Chapter 14-19 Overestimation

Chapter 14-19 Overestimation

Some of the primordial gods are peculiar in their design. Oh! Lets take Yoswanacht the Gum-Snatcher for instance. A very strange god made by the Scaarthians in worship of dentistry of all things. When we managed to stem its rupture and secure its Fallen Heaven, we found it only capable of manipulating enamel, regrowing teeth in specific types of flesh, and tearing said teeth back out using worm-like strings of floss.

Note: As with all things related to the Skuldvast, its approach to dentistry is quite violent. Another Neophyte made an unfortunate lapse in her precautions and was affected by a stray miracle. Alas, the strength Yoswanacht uses to extract teeth is more befitting of an organism bearing the strength and stature of a Scaarthian, so instead of just breaking the enamel free from her gums and out her cheeks, poor Aggnas head was folded up the middle. We could have saved her if not for the bone lacing she received.

(Sigh) Poor careless Aggna.

More focused note! This stands as a firm reminder to all Agnosi. We must never underestimate power of the old gods. What is absolute will always be a threat no matter how innocuous things seem at first glance. Why, all it takes is a bit of acceleration and even teeth can serve as projectiles, right?

A perfectly viable means of assassination that I can see the Sang bidding for.

Okay, theyre definitely going to be bidding on this one! Nice work, Kae! Foresight is the sign of a good Agnos!

-Mem-log of Kae Kusanade, Neophyte Agnos

14-19

Overestimation

[LIMINAL FRAME] OBTAINED - MOTE PATTERN

->STARVATIONS ENVY HEAVEN TEMPLATE DOWNLOADED

->THAUMIC CYCLER x1

->SOUL x1

->ONTOLOGICS x2

THAUMIC OUTPUT: 3865 THAUM/c

GHOSTS: [40,843]

[What the hells is this,] Abrel scoffed. [Starvations EnvyA Heaven of Cooking?] A guffaw escaped from her. Then a full-blown laugh. Her bemusement belonged to her alone as more than a few templates boiled with envy, willing to accept any Heaven that came with a Frame.

For most, the truest prize was immortality. But the mind had a tendency to reestablish its baselines, and once an equilibrium of pleasure was achieved, what followed was the search for a new spike of power.

Of course, getting a piece of silver after expecting a chest of gold ingrained one with another feeling altogether.

DOMAIN OF (COOKING)

CANON OF THE WANDERING NOSE - THE MASTER OF THIS CANON CAN SMELL ALL SCENTS FOR A 10-MILE RADIUS; FOUL SMELLS WILL STRAIN THE HEAVEN FURTHER

HUBRIS: SMELLS THAT MAKE THE USER GAG WILL TRIGGER THAUMIC BACKLASH

CANON OF HUNGERS PASSING - THE MASTER OF THIS CANON CAN SHIFT A HUMAN OR HUMANOID ENTITY INTO AN EQUIVALENT MASS OF THREE-COURSE MEALS

HUBRIS: USING THIS ON THINGS THAT ARE ALREADY CLASSIFIED AS FOOD BY THE MASTER WILL TRIGGER THAUMIC BACKLASH

DOMAIN OF (WATER)CANON OF PRE-BOILED LOBSTERS - THE MASTER OF THIS CANON WILL BE ABLE TO DRAW LOBSTERS FROM BOILING WATER; EACH DRAW WILL REDUCE THE WATERS TEMPERATURE BY ONE DEGREE

HUBRIS: IF THE WATER IS COOLED MID-MIRACLE, THIS WILL TRIGGER THAUMIC BACKLASH.

[The Hell literally just spoils all food in a ten-mile radius,] Abrel muttered. [Jaus, this is a hubris-generator. And you cant use Hungers Passing on anyone cause theyre already food to you.] The mirth in her faded as a growing disappointment filled her corner of cognitive space as well. [How the hells did this guy get throughoh, fake memories from the Deep Bazaar. Of course. Score one for Ashthrone security. Oh, and speaking of, here comes the suiciders. Could they be any louder literally wearing a Rendsink as armor.]

True to the Greatlings words, the Witherguard came trailing behind the slithering form of a searching ghost. Its perception spilled around the corner, and Avo remolded the wiring he melted just seconds prior.

The union of his Heaven and Benhatas experience as a saboteur during the war proved invaluable. Highflames electrical systems had multiple redundancies and auxiliary circuits at any given moment, so it called for a practiced hand to achieve the desired effects of sabotage.

By the time the three hulking figures hammered down the hall with each step of their anvil-like feet, the current flowed as it once did and the lights shone as normal.

+Theyre looking for the one you just snatched,+ Reva said. +Effective, but the brightest thing you could have done. When a Meta suddenly winks out, there arent so many+

Avo cut off the Bloodthanes sermon by manifesting Osjacks template along the periphery of his consciousness. A phantasmal mirage of the recently murdered Godclad whimpered as self-awareness was forced into him once more, existential dread prying it apart with trauma as Avo let him feel the full implications of his death.

+I know,+ Avo said. +I was counting on it.+The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

Disappointing though Osjack was thaumaturgically, he served as quite the fine lure. Drifting between the walls of a nearby room, Avo fully manifested the sequences of his newest template and watched as the Witherguard drew in closer.

A peek with his Whisper painted a portrait of his newest victims. They approached something approximating a hybridization between a turtle, a radiator, and a light assault vehicle. At ten feet tall and nearly just as wide, the halls seemed cramped as they walked in a single file. Aside from certain Scaarthians and the cybernetic travesty that was Slaughterman, Avo couldnt recall any other infantry-based adversaries that were quite so bulky.

[Its the Tombstone-II Hellskins theyre wearing,] Abrel said. [Hate those things. They have to be that big because theyre pretty much wearing a full-on godsdamned Rendsink as armor, and aside from that shitty makeshift reactor they got burning inside, the rest of their kit is all vent-based. They cant really dodge or fire or even fight worth much of a shit, but for the time they got Rend to spend, they can mimic a fraction of a Clads effectiveness.]

A synthesis of experiences congealed at the core of Avos consciousness. As one of the Witherguard cast their thoughts out to open the door where they thought Osjack was hiding, schematics and experiences were conjoined.

The Witherguard mimicked golem knots, Godclad cadres, and Regular combat teams in mutual measure. The first one through was the boileroften outfitted with direct-damage entropy in the Hell they have attached. Behind came a barricademost often loaded with geometry-disrupting functionsand after them were a mixture of shatterers, engineers, field necros, and a leader.

Presently, there were only three, and their systems were running quiet.

[Thats cause were not expecting a fight or anything,] Osjack whined. Avo decided he hated this one immediately. [This was supposed to be a secured floorthose those idiots got me killed. They should have checked]

Avo silenced the whining before he gained the urge to pour Osjack into a new vessel and indulge in some semi-sadomasochistic torture.

Did it count as self-harm when you traumatized part of your own consciousness while it was simulating a once external mind?

So many philosophical questions about his new state of being.

Shaking crueltys siren call off his shoulders, Avo spilled out from the air vents of the darkened room and prepared to embrace his newest recruits.

As they stepped through the doors, he heeded the whining servos between their armor and marked the numerous Rend-vents that dotted their torso.

For all the protection entropy was meant to offer them, all it took was a single blockage, a single inconsistency between positioning, hubris, or equipment for a paradox to follow.

Avo suddenly found himself understanding how Denton felt just hours prior. +Already?+

+One of the Wights had an unsecured locus. I followed the compromise in its mind and one sequence led to another. You know how it goes. Sloppy work left a backdoor to exploit, and so I tweaked a few recollections. A couple of the Necros will be remembering an emergency thoughtcast frequency soon.+

+A couple,+ Avo said, lamely.

+So. Do I get my pick of the Frames?+

Avo turned his attention back to the drugged-out Fallwalker that shouldve offered a challenge.

Shouldve had her Heaven active, at least.

Instead, tremors ran through her legs, and she giggled shrilly while thirty Wights armed with fusion burners stood guard over her form alongside her hovering wand-shaped drones.

Disappointment.

He felt disappointed.

As a passing stream of perception threatened to detect him, he pulled his Whisper back into the dark and stewed in contemplative silence.

It didnt feel as good without a challenge. It felt like he was being a ghoul again. Just a ghoul. Hunting and preying on things that couldnt resist.

[Could reach into her blood. Clean her mind. Force her to fight.]

[Yes. Can still escalate things.]

Part of him really wanted to. But again, a shadow of Draus snarled in the back of his mind, and want succumbed before the compulsion of efficiency.

He wanted to practice quiet warring after all. This was it. Silent. Sudden. Without warning.

+Yes,+ Avo said, directing a trickle of shadow to leak out from the lights nearest to Glitch and run down the walls. +Ill give your options.+ The drip of his Galeslither puddled on the floor and melded into the shroud cast by the Wights.

The Fallwalker hiccuped. Avo willed her to noticeto broaden her Heaven or something.

She didnt. She continued to just lay there.

Gazing upon the partial sheen of static sheathing her thoughstuff, Avo formed a small tendril of blood and slid it out into the real again. It remained of matter, but he felt a presence washing over itan unnatural lurch that seemed to pry at him from an angle unseen.

Grunting with a sobering snort, Glitch whipped her can-shaped head around, with each exocortex running hot, their coils whining as she turned and

A spiral of haemokinetic motes snatched her from the light and pulled her deep, deep down into a pond of shadows.

TRANSFERRING REND

In the end, Avo found that he judged Osjack too harshly.

There were so many unworthy gods in this city.

So many.

A budding madness bloomed inside him, and he decided not the fight it. He decided to face a fact that he had never cared for beforenever had the capacity to feel as a ghoul.

Absurdity.

Travesty.

The Ashthroner templates cringed and wailed in his mind. Among them arose a chorus of dismay, and in the backdrop, others joined in.

People were dying for this.

People were dying to feed these Frames and Heavens and Hells and Godclads for this?

An irrelevant assassination in the Tiers disguised as a block war. An irrelevant assassination that was halted because the Fallwalkers refused to continue on without assurances of payment after Avo devoured their backline.

This was debased. This was not the dream.

This couldnt have been any dream.

This couldnt be the way things were.

It had to change.

It all had to change.

And it all could change.

+--Avo! Avo Shes fucking dead, you can stop now+

White-Rabs voice jolted Avos base mind back to focus. No longer drowning his gestalt, he found himself stripping his newest prey in flesh, spirit, and mind. Her accretion was fully cracked open, and he had directly poured his entropic gale down her throat to hollow her slowly of organs.

The unmoving stares of his new allies burned at his ego.

What happened? When did he decide to mutilate her? How?

He was merely ruminating. Thinking with his gestalts. Joining himself to their minds

New information flashed into his cog-feed, and he found himself distracted again.

ATTENTION: NEW COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT ENCOUNTERED

INTEGRATE COG-PATTERN {SPRITE} TO METAMIND?

+I sorry. I think I got carried away.+