2:45 PM

December 19th

Ripley

When I closed my eyes, all I saw were those jade gems within the Bladefather's. His aged face was growing more familiar each second I traced its features…

Because it was the R0N1N's.

Defragmentation confirmed that. Without a scrap of doubt, they were identical; the only difference was that one was older than the other. How such a resemblance came to be, I wasn't sure…

All I knew was that slowly, whatever information in the Warpcode Bladefather sent to me through the Catalyst was slowly being deciphered. Braving The Dogwhistler, my mind had been under immense stress. Combined with the residual pending updates of my fight with Steel Vanguard, I was getting stronger.

Psyche has updated to V.3.22

Effects:

Increased resilience to Daemons

Increased ability to separate consciousness away from harmful Warpcode.

Increased ability to dissassociate from reality.

Increased ability to ignore psychological sources of doubt.

Slightly increased cognition speed.

Shardweave has updated to V.3.15

Effects:

Massive increase to repair of Shardware the Adapter is currently using.

Increased analytical ability of foreign Shardware.

Increased understanding of Exo-suit Shardware.

Increased understanding of force-manipulating Shardware.

Increase to durability-enhancing effects of Warp Energy on Warp Materials.

Slight increase to understanding of Bioware.

Slight Bioware application to Protocol: Warpweb

Increase to understanding of Mutagenic applications in Shardware.

Increase to Mutagenic alteration using nanomachinery.

Database has updated to V.4.11

Effects:

Increased effectiveness of Starlight Synchronization with foreign Adapters

Increased recovery speed of Starlight while housed in the Adapter's systems.

Increased Manipulation of Starlight Warpcode by the Adapter.

Data Mimicry has updated to V.3.22

Effect:

Reduced emittance of Warp signature during mimicry.

Increased control over Warp signature.

Increased ability to detect signatures of Mutational Warp Energy.

Slightly increased ability to decipher Mutational Warp Energy.

Increased ability to mimic Warp Energy signatures of synchronized foreign Adapters.

Reduced drawback of synchronizing with SIM Adapters.

My Updates were… all over the place. Only Database remained consistent with improving Starlight, speaking of. "That whole… thing I did with the speaking… works out with our deal?"

"Depends. You meant what you said to Diana?"

"Every word of it." I said honestly. "So you're fine with distracting her?"

"I… wouldn't call myself fine with lying to her. I just… I don't want you two to fight." She sheepishly said. "She'll need my help either way with Anabelle, whenever the two of you decide to… y'know."

Twilight appeared in my vision simultaneously, looking a little worse for wear with strands of her hair frizzled and her dress tattered. "You… really do not want to be anywhere near where the Dogwhistler works."

Starlight shifted her gaze away from her mother, a hint of fear in there. Twilight respected that, but her disturbed frown put an air of rigidity between them. "I… it's difficult to communicate with her in this state, everything I've told you is what I figured out from some stray Personas. She's beginning to pull back, but… expect echoes to remain here. To keep a watch out for when Yuzhou gets involved for your escape. They'll get here any minute."

"Which means… I'll need to get out soon." I sighed mentally.

"We still have the Constellation on standby." Starlight reminded.

"Yeah, but can't send it in when the Bladefather's out there. Speaking of, what's that looking like?" I looked over to Twilight, who sighed.

"Task Force Alpha just engaged."

———

The Bladefather

The Northern Ward looked like a giant had crushed it underfoot, death and destruction everywhere for the city to see. Aerodynes watched from afar, believing themselves safe from the Bladefather's eyre… they were wrong. He could end them if he wished, but he wanted to be watched.

He had been far too merciful today. Perhaps it was repentance, or doubt, or an escape from the fate he was so familiar with.

Crimson Queen erupted from the rubble he'd sent down onto her, the Heart sat on the shoulder of her bulky suit as a red veil protected them both. "Lookin' tired, Ken!"

"Hardly." Bladefather looked down upon the armored woman. Her red suit was a defilement of orderly combat. Relying on brutal strength and an arsenal of weapons lacking skill to use. That axe she wielded most prominent on his list of ruination.

It flew through the air, propelled by expulsions of force through it's edge — making it appear like it was almost bouncing off trampolines in the air to escape his slashes — and it tore into him once more. He let it rip his arm off, grabbing the fallen limb to form a lance that he twisted around to deal with the return of the axe from behind him.

His blood and steel met the axe, denting into it, but grappling hooks sunk into his back as the Queen boosted herself up on flame-expelling greaves. He remained unmoved, and the Queen knew exactly why. "Filled yourself up real good, huh! Can't see it, though, let's see what's hidden behind that bark of a skin!"

From her arms grew chainsaws, such vulgar weaponry. They ripped and buzzed as a scarlet underlined the chains, the Heart's hands twisting force into shape as each swipe sprang blood-red slashes into the air. The Bladefather vanished into the gaps between them, aiming for the Heart who set foot on the rooftops.

She stood there, her hands crossed behind her back, as though waiting for the Bladefather's fingernails to extend into her. Thin layers of keratin peeled off, shooting out as diamond-hard dust at a velocity upon one would shatter. Against her skin, they disappeared into a shimmer of red.

An illusion…

He felt her real self to his right, and he swung for her while his left cleaved into the Queen. His slash tore into her veil, revealing a hint of her crimson eyes.

They flashed, and crimson dragged him down to his memories.

And for how long-lived he was, he could spend an eternity down there.

Except, he'd long since come to terms with his past. He caught the axe just as it came down, fingernails biting into the steel while the Queen leveraged propulsion and weight to shatter the concrete beneath him and drag him down the layers of the ruined Northern Ward. The Queen slammed her foot against the ground, letting her suit's power rumble as the roof began to collapse and compress upon the Bladefather as a coffin.

He shot out of it, thin wiry ropes of flesh momentarily expressing his true form. When he emerged, the Heart was ready with glowing crimson in her gaze.

His hands reached for his own eyes, gouging them out.

Transmuting them into a dagger for each hand, he let out a sigh. "Such tricks are expected of you, Tumor of the Revenant."

The Queen tilted her head to the Heart, a smile under her suit. "Exactly as that bastard Omen said."

Her suit expanded, sheets of metal propping over one another. The Heart leaped into the Queen's arms and hunkered down as an umbrella-like dome expanded over them. "Hope you like rain, Ken! Since you can't see, we thought you'd like to know that it's forecasted for a cloudy day with a mild chance of missiles!"

Aeroydnes, twelve of them, surrounding the prison complex, leaned forward, their aim locked on the blinded swordsman. Rods fuming with the intent to bring him to ruin spiraled out, smoke in their trails that was pierced from all sides by machine-gunfire.

Even as the building's concrete walls collapsed and smoke plumed in the air like a volcanic eruption had occurred, one by one the Aerodynes split apart into two and lifelessly plunged down like shot birds. All except one, which was hidden within the sun's rays and a holographic veil of clouds.

Bladefather hadn't noticed it yet, but the weather was warming up for an uncharacteristic winter. And the clouds had only darkened.

Pillars of flesh dragged through debris, one cleaving apart as the Queen swiped her axe through it, another trapped in the Heart's chains of crimson. A hand burst out of the writhing flesh, grasping for the Heart as it flicked five meshworks of slashes through each finger.

Masses of stone absorbed each blow, veiled in red, but the Bladefather appeared where they'd been parted, flesh slipping from those pillars into his backside as they formed cloth, skin, muscle, and bone. Those truckloads of earth moved to crush him, but he leaped across their telekinetic paths while rendering them into dust.

His hand grabbed the Heart's throat, an eager look on his face. But behind her veil, she only smiled as blood exchanged between them. "You think you're the only one using Soul Killer's power?"

The Bladefather released her, pain collapsing through his entire body, eyes pried open as they turned red-and-white. Despite the ravaging crumble of his mind, he could only smile. "I took this risk, hoping you would be here."

Opening his mouth as though to scream, a lance of blood shot out from his tongue and speared into her stomach. She didn't flinch, nor minded the attack, even as her body slunk down and her veil disappeared in motes of light to reveal a dead woman baring the clothes of a typical Crimson Souls member.

Another Crimson Heart appeared from the shadows, a wave of pure force sending the Bladefather through a wall where another copy of her was prepared with shattered remains of Shardware. They gouged through the Bladefather, who let them sink into his body, all so that when he flicked his arm out, those same shards blasted out with a spray of blood.

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This Crimson Heart also perished, collapsing without a head as her veils disappeared to reveal another woman's appearance, different from the last. That didn't stop shimmering red from growing around him as though the walls were bleeding, nor did it fail the Crimson Queen barging through.

Her suit now had an almost vehicular appearance, wheels skirting and forming on her arms, their jagged edges sawing into him. Every fleck of blood spurting out; every dust of bone; every skin cell — they all turned razor sharp and drenched in force as the Queen was blasted backwards and caught on nets apparated by the Heart. She screamed. "Forgot you had that trick, you bastard!"

The wheels on her body revved, thrusting her forward as every slash he swiped out was engulfed under a red copy. As meters of difference became inches, her suit morphed, constricting to turn speed into force as she entered her Brawler form. A gauntlet of thick steel crashed into the Bladefather's head, punching it off his body.

He caught it by the spine that went along with it, the bones twisting into the form of chains and his head imploding to become a sickle. The headless Bladefather swung it right into The Queen's chest, and the weapon disintegrated.

The Northern Ward could bear no more as the Queen was thrown out of it, the entirety of the building breaking on it's foundations. Only blood and steel held it up, both forged by the Bladefather as he tore himself out of the collapshing architecture with blood-knitted pedipalps rising him above the prison.

As he looked down where the Queen's defenestration had burrowed a trench, he noticed a droplet of water falling from the sky.

And sensed the Warp Energy within it.

He slashed that minuscule droplet apart before it could touch him, as his eyes drew up to the storm clouds which hadn't been there minutes before.

And a Leviathan descended. A serpentine mass of iron and water dragged a storm down with it, and they shredded the Bladefather into pieces… every drop of rain pierced through his skin, penetrating to the other side like he wasn't even there.

He just healed quicker than they could tear him apart. The mass of scales stayed embedded in his body, slowing him, unwilling to be digested or depart from his gluttonous form. From the water formed a figure he hadn't seen in a long time, a mountain of man who deserved all the respect the Bladefather had.

A man whose iron scales formed his suit, and much of his body, a man whose physiology was twisted just as much as the Bladefather's was. One who commanded a primal force older, more deadly, and universal.

Once, they were comrades, but time and circumstances had led them to this clash.

As the rain poured, hundreds of droplets tore paths through his regenerating body every second as a crimson mist spilled around him like a shroud. His green eyes, always so muted, now fevered at the conquest ahead of him. "Cloud seeding always was your tactic, Ishram."

Captain Ishram Krivash thought differently. In his gentle oceanic gaze was nothing but pity, and a modicum of disgust. "How many were needed for you to end up like this?"

"I haven't eaten in two decades." The Bladefather's words came out like the hiss of blood steaming out of him.

"That only makes it worse, Ken." Krivash's scales began glowing, as the vortex in his body grew and forced a claw to form out of them. "I'm sorry I let you become this."

The metallic scales slid over his neck, forming a horned blue dragon's mask on his face. "But I have to end it."

The Bladefather followed, bones cracking out of the skin of his hands as they smoothed into the shape of a white mask. He donned it, and it fused until it was one with his face. "Then let the false gods witness this final duel between brothers."

———

Diana

Twilight shared the camera feed with us, it was blurry now due to the storm, but every strike up there was felt down here. How… urgent, and great their clash was. I'd thought my own prowess over electricity was great, but an Esper capable of manipulating water?

And summoning a thunderstorm, one where each droplet was the equivalent of a razor blade? Being above ground, out in the open… it was a death-sentence. And yet the Bladefather was alive and fighting through it, how did someone get regenerative capabilities like that? And… Krishav was a Dual Adapter, and we had the Crimson Queen and Heart on our side…

…why did I feel like that wasn't enough?

Because the Bladefather wasn't just fighting three Tier IVs of simultaneously, he was also controlling those who'd been exposed to the fumes of his Revenant-forged spear at the Southern Ward. It was mayhem, Dogwhistler was fighting them off, strangely on our side, but the confusion overtook everyone.

Muramasa shot at Muramasa, police shot at police. Who were your allies, who were your enemies?

At the very least, everyone I knew personally wasn't in grave danger. Just… at incredible risk.

And soon, so would we. We'd begun walking towards Bladedaughter's location, she was stationed just outside the Prison's contraband storage, housing collections of old weaponry and Shardware from when prisoners were criminals… and I didn't even want to know what she had prepared for us.

The churning in my stomach was like a cauldron, and throughout this steady path towards life or death… that cauldron was bubbling changes to my Mutations, the caustic froth threatening to breach past the lip. Hearing Ripley's words had let me feel like I'd done something right as Silvereye, and I hoped that was enough to guide my Mutations.

Mutation: Soul Resonance has gained 2 Meta-Mutations: Increased ability to resonate with BUG Adapters; increase to range of Resonance. Development: 58%

Mutation: Soul Trigger has gained 3 Meta-Mutations: significantly increased self-alteration of Mutations; increased pain tolerance during high activity of the Mutation; reduced threshold required for Mutation to become active. Development: 39%

Mutation: Electrosomatic Organism has gained 3 Meta-Mutations: significantly increased regenerative qualities under trigger-state; increase to neurological capabilities of electrosomatic cells; increase to electrical capacitance of body. Development: 59%

Mutation: Limited Morphology Manipulation has gained 5 Meta-Mutations: overall increase to base bodily elasticity to morphological changes; significantly increased manipulation during trigger-state; increase to physiological changes to the Adapter; increased synergy with Synthetic Infusion Mutation; increased capability to alter strength and speed. Development: 74%

Electromagnetic Domain has gained a Meta-Mutation; increase to self-augmenting ability of telekinesis. Development: 65%.

Kinetic-Thermal Catalyst has gained 2 Meta-Mutations: increase to the amount of kinetic energy capable of being stored; increase to bodily resistance to overwhelming amounts of kinetic energy. Development: 45%

Inorganic Metabolism has gained 3 Meta-Mutations: increased ability to metabolize Warp Materials to enhance body physiology; increased immunity to foreign Warp Material presence; increased synergy with Mutation: Synthetic Infusion. Development: 61%

Energetic Release has gained 4 Meta-Mutations: increased control over release of stored energetic potential; increased output of electrical energy; increased manipulation of kinetic energy on movement; increased ability to release stored energy within foreign objects. Development: 30%.

Synthetic Infusion has gained- Error-

Starlight… any reason for that?

"Ummm… I think it's… still changing."

Changing, how?

"Can you remove your suit?"

My suit…? I reached for my gloves, but trying to remove them… it felt like I was pulling skin off at the same time. Was my suit fusing to me?

"Only on the surface level… but… that's only a cellular change. What I'm most concerned about is… your mind."

What about it?

"I'm… made of Warpcode. So I can tell when things are off, and you, really… for a while, have felt off. I shouldn't be this efficient in you. But I am, I'm basically acting similarly to a highly sophisticated Gene-deck with automatic Mutation-neurological feedback… but at the same time, I'm interacting with your Mutations."

Like how you made Soul Trigger?

"Of a sorts… but… how do I say this… you have trace amounts of Warpcode in you. Even without a BUG. I think it's leftovers from when you and my dad first Synchronized."

Warpcode…?

"Just… very little. Remember how I got stuck to you, after that Silver MAL? It's because… well… volume-wise, your body is kind of like a living Neuroframe. Warpcode is just patterns of electricity interacting with Warp Energy to become all… weird."

Should I be concerned?

"I don't know. Just… have my dad look at you once this is done."

But… if I have Warpcode in me, then does Ripley have…

"I'm not sure, so far, he hasn't expressed any sort of Mutational abilities, but… there is one thing I'm concerned about."

The Personality Matrix?

"That. And… his nanites."

The things he used to make Dianium?

"Yeah, he has a lot more of them now and… they're eerily close to what the Bladefather can do."

I get what you mean, I'll keep an eye out for him.

"That's a promise, Silvereye!"

For now… I ignored Synthetic Infusion's reluctance to reveal it's changes. I wasn't surprised it was the most changed Mutation, not only was it relatively new which made it develop faster… but it was also… the most compatible to the Bladefather's showcase of abilities. To take from others and infuse into your body. I just… never considered I would be fusing with my suit.

I'd take it off soon, once this was all over.

Thankfully, Ripley's decision to give me some Quartz-infused meat of unknown origin worked well. I was feeling stronger, and didn't even need to cripple an ally to get somewhat back in shape. There was… one concern I had, however.

Star, am I… forming a new Mutation?

"I can't really tell right now, you've absorbed a lot of genetic material, and are basically on the cusp of getting something new after the Bladefather fed you. But… I'm not detecting any sorts of Mutagenesis through you."

That's good… I'm pretty filled with Mutations already. My Capacity was at Bronze IX, but it would take me getting at least into Silver I or II before I could exhibit another Mutation. One that wasn't a Deviant.

How's Ripley doing, Star?

"Oh, uh, he's doing well."

I'm talking about the Catalyst.

"Um, well… he ended up receiving Warpcode, don't know how the Bladefather managed that, but, it's all linked to understanding Mutations. Which seems contradictory, though, at the same time…"

It'll make him better with his nanites? They're similar in what the Bladefather can do.

"I guess there was more to Goliath than we realized. To Muramasa, and Yuzhou… and how they're linked."

Whatever history there was, it led to the events of today, to all the bloodshed. In the end, that bastard's fued and Yuzhou's ignorance of him led to Westbrook suffering. Not to mention, the Bladefather's evident ties to Soul Killer. They'd once been working together, that became clear in conversation with Anomoly, but now this monster feels remorse? The need to reveal Soul Killer by killing innocents? By turning them into weapons?

He was no different. Maybe even more vile, for all the things he'd done to his children. And his children were no better.

Our steps led us to a subterranean hallway, deeper in, we found corpses of Shard Adapters. Police and Muramasa, likely once controlled by The Dogwhistler…

What the fuck was she doing here? And why was she attacking both Muramasa and the police? What was her goal in all of this? Finally, we made it to a section of the underground where the prison was maintained from, there were scatterings of more corpses. One room was different, a hundred different wires connecting to a jar where only a Silver-veined brain sat floated in blood.

Ripley pulled out the Implant from inside that jar, looking at the Silver with focus. "War-Watcher."

If Ripley could read that bastard's memory, then maybe we still had some hope for understanding all of this. But that would wait until we were done.

In time, we crossed past a massive gaping hole, within were disfucntioning holograms. Just like where we'd seen Bladefather originally imprisoned. Looking above, there were clean cuts that dictated how he'd escaped and ended up at the Northern Ward — and now, it let in a torrent of rain and echoed with the thunder of The Bladefather's battle with my Captain and Crimson Souls.

We strode further, until finally, we made it to the deepest section. It was the prison's armory, where they decommissioned the Shardware of the prisoners and sent them for recycling, it was also where they outfitted guards, and likely, it was now where Muramasa manufactured weaponry. At the very least, Ripley might find something useful here.

The door opened as we approached, the room was wide and organized with cabinets that were now spilled over, many Shardware pieces clattered in disarray. Some of them were torn of corpses, about nine bodies lifeless and severed from both police and Muramasa.

"I thought I'd help you out by… setting the scene. A little scrap for you to use." A woman said, only her silhouette visible as she sat in the far back of the room, on top of a huge chest of alien-like structure. Archangel took a sharp breath, nodding at me.

"Congratulations for making it past my father alive, I see you've got new eyes, sis." Bladedaughter chuckled, stepping off the chest as she let her form peer into the light. She was fitting off her name, I'd never seen Shardware like hers in my life.

Not one inch of skin was visible, yet I doubted the metal was merely a suit. Black and white steel integrated over her entire body, sharp and jagged throughout yet casting a sleek appearance. Angular wasn't the right word as she manipulated sharpness into every curve, there was both function and form, she was a woman who embraced death as an identity and carved beauty with it.

The Bladedaughter tapped her foot on the ground, it was silent and… now that I noticed it. She was entirely silent, I couldn't feel her presence at all.

The Shadow Tendency, elevated exponentially beyond Ripley's own. From her hip ejected a scabbard, she slowly pulled the blade out, locking eyes with my own blade. "Oh… how interesting. I'll take it as a trophy, with that suit of yours, Silvereye."

Dreadwire stepped ahead, his voice steel. "No, Mei. Only I have that privilege."

He continued walking, until he was… opposite us.

"Dread…" I stammered, my voice hardening as he turned his back to the Bladedaughter, his Tetradyne tips locked onto us. "Ripley, what are you doing?"

"Making good on my promises." Dreadwire took a glance at the box behind him. "How else would I get my payment?"

It clicked in now… he'd been offered, what? 2 Million Shardyne? A single Silver outweighed that. I still didn't understand. I still…

Bladedaughter chuckled, raising her sword towards us. "Sorry for stealing your man, Silvy. I just love a guy who knows the value of-"

Dryder's rifle shot out, the streak of red lancing at Ripley's head.

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