clutching my control over the scrap around me and sending each shard into an orbit. I'd remembered roughly how I created that metal storm from when I fought Soul Killer — albeit, it was instinctual and brought upon by Soul Trigger.

That mutation was my clearest chance for victory against Bladedaughter. It was difficult to trigger when in non-stressful situations — but when tensions ran high and pressure compounded, my Soul grew denser under the weight of it. Igniting.

Sparking. A whir of green wind and metal barraged at each other, a mist of ectoplasm breathing upon me and seeping inside my body. It was nauseating, like the ground was twisting and my blood was melting my muscles into goo.

You're resilient. I felt the need to think that, but it wasn't my thought.

Kim folded her arms, a look of surprise on her when I gripped the Fire Tendency and burned the drench of Ectoplasm off me. She clicked her tongue, and then vanished in a streak of green, an aura-like glow encompassing her as she charged through me.

I was prepared to let her bleed amidst the storm of shards, but the last thing I expected was to feel a punch crumple around my ribs — and the unassuming strength behind it. Even with my kinetic softening physiology, I rolled and thrashed on the ground, barely having a moment before a green hand materialized around my throat and dragged me back to her.

Her physical hand encompassed the green glow until it looked like a crystalline armor had formed around her fist. Even with my legs off the ground, I found purchase to twist above the mountain-shaking jab as a thundering boom of force erupted from my hands — and I twisted my thoughts within my body to float above her.

She smirked, actually showing some emotion, before the gauntlet flew from her hands and into my chest once more. It hit, pained, and sank into me like a bullet reaching into my chest and heart and gripping it. In fact… it very much did.

My body choked as blood stopped flowing through me.

One squeeze and she could have blown my heart apart, instead she reached for my lungs. Breath tore from my throat as green mist drained oxygen from out of my mouth, my lungs deflating and leaving me weak. But I'd had a recent Meta-Mutation to circumvent the need of air for some moments.

My nails sharpened and fangs bit blood from my mouth, as my soul triggered from the pain and anger at having my heart lost to me. Kim's eyes widened as air, metal and lightning erupted towards her, a haze of green hardening in the air like shields that grated and tore against my claws.

I hadn't even realized it, but the Dianium I'd absorbed from when I killed Soul Killer's Nexus bled through my skin and around my fingers. I slashed through the verdant mist, slashing her cheek open as she stepped back with her eyes widened.

Widened with glee, a crazed satisfaction and need twisted within her glowing jade eyes. "Oh, so I don't need to hold back."

She stepped back, her body flowing like it had become weightless as her silver energy hardened around her hands and manifested a green katana. I didn't hold back at the sight, lightning violently thrashed around my body.

One good hit and she'd be dead.

I didn't even bother contemplating that thought when I'd shot right towards her. My claws aimed at her chest, to do the same to her heart as she'd done to me. Then the hesitation hit in, the realization that I was intending to take the life of a fellow police officer.

She didn't share that same hesitation. I couldn't twitch a muscle before that jade blade severed my head from my shoulders. Or it should have. Instead, weakness fell across my body, like my soul had just been discharged into nothingness, and my legs wobbled down to the ground with my torso following.

"What the hell?!" I groaned weakly, paralyzed from the neck down. Her Mutations were weird. They had to be Deviant Mutations like my own, to be able to affect the 'soul'. Energy still flowed from my body and legs, but my brain was completely blanked out and unable to control them… not for a few seconds until they lost their charge.

"You have a resilient spirit." The jade blade vanished from her hands. "I wasn't expecting you to be able to hurt me."

"Can… can I get some explanation about what you just did?" I found the weakest leverage to push myself up, but my body was shaking.

She looked at me contemplatively, sighing before indulging my request. "Implants draw Warp Energy and spread it through your body. These focal points where Warp Energy originates are akin to Cores in MAL. I severed the flow of Warp Energy within you, but had I slashed into your heart where a SIM's focal point is — you would have died."

None of that was ever explained in any textbooks... was this stuff she learned from her father?

"And your sword passes through matter?" I rubbed my neck. There was no wound at all.

"It can, but doing so is…" She breathed, her skin was paler than before and the resonance she evoked was barely breathing. "Taxing. It requires meticulous control of my Mutations."

"And you use your BUG side for that, I gather?" Being a Dual Adapter was unfair.

She sighed. "Since we will be working together, I suppose a proper explanation is merited. Of the three Features I have… Energized works through the fine layer of neurowiring under my skin along with subdermal sensors which attunes me to the world around me. Database contains a catalog of materials, I can't possess everything, I need to know its exact molecular structure to be able to do so, and Analyze helps me achieve that."

"And then you have… a Deviant Mutation." I wasn't willing to have to hide my knowledge of that.

She didn't look surprised at my deduction. She only met its challenge. "As do you. I could feel a probing sensation from you. I can extend my presence beyond myself, even into Shardware to a degree. Partially sensory, partially mobile, I produce a liquid-form of my thought that can disperse through the air at my discretion. Even pass it into the bodies of others and attack their Warp Energy directly."

"I get it… I can feel Warp Energy -- if you wanted to know that. Resonate with it." I let myself open just slightly. By now, most people who knew what Deviant Mutations were likely expected me to have one. How else was I immune to Soul Killer?

"Not just sense it." Kim scoffed. "You react with it — did you know your eyes turned silver and red when you tried to kill me?"

"What?"

"Red on the outside, silver inside." Kim was beginning to look bored by the conversation. She had picked up her stuff and was already beginning to leave.

I sat there for a moment in silence, my thoughts wandering on unmarked paths aimlessly… because they were just trying to run away. Red sclera, silver eyes.

"Fuck." I groaned — was that the effect of absorbing Soul Nexus? How much more of his Mutation could I take before something seriously weird happened to me?

I decided to guide my thoughts back to the Special Investigator training. I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders… but luckily, I was stronger than I'd ever been.

The Spark Tendency was an overall multiplier. According to Starlight, it also had the side-effect of being entirely unsubtle. While not to the degree of Quartz's perception-snatching presence, whenever I channelled my Spark Tendency, I'd noticed a lot more eyes on me.

They'd compliment me by saying I looked brighter, more happy, anything other than a cold bitch. With Flame, I'd always been perceived more as… unruly.

Warp Energy manipulated perception, quite literally allowing you to feel and grasp another's consciousness with your senses. Quartz and Topaz were evidence. Hell, Soul Trigger worked on that premise.

And that Mutation was such a wildcard, I could invoke both 'heroic might' and 'ravenous demon' depending on my attunement to others and myself… but in the end, the light within me was brightest. Especially when the two tendencies combined into the Lightning Tendency. It was just as bright and empowering as Spark, but manifested the same destructive potential as Flame. Along with draining twice as much Warp Energy at once — that was its fatal cost.

I was sure, very sure, that for moments I could surpass a Tier IIIs strength — but it was just moments. That was all I needed. If Ripley and I could open up an opportunity for Kim to slice into Bladedaughter with her Soul-severing blade… that was it.

We would win.

Which is why I ended up in the bathroom… of course. I didn't even deny my inclination towards these cubicles becoming both a haven and torture device to me, but at least it was quiet. I sat on a toilet seat, lifting up my arm as vials floated up from my purse.

My Mutations had grown rapidly through the feasting of Soul Killer's various MALs, but Ripley had sourced me with something else. Lifting up the SIMs to my face, they were all focused on Integrity or Metabolism Mutations. I had enough Capacity for one more to be created.

It burned too much Warp Energy to constantly feed electricity into my strength while at the same time manipulating my physiology to be more powerful, while also wielding electromagnetic telekinesis. Not to mention, my output of maximal strength now was beginning to strain my body. If I punched hard enough, I would crack my bones — which would only further drain me.

The trick was simple, Moira and Ripley had both discussed it in their occasional calls with eachother. I was already metabolizing inorganic material and sedimenting it throughout my body, they said that perhaps I should try… pushing that to it's limits.

Holding the collection of Irons, Bronzes and even a Silver from the telekinetic Nexus that Ripley had killed during our team up in the Pleasure Lanes, I cut my hand with a Dianium-coated nail and let the crimson dew soak into each of them.

This would have been suicide for any other SIM Adapter. This much Mutagen at once was a poison that could pervert your mind and body into irreversible disaster.

But yet, I let the swarm of insects come to life, I let them feed on my skin and muscle as they dug deep like a worm to an apple. My skin grew scarred under a thick pathwork of glowing gray, bronze and silver blood vessels — the water from when I washed my hands in the sink hissed into steam.

As pain twisted through my arteries, veins, and nerves like razors shaving flesh off, my wet eyes looked upwards. I could feel so much electricity, especially those Neuroframes that I was so good at shooting. Each metal computer housed on a person's neck — and here… I knew those people. They were my coworkers and… friends.

I could feel them. Beyond just electrical signals, beyond blood, beyond steel.

I could feel their fear. How it clouded their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Some were greedy, eager to steal and make a quick Shed from their own subtle misdeeds when they were supposed to be stopping crime. More than a few were vengeful, putting themselves and others in harm's way if it meant putting a bullet in the head of everyone they hated.

And the fewest… were those who actually wanted to make a change.

It didn't matter how strong or weak their fears were, the only thing that determined the strength to which I could sense was their Tier or Grade. The emotions… they only served as a frequency upon which I could resonate with if I felt the same.

Because… I did. I was scared, beyond it. Almost everyone I knew was going to deal with Muramasa sooner, than later. Almost a hundred were already dead. If I wasn't strong enough… I'd lose people again. But if I was too strong, it would be me who hurt them.

The warmth within me pulsed to that thought, like a ripple of water from a dropped stone.

How ironic, I didn't even have the Water Tendency to equate that metaphor. It was a shame I wasn't an expert in electrical engineering… what would Ripley have said? That humorous thought of mine quickly had to come to an end, as warm as it made me feel…

Sometimes, I questioned why I had the feelings I did for Ripley. He was so far detached from what I typically wanted. So, I occasionally let myself believe that it was our mutual sharing of an implant's MAL. But it was more than that.

He… fought. He carved his name into the every Netsite our eyes glazed with, spreading like a wildfire. I respected that… but it had been his reverence for the things close to him that made me… feel. It wasn't just his mother, or Shardware, or his girlfriend — Ripley was a man full of emotion for the world around him. Shitty as it was, Personality Matrix or not, his demeanour was born from the fact that he cared.

He was thoughtful, observant, and contemplative.

And yet, he'd been through so much that tore him down. If it hadn't been him who got the Gold, what would they have done? What if Shaun, or Yuzhou, or The Dogwhistler had their hands on it — that power to rewrite Implants and weave devastating machinery. It was only Ripley who could wield the BUG the way it deserved.

As for me… what made me special? My birth? My connection to Brian Ulrich? I hated that, I scorned it. And yet, it was a privilege that, like it or not, I'd fed upon. A malady as much as it was a remedy. It put me into a position of influence, of safety, of potential. But none of that was what made me different.

I'd known what it was like living at the top and looking down upon others, I'd known what it was like starving at the bottom and hoping they'd look down on you. I'd known what it was like to be looked at like an object — and I'd known what it was like to look at another person and only seeing them as a blood splatter you could squeeze out.

Fuck Brian Ulrich, that was my priveledge. That was my responsibility — a fucking tall ask of myself, but dammit I'd do it. One step at a time.

I'd bring a resonating harmony to these people, to guide their aching voices away from despair… and let a hopeful thunder ring out across the city.

And I would be the lightning that signals it.

Development: 35%

Tier II Mutations:

[G] Soul Resonance [Energy/Metabolism]: 42% [1 GC]

[G] Soul Trigger [Energy/Alteration]: 22% [1 GC]

[G] Electrosomatic Organism [Metabolism/Cognition]: 47% [16(15) GC]

[G] Limited Morphology Manipulation [Alteration]: 39% [18 GC]

[G] Electromagnetic Domain [Energy/Cognition]: 46% [15(14) GC]

[G] Kinetic-Thermal Catalyst [Energy/Metabolism]: 37% [14(13) GC]

[G] Inorganic Metabolism [Metabolism/Integrity]: 45% [16 GC]

[G] Energetic Release [Energy]: 12% [25(24) GC]

Gene Capacity: 102/126

Integrity: Bronze VIII

Energy: Bronze X

Capacity: Bronze IX

Grade: Gold VI

Fire Tendency: Bronze X

Spark Tendency: Iron XA new Mutation is forming...----

At the end of the day, Kim reappeared, accompanied by Sabrina. They looked... at ease with one another. Sabrina was officially conscripted into our Bladedaughter hit-squad, so I was glad that at least their break-up wouldn't impact the mission.

But Sabrina's heart felt off. I'd noticed it, here and there, discrepancies between how she acted and what I felt from her. But fear wasn't one of those feelings that spoke through her actions.

Lately, all I saw beneath her smiling figure was cold, indifferent resolve. That grin, those jokes, the exaggerated mannerisms... nothing matched the sheer sense of duty I felt buried within her soul.

Unfortunately, I had no time to question it as the mission drew near. Kim decided to learn just how well I could regenerate myself. In her words, her sister would inevitably cut me no matter how well I fought.

She decided the best way to learn my limits would be to cut my hand off mid-duel.

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