Beyond The Impossible

The Mindscape

Diomedes has been enjoying his time in this simulation. He knows he’s just a program, a replica of the mind of the real Greek hero who died thousands of years ago, but this doesn’t stop him from appreciating the massive amounts of free time he can now dedicate to his craft.

He’s been spending hundreds of hours in his workshop, with the breeze of the ocean shore behind him and a nearly completed armor in front of him.

When a door appears out of thin air next to him, he’s not surprised by seeing Noriko Null step out of it: after all, this is technically her mind.

What he didn’t expect is his sudden inability to move a muscle, followed by chains appearing around his body to pull him towards the nearest wall.

<You seriously thought you were going to get away with it?> she asks him, clearly upset.

<You’ll have to be more specific.> he responds.

<You uploaded a hostile artificial intelligence into my fleet! You know you’re not supposed to leave the Mindscape, Diomedes!>

<It had to be done. You were not prepared to deal with Anubis and Eden, not when your personal attachments were compromised.>

<What are you talking about?>

<Allowing Quantum to be assimilated by Anubis was an unnecessary risk, as was exposing the rest of the Vanguard to Eden. Your failure to properly use your golden eyes was the last straw: I simply had to take action.>

<It wasn’t your call to make!>

<Yes, it was. You have no experience being a true leader, Null: you despise the very idea and you take every possible step to avoid that responsibility. I was a king: I know when to take risks.>

<I’m not going to be lectured about responsibility by a guy who had the Nexus for who knows how many years and did basically NOTHING with it!!!>

<You have met the Scribe.> Diomedes suddenly changes the subject, much to her annoyance.

<What does that have to do with anything!?>

<You know what he did with the Nexus. Do you know what the previous hosts did with it?>

<More than I wish I knew.> Noriko answers, looking away. The memory of the horrors caused by the Eden are still too fresh in her mind.

<Then you should understand my point. The Eden, the Lar, the Demons, even us humans… the Nexus has been used for atrocious purposes by any race holding it. It should be used sparingly and with extreme caution; you should respect its power, Null, not treat it so carelessly.>

<I haven’t seen enough evidence that it can’t be used for good. You can’t even imagine how many lives I already saved thanks to it. Maybe if you had the courage to use it, instead of hiding behind your arrogance…>

<I won’t be lectured about courage by you.>

<What’s that supposed to mean!?>

<Why did it take you so long to activate your golden eyes?>

<Oh, so now you’re an expert in things that you’ve never done by yourself?>

<Just because I never used golden eyes doesn’t mean I never found out about them. I never resorted to that power because the need for it never arose… I lived in a more civilized time.>

<Yeah, right, “civilized” as in “ruled by the gods” when you didn’t do anything to depose them.> Null scoffs at him, rolling her eyes.

<You should welcome my insight into your subconscious, Null. That’s where I live, and that’s what is keeping you from using your golden eyes properly… you are afraid.>

<Excuse me?> she asks, raising an eyebrow.

<You know activating your golden eyes shortens your lifespan. Your subconscious is doing everything it can to convince you to stop using them… perhaps even influencing me to tell you this.>

<Is it also telling you that I don’t appreciate hearing voices in my head telling me what to do?>

<It wouldn’t be the first time.>

<And I thought you would be a valuable asset. Turns out you’re just an ass#ole.> Null replies harshly, raising her hand and pointing her finger at her predecessor’s head.

<Don’t trust any Nexus user.> Diomedes tells her, looking at her in the eye.

She still feels a connection to him, and it was nice having someone as smart as her to talk with.

But there’s no doubt about what she has to do.

<Delete.> she simply says.

Diomedes is slowly deleted, his body decomposing into raw data layer by layer. The head is the last part to completely vanish, and she keeps eye contact the entire time.

She’s left alone with her thoughts and with his workshop. She could delete it, just as easily as she deleted Diomedes… she grows more and more confident in her ability to shape the Mindscape.

But the armor is still there. By its shape and size, it’s clear that he was building it for her. She can only imagine its purpose, and his words are still resonating in her mind.

<Don’t trust any Nexus user.> she repeats, touching the armor. Its metal is warm, more like a living thing than a piece of machinery.

She has seen so much potential being completely wasted by Eden, billions of years of evolution perverted to a selfish cause. She could throw away this invention as well.

The rest of the simulation vanishes around her, turning the works of Diomedes into dust.

<One step at a time.> she vows, recreating the door that led her here and leaving the Mindscape.

Only the armor remains on the seashore, as if keeping guard waiting for its intended wearer to return.

 

N01-Ragnarok

Noriko Null opens her eyes: she’s sitting cross-legged on the floor of her cabin.

And she finds Torn just standing there, staring at her.

<How long have you been watching me?> she asks, standing up.

<A while.>

<You know this is my room, right? You could’ve knocked!>

<I did.>

<I didn’t hear you.>

<I know. Since you didn’t answer, I got inside on my own.>

<I think you’re missing the entire purpose of knocking on a door, Torn…>

<You went to talk with the ghosts that live inside your mind, didn’t you?>

<Not the term I’d use, but yeah. I hope you didn’t get inside just to basically watch me sleep.>

<We need to discuss multiple things. Starting from your Soul Fusion.>

<That’s not a bad idea. I don’t even know how I did it.> she admits, taking her jacket with her as both leave her room… it doesn’t feel right to have this conversation there… and they continue to discuss while walking through the ship’s corridors.

<I was just trying to do a Soul Resonance with Quantum, but ended up doing something completely different that I wasn’t entirely prepared to handle. You said something about this being some kind of Demon technique?>

<With Soul Resonance, two souls can boost each other. Soul Fusion is far more efficient: the combined power of each fused soul is far greater than their sum. But if the two souls don’t share a perfect bond, the more powerful soul can fully devour the weaker one. You should be extremely careful using this technique again.>

<Duly noted. What else did you want to discuss?>

<Hell is free from Eden. The Lady Of All Demons wishes to tell you that Hell is keeping custody of the Silver Key of Heaven and prohibits you from retrieving it to use it again.>

<That’s not surprising. What else?>

<That is all.>

<Didn’t you say we had multiple things to discuss? That was two things!>

<Indeed.>

They have now reached Noriko’s destination. As she rolls her eyes at the Demon’s antics, the door in front of her opens on its own, revealing Kari Zel on the other side.

<He’s awake. And he’s not shutting up, as you might imagine.> she tells Noriko.

<What else is new. See you later, Torn.> Noriko says, joining Kari inside the room and locking the door behind her. As Torn turns around, he finds himself facing one of Kari’s duplicates.

<Sooo… “Soul Fusion”, hm? Since Noriko did it on her own, I suppose you don’t really need to use the Blood to do it?>

<I suppose as well.> Torn concedes.

<Let’s talk about it some more.> Kari tells him, or rather the two Kari duplicates that have appeared next to him, holding onto his arms and practically dragging him towards her room.

 

One of the ship’s cargo rooms

To account for the possibility of needing to transport dangerous materials, this particular room is heavily reinforced and protected by multiple layers of forcefields.

It’s unusual to find a bed here, and even more unusual to find a god there. But that’s where Hermes has been for the past few hours, with a chain connecting one of his ankles to the bed.

He’s wearing blue scrubs, but immediately after waking up tossed away the top to remain shirtless.

<Sunshine! Just seeing your beautiful face turns this gloomy prison into…>

<Save it. Has he tried to escape?> she asks the Kari duplicate who has been keeping guard.

<Not really. He tried to hit on me a couple of times, but he knows that without his powers there’s no way he can break free.>

<Ah, Kari, the only thing greater than the boundless amount of pleasure we could give each other is wasting my time in this vessel instead of allowing me to join your cause!>

<Let’s make one thing clear, Hermes.> Noriko tells him, getting close enough to him to leave only a few inches and a couple of forcefields to separate them.

<I’m never going to remove the necrobots from your veins. I’m never going to allow you to reprogram them: they will keep you powerless as long as I am alive. And you are never going to trick me into breaking you free. Understood?>

<We’ve been through this already, Sunshine… I’m too valuable for you to kill!>

<Are you? I have my own fleet now, so I don’t need you to carry me around. I have the Negative Drive if I need to get somewhere really fast, and once I figure out how to program it I’ll have the portals of the Shadow Network for when I don’t want anyone to track me. What else do you have?>

<Well, I do have other significant endowments.> he says, winking and then looking at his pants.

<I’d rather drink bleach and eat a bowl of rusty nails than let you lay a finger on me.>

<Oh, Sunshine, you’re breaking my heart. But we both know that, if you really wanted to kill me, we wouldn’t have this conversation in the first place.>

<We could break your teeth first.> Kari intervenes, enjoying the chance to intimidate the god.

<Something like that.> Noriko nods, drawing her Genius Gun and shooting Hermes.

Kari is surprised both by how sudden this is and by the scream of pain coming from the god, especially when Noriko fires again and again. The Genius Gun shoots pure kinetic energy, with the effect that each blast is breaking a couple of bones. After over a dozen shots, she stops.

<Was it really… necessary?> Hermes asks, talking through the immense pain.

<I had to check whether you were bluffing. You really are powerless. I’ll have to run more tests once we’re back on Earth.> Noriko says, walking towards the exit only to be stopped by Kari.

<What kind of tests? I thought we were going to get rid of him!>

<I’ll never get a better chance to run experiments on a living god; who knows what kind of weakness I might find.>

<You can’t be serious! You know how dangerous he is!>

<If he becomes a problem, I can kill him any time I want. I’m the Slayer of Gods. It’s what I do.> Noriko says, leaving the room for good.

<I’m starting to get the feeling that she might not like me.> Hermes comments, readjusting his jaw.