AA. 66 (Patreon)

“I don’t know, man,” Andrew said, eyes focused on his aetherscreen as he checked on his bug. He had received a blip of a signal the night before but wasn’t around to capitalize on the opening. Now, Nil didn’t know what Andrew was doing, but it looked entertaining. “I would’ve picked Brutal Amplification if I were you.”

“It's a good ability, but I have enough offense for the Iron Gauntlet,” Nil replied, watching his friend work. “It didn’t feel like a priority, that’s all.”

“Really? Striking someone hard enough to end the fight in one blow feels like the smart thing to do.”

When Nil woke up the morning after using the ascension tokens, the Schema offered him four options, which was surprising since most recounts spoke of only three. He guessed people of his realm usually didn’t have as many feats, which contributed to the disparity.

Pick a new sub-ability to support Brutal Battery:

• Brutal Amplification: Expend has twice the input's output for five seconds. All five seconds need not be used at the same time. Absorb is disabled for five seconds after every use, and Expend may not be used again for ten minutes. If more than fifty percent of stores are used during a single amplification, all abilities will be disabled for twice as long as standard.

• Overload Shielding: When a single Absorbed incident pushes Brutal Battery past capacity, the excess energy manifests as a shield that decays rapidly. When destroyed, the shield explodes with a pulse of repulsive force. It may also be intentionally shattered. Overload Shielding taxes Brutal Battery and may only activate once an hour.

• Toggled Supercharging: Boost strength, durability, or speed while gradually burning stored energy. Only one type of boost may be active at a time, and the ability functions while Absorb or Expend are active. If not toggled off for five seconds between uses, switching between boost types grows more expensive and is slower with every switch.

• Adaptive Battery: Gain passive boosts based on battery levels. The higher the energy levels, the greater the durability, achieving double the standard at full. The body is resistant to most harmful stimuli—except toxins, psychic attacks, spectral assaults, etc. Speed boosts replace the defensive bonuses as energy levels drop, gaining double the speed of normal at empty. As defense increases, speed is reduced and vice versa.

Picking between the last two wasn’t an easy decision.

“I already spend half my time holding back,” Nil said. “Brutal Amplification is too limiting, and I can’t afford to lose my abilities for such a long time. Ten minutes of no Expend is horrible. I understand Brutal Amplification is supposed to be a finishing move to end a fight instantly, but if it fails, I’ll be screwed. Every minute is an eternity on the battlefield.”

“I suppose. I’ve never been in a fight and only ever watched the Pits and Apocalypse Arena. What the fuck do I know? I still don’t get your pick. It's boring as hell.”

“I can gain extra strength while Absorbing and defense when Expending. What’s not to like?” Adaptive Battery was initially tempting, but Nil discounted it after some thought. The passive boosts were appealing. However, he didn’t like the penalties that came with the bonus. “I can also move faster when pursuing or fleeing. The speed is fun and feels amazing. Focused Finesse training will probably be essential now because I faceplanted a couple of times while trying it out this morning. If I toggle supercharging on with Absorb while running, I can keep the speed up indefinitely. What’s not to like?”

“I guess it's better,” Andrew said, pausing to wait for the bug’s signal. They still got nothing. “The shielding could’ve turned you into a bulwark, though. And it sounds like you could’ve used the excess energy as a mini-Expend blast.”

“Those are good on paper but not in real life. I’d need to be up against someone like Burning Sands or getting swarmed for the function to prove useful. It's good but too situational. I need something for regular use instead of occasional use, and Toggled Supercharging does the job. Tests and practice are needed, but I’m sure I made the right choice. The balanced approach is safe and will keep me alive the longest. It's best if I save offensive picks for the soul weapon or my Bronze ascension.”

Andrew frowned, thinking about it for a moment. “Will a durability bonus while using Expend’s energy release function reduce the burns you suffer?”

Nil shrugged. “I need to run a few experiments but didn’t want to do it without access to good burn ointment. The point of the ability is that it lowers my reliance on Might. So, I don't need to waste a future feat—Cursed or not—on raising potential. Besides, given how quickly Brutal Battery’s capacity is increasing with each unit of Spark, not a lot will be capable of pushing it to full. A balanced approach is my best bet. I knew I wanted Toggled Supercharge as soon as I saw it. Only a self-healing ability would've made me reconsider the decision.”

“I wonder how all your sub-abilities will be,” Andrew commented. “That is, stuff that builds on Absorb or Expend or gives you another way to burn stored energy.’

“I think it's best to build on what I already have instead of bloating my options during battle. When it comes to shove, I don't want to waste time thinking of my options. I just want to do.”

“Fine. Go do something else. Wreck some stuff outside.” Andrew tossed Nil an aetherscreen. “Or see what people are saying on your video. You taking down Shawn has gone viral.”

Nil had heard of someone making a video following him in the battle royale. It was flattering, but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to watch it—mostly because of an incident with Fatima. It was embarrassing, and he didn’t know what to do with all the attention. He knew that if he did well in the arena, sooner or later, the media spotlight would focus on him. The attention would make him a fair bit of money, reducing his reliance on matches and quests. In fact, Nil was considering directing said earnings directly to his father and, eventually, his sister.

The timing just wasn’t right. Nil wanted to get the thing with Symbiotech out of the way first. So, he replied to the email he received from Festus, thanking him and asking for time to think about it. In the meantime, he agreed to let the man continue making videos starring Nil without citing any partnership deal. Garuda Systems was a medium-sized aethertech company and one of Arthurtech’s competitors. Nil liked the idea of working with them and didn’t want to agree to a video deal just in case it conflicted with possible sponsorships. 

Nil was in the middle of rewatching the video when his favorite police officers arrived. Neither of them looked happy.

“What’s wrong?” Nil asked when Katherine threw her arms around him. It looked like she had been crying. “Weren’t the both of you supposed to be working tonight?”

“We got put on administrative leave,” Susan said. “It was the recording. Since it was Apocalypse Arena property, you two didn’t technically break any rules or laws. However, it was deemed a breach of ethics.”

“It's because the captain is up for a damned promotion,” Katherine added. “It was a mistake giving it to him. I think the people involved in the coverup also moved up the ladder because of it, and the bastard knows it. He’s worried about the consequences for him if it gets out and we launch an official investigation.”

“So, he’s trying to silence you,” Nil held Katherine tightly and gave her a squeeze while Susan disappeared inside. “I’m sorry this happened. Did you give him all the recordings?”

“He demanded all the copies, but I kept a backup. Just in case.”

“Good, let’s hold on to it for now. How much did you tell him? Do you think he’ll warn Symbiotech or the higher-ups?”

Katherine shook her head, pulling away. “No. He looked scared. It looked like he wanted the whole thing gone and forgotten. I think there are dangerous people or parties involved in this thing. I might have to find a way to take this thing straight to the top.”

“I’d rather you not,” Nil said. “That might be risky. If dirty individuals or influential figures are involved, our lives might be in danger. Maybe we should talk to Lydia. She could guide us on how to approach.”

“I don’t want to lose my job,” Katherine whispered. “Believe me. What happened with Fatima was terrifying, and I’m sure it was worse when Aisha passed. Symbiotech is up to no good, and I want them to stop, but I don’t want this quest to come at the cost of my job.”

Thanks to the resources from the Control World, Layla managed to issue an official quest.

Objective: Find out details regarding Symbiotech’s Cursed Energy projects. Sabotage the symbiote project. Knowledge regarding the source of Cursed Energy, suppliers, and compatriots is needed.
Danger Level: Bronze 1
Rewards: 300 Schema Credit, 3 Schema Tokens, Bonuses available.

Katherine had a similar quest. Hers didn’t include sabotage, and Nil hadn’t revealed that his objective did. The Nexus wanted her to investigate Symbiotech and its illicit activities, uncover the exact details as Nil, and attempt to set the local law enforcement on them or reveal the information to the public. It was especially risky for her, and the quest had a danger level of Bronze-Nine. It came with the appropriate rewards—more credit, more Schema tokens, and a Silver Ascension Token.

Nil sympathized with her but found Katherine’s desire to prioritize her job over the quest off-putting. He believed keeping Cursed Energy and its manipulation off Earth was more important than working in the Metropolitan Police force. Working for the Nexus came with far better pay. While on a case for the interdimensional organization, neither of them wouldn’t need to go away on a quest. It also gave them the privilege to request a teleport to the Nexus once a week.

It was challenging to keep the disappointment off his face. But he still liked Katherine and did his best to spare her feelings, pushing down his real thoughts. It wasn’t enough to ruin whatever they had going on.

Fortunately, Susan stuck her head out of the mobile home and beckoned them. Andrew had found something. 

“You're not going to like this, Sunny-boi,” Andrew said, massaging the bridge of his nose.

“Did the bug fail?” Nil asked.

“No. It succeeded. But there is more.” Andrew looked and sounded sad and hesitant to continue.

“Elaborate, please.”

“So, Shina did approach you because she detected the Cursed Energy, but that's not the end of it. She led the team that made its container. The internal logs suggest there was a fair bit of excitement around finding their lost project. The unformed and modified soul weapon was her baby.

“They didn't have approval for the symbiote project and it wasn't above board. So, they got an unregistered Summon as the host. An injury in a gangway broke her the same way the Mind Mage had Fatima. This bitch—” He glanced at the women. “I'm not being misogynistic. Dr Shina Patel is a bitch for how little she values human life. The only thing that matters to her is her bloody project.’

“No disagreements here,” Susan said. She stood next to Nil and hugged him sideways. It was a comforting embrace. The suspension didn't seem to have affected her the way it did Katherine. A few months after the incident, the woman had already considered leaving the force. Her superiors’ restrictions on using Skoll and Hati when dealing with criminal Summonses bothered her.

“Long story short: Shina Patel was ready to pursue you with all of Symbiotech’s resources to get her old project under her control. She wants to develop the soul weapon and turn it into more. She wants you to be the guinea pig for the next big Cursed Energy prototype.”

“Any clue how she's getting her hands on the Cursed Energy?”

Andrew nodded. “It's something called Death Gauntlet. Symbiotech has five agents absorbing energy from the Cursed Ones, and the little lab minions are sucking it out for their experiments.”

“Do you have any details on those or who these agents are?” Katherine asked, frowning. “These kinds of people would have enough influence to scare the captain and fund a cover-up.”

“The files and mailboxes are far too encrypted for me to break. It's not my expertise. I'm getting this off of logs, outgoing emails, and accompanying screenshots or media files. There is a lot more I haven't yet checked. This is just off the top. Despite losing Fatima, Shina has been celebrating your willingness to become their test subject mate.” Andrew looked worried, looking between Nil and Katherine. “You two need to be careful with this quest. It's not just your lives that are in danger. These fuckers aren't above targeting your families.”