[MA] 350. It Worked (Patreon)

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[A/N: I'm moving to another city and took an 8-hour-long trip on a truck (16 hours for the round trip). That comes with lots of loading and unloading the truck. That was Monday/Tuesday, and I slept less than 8 hours total on those two nights. I thought I'd be okay to write yesterday after a good night's sleep, but I was wrong.

So, sorry for the delay.

The next chapter will come out tomorrow.

Chapters this week: 1/3

Next chapter: Friday]

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The white mist expanded slowly but constantly. After falling to the ground like liquid, some started rising and filling the air, while the rest kept moving outwards.

Shen couldn't feel his Laws or see Laws in any place covered by the substance. Although he had not mastered any Laws and his senses were limited, he was confident that the fog wasn't blocking his senses as much as consuming the Laws in the space it occupied. The thing felt overwhelmingly thirsty. Just looking at it made him feel like it wanted to consume him.

The gas also blocked his aura. He attempted to push his aura's boundaries or do something against the mist where his aura touched it, but nothing happened. Any attack just disappeared.

After a moment of shock, a C-rank prisoner yelled in panic, "Open the door! You can't stop it! Open the door! Get some help!"

Shen ignored him. There was no reason to believe a B-rank could stop it, either. The vault's inner protections were A-tier, meaning at least an A-rank was needed to counter it. Long Hei was the only A-rank in Samir, as far as Shen knew. If the dragon hadn't come when Shen reported the Void experiment, he was either occupied or didn't care. How many Guardians would be consumed by the mist if it escaped?

Liya had told Shen not to throw his life away for the Alliance, but he couldn't condemn countless others just to save himself. And that was assuming he could even leave. Other than stating his authority and hoping the door's enchantments would automatically open, there was nothing he could do.

Then again, there was a catch. The Void Energy inside the caldron had been just Void Energy when the door was open. Maybe the mist could only exist in a sealed area?

"Will opening the door make the mist retreat?" he asked.

"Yes!" the same C-rank replied.

"No," a D-rank countered.

"Yes!" a few shouted in despair.

"No!" others insisted.

"They are possessed by the Void!" the advocators of opening the door accused.

Shen allowed the discussion to continue for a few moments. The people who wanted him to open the door were desperate, and the opposition was apathetic. Both parties seemed to believe in what they said, which complicated things. He could feel nothing wrong with anyone, so maybe the Void did have spies among the fugitives. The question was: which side was assisting the Void?

He raised his hand for silence and asked, "What does the mist do when it touches you?"

Everyone tried talking simultaneously, and although he could pick separate sentences, it would be counterproductive. He needed to see both who spoke and how their words affected others. He raised his hand again and pointed at the first C-rank. "You first."

"It consumes our Path," the high elf informed. "It sucks on our Laws and hijacks our Paths' connections to Reality. Then it keeps on sucking. But it can't touch all Reality. I think it's because it acts based on instinct and would absorb too much and explode. When the door opens, it hides in the caldron and changes back into whatever it originally was."

Shen nodded and turned to the first naysayer. "Your turn."

The guy shook his head. "I lose connection with my Path when the fog touches me.  It's painful, but I remain conscious. I saw the door open plenty of times without the fog retreating. The one who put us here always used a shining statue of a turtle to push the fig back from the door. Without the statue, the fog might spill out of this place. Where are we?"

"He's lying!" he C-rank yelled. He was growing frantic in his chains. "Liar! Traitor! Traitor!"

Shen still couldn't discern any lie. The mist could have caused illusions, too. But something was strange in the D-rank's report.

"This place's protective enchantments don't work on the door area when it's open?" Shen asked. That was too stupid a design flaw to believe for a vault meant to hold Void artifacts.

The Sergeant shrugged. "The statue acts before the mist can get close to the door. I'm only saying it as I see it."

The gas was now halfway to Shen. He frowned and decided on a simple test. "Everyone, when I snap my fingers, I want everyone to tell me who put you here. Do it at the same time." He raised his hand and snapped it.

Whoever said a name stated a different one. Most said they didn't know who captured them.

It was evident that he couldn't trust anyone's report. The fog affected their perception. That also explained why the system, which was still connected to and even healing them, didn't seem to care about the Void thing. It should be unable to detect the gas, and when the Void Energy was in the caldron, it should believe the Energy was contained. Moreover, it likely could analyze these people's minds and determine it couldn't trust their reports.

The very fact that the system was there was already strange. Shen had been told by his people that the system was blocked in this vault, and a B-rank had stopped them from opening the door. Had he been lied to by his subordinates? Or had things changed with the Void Tide?

Whatever the case, there were three things he could attempt—but only after preparing.

Shen hadn't taken his spear out when running from a possible B-rank because he didn't want to appear aggressive, but the situation had passed that point. He took three spears from his ring. He held one and left two floating nearby. Who knew whether the trap would lock space?

He then repeated the measures he had used outside. He surrounded himself with water jets and took control of everything in the room with his Laws. For now, he wouldn't touch the mist with them because interacting with the Void was not wise.

His first attempt would be a series of reports, starting with, "I want to report I was kidnapped and placed in this vault against my will by a B-rank who saved Bounty target Lieutenant Specialist Aimer Genmenor."

There was no response. So, while some of the system's functions worked in the safe, some were blocked. With this new piece of evidence, Shen suspected that it was by design. The Alliance didn't want people in a place with Void artifacts to send messages because who knows whether they had been contaminated somehow? Not to mention, the mere existence of this caldron should be confidential.

The second thing he tried was to use a different function. "I'm deployed and have the right to teleport everywhere for free. Teleport me to Samir-1."

Nothing happened. He had expected teleportation not to work after the previous failure, but he still had to try.

Finally, the last attempt was a simple report directly to the system, "Void attack! The Void Energy has morphed and is attacking me!"

A report of a Void attack was the system subfunction with the highest priority Shen could access. False reports were crimes of a tall order, often punished by being thrown at a rift for thousands of years. In the military, it was an even worse offense.

Yet, there was still no response. The system would heal him if he got injured and send qi or mana to those who used it, but that was it. He also tried—and failed—even to open system windows.

That also matched the Recognition Interface not being around. It had worked when he opened the door, though.

Those tests made him decide to try to open the safe's door. Reporting what was happening here and how the system's rules were being used against the Alliance was more important than the lives that might be lost if the mist escaped. It might be the hint those above him needed to find similar schemes elsewhere.

Opening the door was such an obvious move that it might be a trap. It made Shen distrust the C-rank and the forty people supporting him. But it was still safer than interacting with the strange mist to see what it did.

"I'm First Lieutenant Shen, and I have the authority to check this safe's contents," he declared to the massive door. "I have already checked. I want to leave."

Shen felt mana leaving the door's enchantments—and stopping. Something was blocking the enchantments from confirming his identity and clearance.

That happened three times, and then a failsafe was activated. Red and golden hidden runes appeared on the vault's metal walls, shining sinisterly in the darkness. An invisible layer of mana rose from the walls, floor, and ceiling, pushing everything in the way. Each mana layer was so heavily concentrated that it could rival the power of a domain—or even triumph over it. There was so much mana burning in that safe that Shen couldn't wrap his mind around it.

The mana layer became one foot thick. The fugitives' chains, which had been magically connected to the walls, fell to the ground. They were relatively free now, though whoever had imprisoned them knew about this safe's function, as shown by how each manacle was also chained to each other. They were freed from the wall, but their movements were still limited.

The new barriers didn't hurt on touch, but they did something even worse: they cut the remaining system functions in that place. Not a single bit of qi or mana could be recovered. No health point could be regenerated. They were completely shut off.

"It worked," the C-rank said disbelievingly. "It really worked."

"Master was right," the opposing D-rank said. "His elite training made him predictable."

Suddenly, the chains in everyone's hands and feet faded into nothingness. Shen felt Void Energy inside everyone for a split instant, and then, they all turned into moving black smoke. Void Spawn were made of black liquid, and these new beings were similar but not the same. Evidently, someone was researching a new life form.

These... Voided Guardians? They could talk, reason, and deceive. They could mimic Paths and pass up as Guardians. The thought that people Shen knew might be like them was terrifying. Then again, that this farce was still necessary suggested the research wasn't perfected. He bet these creatures required unique circumstances to exist. Even if some were out there, they couldn't be widespread.

Unless, of course, this was a ruse, just old research meant to lower the guard of the Alliance if they found it.

Still, the most troubling aspect was that his senses had been duped from the beginning. When he first saw the fugitives, he detected nothing wrong. He also hadn't felt the bit of Void Energy inside them until they willingly revealed it. Nor had the system, it seemed. Based on that alone, the research was an outstanding success, suggesting it was meant to assist the Void, not the Alliance.

The silver lining was that Shen estimated that the vault's mana barrier was stronger than B-tier, so, A-tier. That meant these Voided Guardians needed to cut the A-tier-priority subsystems in that place so as not to be detected. The system probably could catch them if it used enough resources for an A-tier check, and after the Void Tide was declared, all resources had been diverted to the front lines. Someone would counter the Voided Guardians' camouflage soon enough. Fortunately, the civilian Alliance was safer because S-ranks and A-ranks were paying attention to their Calamity.

Or was it?

On the one hand, Shen felt Long Hei had to know about this, considering he had been preparing to spring a trap on the traitors in Samir. Him knowing meant other A-ranks knew, which meant S-ranks knew.

On the other hand, what if... What if the dragon had been blindsided—or in on it? What if Martino's warning had been a surprise? What if the Void wanted the system resources to be concentrated on the front lines to do something in the civilian Alliance, using these Voided Guardians?

Countless snowballs of possibilities filled Shen's thoughts for a few moments. Then, he shook his head. This was too big, and he was too small and weak to change anything. If he could think of these possibilities, so could people stronger and smarter than him.

It was the fate of the weak to depend on the strong sometimes, and this situation fit that.

The Alliance wasn't the important thing here. Eventually, this safe should be reopened, and the truth would be found. The question was: would he survive until then?

Shen regretted not having tested the mist earlier because his enemies wouldn't give him a chance now. The Voided Guardians shot at him. Nothing was more dangerous than a foe he knew nothing about, and both the attackers and the fog fitted that category.

He sighed and rushed against the closest Voided Guardian. Who knows? Maybe this would be fun.

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