Chapter 116: Concealed

Chapter 116: Concealed

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Concealed

"A Pandora Shell is just the start of your bad new?" Raven asked, tone of voice a split between vague disbelief and general regretpresumably over the fact that he'd gotten out of bed this morning.

"Surprising, isn't it?" I answered, smiling slightly. "But sadly it's the truth. Mr. Arc's team walked into a situation that turned out to be a great deal more than it first seemed. The Grimm had created a massive series of tunnels beneath the town they'd been sent to protect, allowing an enormous number of the creatures to get right under it with none the wiser. Upon noticing a small tunnel that lead to the surface, which had allowed for the reported attack that drew them there, they realized this and called for reinforcementsbut even that turned out to be trap set by the Grimm. The moment their backup arrived, the horde beneath them moved to attack, which eventually culminated in the Grimm intentionally triggering a Pandora Shell in the Hunter's midst."

"That's" Raven paused, frowning. "That's very intelligent behavior, even for older Grimm. Strategic behavior."

"Indeed it is," I agreed. "Which, more than anything, made me suspicious, especially in regards to precisely how they opened the Shell. It was carried to the surface by a Deathstalker and was then blown open by a long-range energy attack by Crom Cruach, who was most likely responsible for the tunnels in the first place."

Raven opened her mouth with what must have be a reflexive response before hesitating and restraining herself for several breaths.

"Crom Cruach," She repeated at last, with only traces of incredulity in her tone. "You're certain it was Crom Cruach?"

I shrugged a shoulder casually and nodded.

"I saw him," I told her. "And he's rather hard to mistake for anyone else. Butit's worrying, especially after Ziz's awakening several months ago."

"When you awoke Ziz, you mean?" She asked, the jab coming effortlessly to her lips and making me smilebut also shake my head.

"I'm afraid that while that's true, it is also somewhat more concerning then it might first appear," I replied. "For you see, Ziz had been in that location for quite some timeand I'm sure that the fact that it had been positioned so close to Vale was not a coincidencebut it had been sleeping long enough for countless people to come near it without any response. From airships to Hunters heading that way to even just explorers, there is no record of Ziz doing a thing over several hundred years of history, yet the moment I drew near it reacted. Yes, I woke it up, but not by proximity. I'm afraid it recognized me."

"Recognized you?" She repeated again. Had she been a less intimidatingly powerful woman, I'd have made a parrot joke. "You mean?"

"I have something of a history with the Grimm," I admitted, which was apparently the truth even if I had no idea what said history was. "A long, long history."

"Isee," Raven said slowly. "And did Crom Cruach also recognize you?"

"Almost certainly," I nodded. "In fact, it's even possible that the situation was engineered to ensure my involvement. In truth, the awakening of Ziz was as alarming for me as it was for the rest of the world, if for somewhat different reasons, but after it returned to its slumber, I had hoped that would be the end of things and that I had simply been unlucky enough to stumble across an old acquaintance. When I saw Crom Cruach, however, I had no choice but to believe that it was far more than that. Ziz nearly ruined everything simply by its presence while Crom Cruach engaged in what couldn't be called anything but enemy actionand when the Pandora Shell opened"

I sighed and looked up at her, making a show of gauging her before speaking.

"Most people are under the impression that the disease within the Shells corrupts all who touch it, driving them mad in the processbut this is not the case," I told her. "The bacterial Grimm within the Pandora Shells have something of a consciousness , especially once they seize control over a living body. The entity refers to itself as Conquest and can assume total control over a person, suppressing their mind completely while wielding their powers as if they were its own. It's an old being and one of the most powerful of the Grimm; one of the Knights of their kind known as a Rider."

"You" Raven began before cutting herself off again and falling silent for a minute. "How can you be sure?"

I sighed again.

"Because Conquest was one of the beings responsible for the fall of Babel," I said, again going with the truth, if with the intention to distract and mislead. "He helped destroy it at the command of his creator."

"His" Raven trailed off, expression stunned beneath her mask. "His creator? Hethe Grimm have a creator?"

I nodded in quiet confirmation.

"You're one of the few people I've ever told this," I said quietly. "But I don't need to tell you how important it is that such knowledge is used carefully."

She looked down, still blinking, before swallowing slowly.

"I" She began before shaking her head, apparently still reeling. She took a deep breath and seemed to force herself to recover, closing her eyes for just a moment before continuing. "I don't suppose you have any proof of such claims?"

"I do, in fact," I said, which may or may not have been a complete lie. "There's a set of ruins that are heavily guarded by the Grimm and alongside them exists a citythe last remaining city of Babel, held in a pocket dimension much like this one. It's now devoid of life, thanks to the Grimm, but at the center of the city there is alab of sorts and the Grimm guard it fiercely for a reason. There's a Babel computer within it that holds a wealth of information, placed there by someone who fought the Grimm a long, long time ago."

She looked at me for a long moment, eyes still wide enough to see the whites all around them, but she nodded slowly.

"Shall we go then?" She asked. "If what you say is true, then"

"Neither of us would enjoy the experience, I'm afraid," I shook my head. "Does a place named Jericho Falls mean anything to you?"

"This particular body is quite a bit more complicated than that," I hedged. "If you could consider Bai Hu a form of astral projection and my ability to enter the bodies of others a form of possession, then this particular case is more like reincarnation. If possible, I'd rather not explain the science behind that at this moment, as it's somewhat convoluted."

"The science behind reincarnation?" She asked. "I wouldn't have thought the terms went together?"

"Why not?" I asked in turn. "Science, in the end, is simply the process of asking questions and seeking answers. To that end, it goes together with pretty much everything."

"I suppose," She acknowledged after a moment of silence. "And I assume that you're a scientist, then?"

"I suppose I don't much look the part, do I?" I asked, smiling. "But yes, that would be a fair assessmentI value the power of my mind a great deal, you see. I am simply aware that neglecting other things would be unwise, in a world such as our own."

"From experience?"

"Yes."

"I see," She mused, nodding to herself. "Very well, I will accept that for now. So you enter someone's soul, face Conquest, overcome the infection, and?"

"Their maker gets involved," I replied. "Unfortunately, the Grimm areconnected in a way to their master and slaying Conquest within a person can apparently draw his attention. I learned that the hard way with Mr. Arc and in the end I was forced to put him down, along with the other infected."

I didn't have to fake the regret in the words and Raven raised an eyebrow slightly, making me send a rueful smile her way.

"Believe it or not, I do not like killing and avoid doing so if at all possible," I informed her. "Where I come from, we could ill afford to waste lives that could be put to better uses, you see. Though they were not wholly our allies, the loss of those Hunters was regrettable for at least some of what they did served the whole world."

"True," She acknowledged, inclining her head. "What were their names?"

"Jacques Arc, Tenne Coup, and Keppel and Carmine Cordelia." I replied.

"I knew them, if only distantly," She nodded slowly. "They were good Hunters and good people from what I knew. It is a shame."

"I thought you might think so," I smiled at her, making her roll her eyes slightly.

"Are there any methods to prevent infection, then?" She asked, getting back on topic. "If it can't be cured"

"There are several methods that have shown various degrees of success," I nodded. "The simplest but also least desirable is to remove infected parts of the body. Beyond that, I can create airtight defensive shields around people to protect them within infected areas, but combat with the infected remains risky. I'm working on additional methods at the moment, but"

"How do you resist infection, then?" She asked. "If you fought them directly."

Observant, I thought with a smile.

"I have several advantages, owing to the unique nature of my body and soul," I answered. "Simply put, my body is simply less important to me then it is to you, so if it's damaged or changed, it's simply a matter of restoring it back to its natural state."

"What?" She asked.

"Allow me to give you an example," I offered, extending an arm to the side. Bai Hu gripped it tightly, one hand at the shoulder and one at the elbowand then he tore it away with the Tiger's Jaws.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to show me," Raven stated after several second when nothing visibly changed.

"That was me losing an arm," I explained. "And restoring it very quickly, of course. If you'd wish to test for yourself, you may use your sword to remove it."

She frowned at me, looking at me both like I was mad and, with slight alarm, the realization that I was serious.

"Go on," I chuckled. "I assure you, even if I did lose an arm, I could easily reattach it."

She was silent for a moment before shaking her head.

"Very well," She said, hand going to her swordand in a blur of motion, I felt my arm fly off and my HP drop.

Looking down at it, I flexed my fingers once and healed the damage that light blow had caused.

"See?" I said, still smiling under her stare. "Good as new."