The Gamer Chapter 1494 – Depths of Evil (Patreon)

Several things happened at once.

Sol and Luna backed away. Romulus traced every movement. Herman kept staring emptily ahead. Mengele smiled. Eliana’s carapace formed fully as she crossed the distance. She launched herself the rest of the way, claw stretched out to rend the genocidal maniac from neck to groin.

Her hand stopped dead in the air.

The red cowl had her wrist gripped in a hand covered in Mithril plate. “Grrrrrrrr,” the animalistic growl of the short woman accompanied the cracking of her mask, until the smooth bone split open. “Bloodburn.”

The quivering lock of their hands was immediately broken. Eliana tore her hand free, and went into a roundhouse kick that catapulted the crimson cowl into the nearby wall. The impact burst the reinforced stone like it was an eggshell.

Immediately, Mengele exploited the opening. Speed that belied his build utterly, surprising even Thana, let him slam his fist into the white-haired goddess’ face. Bone splintered, surface blood gushed, skin burst, and her skull caved in, all before the intensity of the force slammed Eliana to the ground.

“Ah-ah, failure,” the leader of the Purest Front tutted. “You wouldn’t think I’d create you to make myself the inferior product, would you?”

Eliana’s regeneration pieced her head back together within moments. Moments were still enough for Mengele to draw his foot back. At that point, the entire harem began to mobilize, ready to come to the aid of their sweet little Eliana.

John, and by extension all of them, were stopped by the sudden appearance of the red cowl between them. Seemingly unharmed, the crimson cowl was announced only by an arcane flicker that John was intimately familiar with. ‘Magus Step?’

They were all about to spring into action anyway when Rodaclam put a hand on John’s chest. “Do not make this more complicated,” he pleaded. A battle between two could be tolerated. Full-on warfare between the leadership of two of the Divided Gates could not. Grinding his teeth, John let Eliana face this on her own. He trusted her.

As difficult as it was to see her get kicked in the ribs.

Eliana was slammed into the same wall she had already helped break, flying straight through. Giving chase, Mengele stormed through the hole, and the rest of them followed immediately after. Romulus audibly let out a long, deep sigh.

It was easier to follow the vibrations caused by the repeated clashes of fists than the sounds of combat. Eliana’s screams shook the ancient walls, bouncing off anything, and entirely obfuscating where she truly was. Still, they all hastened after them and the trail of destruction left in their wake.

Inevitably, they all emerged in the park at the centre of the imperial palace. Massive stretches of green surrounded an artificial lake and the obelisk extending from its midst. Ducks and other waterfowl were rapidly fleeing the scene, as were the many other members of the ecosystem that Romulus had cultivated in this place over the aeons.

Mengele still had the upper hand, driving Eliana back with every swung fist. Madly, the leader of the Purest Front laughed, the triumph of his experimentation seemingly evident in every blow he delivered. John saw the typical signs of Eliza and Thana clashing, in the way the goddess of genocide slowed and quickened between movements.

One particularly brutal swing sent Eliana to the ground again. This time, Mengele dropped on top of her, pummelling her chest and face. “Successful transformation into a superior human – a god even – and still your filthy ancestry prevents you from reaching true power! The lineage of your people should have ended generations ago!”

Eliana first caught Mengele’s left then his right with her own hands. Her tail stabbed at his face, but was reflected by some kind of black substance that poured out of the man’s skin. They entered into a raw strength contest, one where Eliana slowly pushed upwards, as Mengele’s smile quivered for the first time. Words of power etched themselves into the consciousness of all who heard it. “There is only one purpose here. Burn it. Burn it all. Burn my blood. Scorch my bones. Incinerate my soul. Scream. SCREAM! LET ME REND HIS EXISTENCE ASUNDER. LET MY PURPOSE BE WRITTEN IN HIS GUTS. SCREAM AND SING THE SONGS OF DAMNA-!”

“ENOUGH!”

Multiple elements in divine concert wrapped around the two combatants, moments before the goddess of genocide could finish her chant. Romulus brought distance between them, gripped Eliana intensely enough that she could not free herself quick enough for Mengele to fix his tie. “Since I have confirmed the inferiority of my past experiment, I shall take my leave,” he said, and turned to do exactly that.

Eliana ripped several vines off herself, twisted plant fibres that kept her chained to an anchor of elemental might. Lava and water reinforced the green immediately.

“You missed the window, for us to be capable of playing this off as an accident.” John’s entire consciousness was turned towards the silver-haired goddess. Like the camera of a videogame locked in during dialogue, so too was he practically forced to behold the moon goddess. What she said, he knew instinctively, was said between them alone. “And my dear won’t risk the obelisk getting caught up in your fight. Call her off. We cannot have a leader of the Divided Gates be killed – within our city.”

Three very carefully spoken words, and John nodded. The effect ebbed away and he teleported over to where Eliana still struggled. “You,” she growled angrily, half of her did. “Why did you have to give her fucking doubt?!”

John immediately scolded himself. ‘Of course she would be doubting herself for every small reminder of greater consequences.’ “I’m sorry. There’ll be another opportunity. I swear it on all I love.”

Thana growled, but Eliana stopped struggling, and the vines released her. Bone plates were absorbed back into her body, blood flowed through her nailbeds into the streams where they belonged. In the end, the naked Eliana stood in the middle of the destroyed landscape.

“We’ll obviously repay you for the damages caused,” John said to Romulus, who was already smoothing things over with waves of his hand.

“If I had not anticipated this, I would not have agreed to his request to meet you like this,” Romulus responded.

“This was your idea?” the Gamer asked Mengele.

The trio of the Purest Front, leader, Herman, and crimson cowl, all three ran into the Ambassador Double just a few corridors away. Even if the fight had been wrapped up, there was something he needed to know.

“As stated: I needed to test my inferior product,” Mengele responded. “Curiosity was my greatest gift, always.”

“Curiosity… sure…” John shook his head. To bother to hide his disdain for the man was as useless as to emphasize it with every heartfelt insult he deserved. “Who is that?” he asked what he truly needed to know.

“Oh, this?” Mengele looked at the crimson cowl. “You will-“

“Shut up,” John interrupted him immediately. “Him!” He pointed at Herman.

The perfect copy of the traitor smiled emptily, his eyes lacking any drive or greater instinct. That this was not truly Herman was evident in every facet of his being. Gaia’s execution had been merciless and absolute.

“Him?” Mengele seemed confused by the question, looking at the blond man with a degree of disdain. “Why would you care about this thing?” The leader of the Purest Front turned back and smiled wickedly. “Now that rouses my curiosity.”

John grinded his teeth. Under other circumstances he may have laughed, but the deepest source of his paranoia stood right there, an emptiness behind a hatefully familiar face. “When I entered the Abyss, an information broker found me. He named himself SecretBlonde. Under the disguise of Herman Glaurum, he manipulated me to try and extract Thana for him, then he abused my trust further, to gather the blood to recreate her.”

“It was him?!” Mengele pieced the rest together, staring at his attendant for a moment, before bursting out into laughter. “Oh, now I understand the sudden death of the experimental mundanes… he used their blood to gather the critical mass and… he finished the failed experiment, the fool. For that he betrayed me? What happened to him then? Surely Gaia tore him out of our reality?”

“Yes. Now answer me. What is he?”

“A clone,” Mengele responded plainly. “Docile and hand raised. Aurum could not be trusted, but his genes did have a degree of superiority to them that was useful for further research. True intellect is difficult to find.” Even as the leader of the Purest Front gestured at the clone, he did not move a muscle. “This is not the one you knew. He is much better. Gold-Einheit Vier, or, if you want to give it a name in this Germanic tongue, Four is what would work.”

“A clone,” John muttered and pushed himself off the wall. “You disgust me.”

“And you disappoint me. Still, you reject the truth of superiority.” Mengele shook his head and the two of them walked in opposite directions.

John could almost smell the distinct lack of evil in the air, when he was away from the leadership of the Purest Front. ‘Always nice when there are true enemies in the world,’ he thought grimly. It left an ashen taste in his mouth. Much of his harem was similarly disgusted with their lack of success.

The Ambassador Double returned as the Mandala Sphere to him, as he wrapped up the conversation about repair costs with Romulus. “Was this the only reason you called me here?” the Gamer asked.

“Fundamentally yes.” Romulus patched a final gap in his lawn. “It would be unbecoming of the ongoings if this happened in the middle of the gathering.” The Apex turned to Eliana, his dark eyes giving her a warm yet warning glare. “Your hatred is entirely justified, but my city is not the battlefield of your grudge.”

Eliana pulled her lips back, but the growl never came. Instead, her entire body language deflated and she tiredly grabbed onto John to keep herself upright. Caressing the head of the adorable, incredibly dangerous woman, the Gamer smiled. Even in the presence of evil, the warmth of her body gave him hope. If he did the same for her, they would endure.

“I do wish to take this opportunity to discuss with you what other surprises you may have in store for me.” Romulus guided them to a bench near the water. It wasn’t the exact same one on which Romulus had revealed the truth of Remus and Gaia to him, but it was close enough to make John feel nostalgic.

And for him to suck on the inside of his cheek.

The very same Remus was currently attempting to enter the world again as some kind of sand-phantom. Something that John was hiding, because he and the Horned Rat had agreed that it was too dangerous for the Apex to know. Rather, there were too many variables that John did not have control over. The Apex could have killed this manifestation of his brother or he could have sought redemption in helping it. Worse was if more people than him learned about it. There would doubtlessly be those, like Mengele, who would attempt to win over Remus to oppose the current world order under the Apex.

It would be messy and Fusion would be ground to dust in that mess. John could not risk it. Not at this time.

“You are considering telling me something heavy,” Romulus realized.

John gulped, but he had a half-lie prepared for this already. “I will have to fight Krieg in the coming days.”

Romulus raised up an eyebrow. “I understand that you and him do not have the best of relationships,” the Apex glanced at Nathalia for a moment. The dragoness was, as per usual, engaged in a glaring match with Sol. Rodaclam and Luna stood next to them, begging for both to keep it down. “Combat over it seems overblown.”

“It’s a much simpler situation. The Mother of Fire demands it in return for letting Salamander reach her full potential,” John elaborated. “I don’t feel any hostility towards him.” ‘Which is very easy to say as the one that got the girl.’

“I see… I will reach out to him. He will arrive tomorrow in either case. For him to refuse a battle would be unusual.” Romulus rubbed his chin. “It will make for a good opening event… anyone else you wish to trouble?”

“No, I think otherwise things should go off without a hitch,” John responded. “I take it the other members of the Divided Gates are due to arrive tomorrow?”

Romulus nodded. “Unlike the Purest Front, everyone else has announced themselves for the morning of the meeting. The people will love to see them land in the harbour one after the other.”

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen the Purest Front’s ships there.”

“They’re staying somewhere else. They did not disclose where.”

Unsurprising, for several reasons. The Purest Front was by far the least popular among the Divided Gates, so it wasn’t like they had anything to gain or lose by refusing an impressive entrance. Simultaneously, tyrants tended to be the most paranoid people, so Mengele wouldn’t have parked his escape vessels somewhere people could know to intercept him.

“Lydia has announced a delayed appearance,” Romulus broke the next topic. “Which you doubtlessly know about already. Anything I should expect there?”

“She just wants to make a show of it,” John said, then pulled out his smartphone. “Speaking of a show, there’s a few things I would like to arrange, before the vote…”

Always things to do.