Chapter 453: Salus Mundi Suprema Lex Esto (1/2)
“Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the materials for a category four suppression device?” Gerling asked, jerking the spear again. “I’m impressed that it takes something this strong to shut your powers down.”
Jason collapsed to the ground, the spear still running through him. He groaned through gritted teeth. The surviving vampires and Mr North gathered around.
“Fortunately,” Gerling continued, “there’s been an upswing in category four proto-spaces. So while you were running around killing superheroes and playing with your magic door, I’ve been getting ready. Even so, I never could get the materials for a suppression collar. It had to be something implanted.”
Again he twisted the spear.
“To my delight, the implantation was allowed to be quite rough. As you’re experiencing.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Jason said. “I’m the only one who can–”
Jason was cut off by Gerling’s boot to the back of his head, crushing his face into the wet asphalt.
“You think you're so special, Asano. The chosen one, destined to save the world because no one else can.”
Gerling ground Jason’s face into the street with his foot.
“You’re not special,” Gerling said. “The stuff you have is. So I’m going to take it from you. I’m going to take it all.”
“You can’t.”
“Impossible just means you haven’t taken the time to figure it out,” Gerling said. “While you were running around, claiming to be the Messiah, I was making preparations, as I said. This spear…”
Jason groaned with pain as Gerling yanked it sideways like a boat tiller.
“…was only the start.”
Gerling open a small leather pouch on his belt and took out a rainbow orb, the size of a large marble.
“This,” Gerling said, “is much more impressive than its size denotes. I'd even say it's the most impressive thing on this planet, for the simple reason that it can claim possession of anything else.”
“Contingencies on contingencies,” Mr North said. “The spear was a failsafe, in case whoever ended up with the door proved unreliable or uncontrollable. I should congratulate you, Mr Asano, on being quite thoroughly both. Mr Gerling and I have come to an equitable arrangement where he will be my agent, and the face of saving the world going forward.”
“You can’t,” Jason said. “The door is a part of me. It’s part of my soul, now.”
“And this will draw it out,” Gerling said. “I really hope it hurts.”
“Do you even realise who made this thing?” Mr North asked. “The power of a great astral being is literally beyond your mind’s ability to comprehend. It lacks the frame of reference to contextualise it.”
The pained expression on Jason’s face vanished as his eyes went wide.
“Oh,” he said. “I knew I sensed something I recognised.”
The spear blurred and vanished, along with Jason’s injuries as he got to his feet.
“I may not be able to contextualise the power of a great astral being, but I know even they can't violate a soul. Maybe you could have sold me on it since I don't know that much about great astral beings. Except that I've lived through the proof. The Builder huffed and he puffed but my soul was built out of bricks.”
Jason pushed out with his aura at full strength. The diamond rank power that had him in its grip was reliant on his accepting the scenario, but even so, it was hard to push away. It was like being trapped under an unconscious person, who wasn’t actively trying to keep him down but was so heavy they were hard to escape. Jason gave it everything he had, straining to push back. Only due to his abnormal strength and the unique traits of his aura was he able to force away the oppressive power.
Title: Indomitable
Your repeated defiance in the face of more powerful enemies and willingness to sacrifice everything for a cause has marked your soul. Your resistance to aura suppression is further enhanced and ignores rank disparity.Your aura signature has changed. Your unwavering resolve floods your aura and can be detected if your aura is examined by an aura sensing power or when projecting your aura. Allies within your aura have increased resistance to aura suppression.
Gerling, Mr North and the vampires shimmered and vanished as the true scene was revealed. Jason was lined up next to Gerling and the vampires. In front of them was a nightmare hag, a diamond-rank entity that had little direct power but could manipulate fears. It looked a lot like Shade if he’s been put through a heavy wash cycle; a ragged, shadowy figure. It had one arm outstretched, connected to Gerling and the vampires with three beams of silver-blue light. The luminescence of the light that had just been severed between Jason and the creature was still fading away.
Mr North was also in the line of nightmare victims but had broken free of the trance state even quicker than Jason.
“You threw it off,” Jason said, bending over with a weary groan, hands on knees.
“I have accepted my fate, Mr Asano. I have nothing left to fear.”
“Sure,” Jason grunted. “How the hell are we supposed to kill a nightmare hag?”
“You know what this thing is?” Mr North asked.
“I’ve faced one before, but Shade knows more than me.”
One of Shade’s bodies emerged from Jason’s shadow.
“For diamond-rank creatures,” Shade said, “nightmare hags are breathtakingly weak, at least in direct confrontation. They are, however, almost impossible to eliminate. More typically, they are bound and used for various purposes, as happened with the Order of the Reaper.”
“I thought they manifested your fears as a weapon,” Jason said.
“That is their means of fighting, and what makes them so dangerous,” Shade said. “They can manifest diamond rank spiritual constructs in the form of people’s fears. Their method of feeding, however, is to place people in a scenario where their fears consume them.”
“If you've encountered one of these in the past,” Mr North asked, “how did you handle it then?”
“Other people’s fears are like a box of chocolates,” Jason said. “You never know what you’re going to get. It created a diamond-rank version of me that was a lot more like you. One that no longer sees lines to cross. Apparently, these hags being hard to kill doesn’t apply to their own manifestations.”
“It killed that hag so that you would eventually become the same as the manifestation?” Mr North asked.
“No,” Jason said. “It killed the hag because it refused to be controlled.”
“The manifestations are accurate, then,” Mr North said.
“I hope not,” Jason said. “Shade, any idea on how to handle this thing?”
“To anchor itself here, it will need to feed on at least one physical being,” Shade said. “You and Mr North have denied it, leaving the others.”
“We have to save them?” Mr North said. “Help them escape, somehow?”
“Shade, if this thing gets denied, it goes back through the rift, right? Job done?”
“That would be my understanding,” Shade said. “I would like to be clear that this is not a scenario in which I am comfortable making definitive statements.”
“We stick to the plan, then,” Jason said, pulling an object from his inventory.
Item: [Travis’ Big Rocket] (silver rank, rare)
Definitely not compensating for anything (consumable, bazooka).
Effect: Launches a rocket containing vast and destructive powers of solar and kinetic energy.
Jason slung the huge rocket over his shoulder.
“Curse my sudden, yet inevitable betrayal.”
“What is that?” Mr North asked.
“A sun nuke, by way of astral reconfiguration. I thought I’d have a Godzilla monster or something as an excuse to fire this thing off, but having Gerling and the vamps just stand there in a trance is fine too. Can’t dawdle, though. Got to get this done before any of them die or break free.”
Jason opened a portal, which Mr North stared at.
“So, you can,” he said.
“Yes,” Jason said.
“You shipped us all back and forth via vehicle to reinforce that you couldn’t portal?”
“Got to have an escape plan. Are you going to fight for your life, Mr North?”