Chapter 47 - Level 27 [p2-3]. Dark.Meeting.Athena. (1/2)
”He” was silently creeping through the woods. Moon was spilling its light over the pine forest, which reflected from drops of water that stayed since last rain.
”He” sniffed the air in hopes to catch the trail once more, but as ”He” expected scent was washed away by a recent storm.
”He” concentrated on his other senses and decided to go with the hearing.
Owl hunting for a mouse a bit to the west, fox silently feasts upon some dead body, wolfs roaming around in hopes to find some prey and a bear that sniffs around to find some fatty food. But these are not the targets ”He” is tracking.
”He” filtered these sounds and concentrated on other weaker sources of sound. Still nothing.
”He” opens eyes, that stayed closed for the last 2 weeks and world drowns in darkness because these eyes are not tools of mere sight. No. These are the doors to another realm and in that realm, ”He” finally ”saw” them. That was enough. The very fabric of reality cried in pleas to close these eyes and finally, the world came back to peace.
”He” started quickly but silently moving through the woods. A cloak was flapping around the body, as ”He” moved, but eerily without making any sound as if an illusion. Hood masked features of the face, so it was impossible to say whether ”He” was a human or a beast that walks on two feet.
But one thing was clear ”He” was near. Prey awaits its hunter.
Deep breath. One inhale and one exhale.
5 targets. One on the lookout, 2 talking, 2 sleeping.
”He” moved ever so slowly, closing in on the targets.
The smell was now obsolete. The hearing was the answer.
Crackling of the wood in the heat of a bonfire. 2 men were discussing something, while one boy was dozing off, but a parody of a sentry.
”He” was near. ”He” focused and mapped the location of the targets in his mind. Two around the bonfire. One in a tent on the right sleeping, while another one is in a sleeping bag on the left. ”Sentry” is sitting, leaning on a tree, some distance away from camp.
But ”He” is not somebody, who can be noticed by a mortal man.
”He” silently climbed the tree, that overlooked the clearing where this camp was located. ”He” raised a hand, reaching for a space behind the back as if there was a sword, but there was nothing or so it seemed. As soon as the hand started clenching, a handle appeared out of nowhere.
Hand moved and in a second a weapon was already in it.
”He” held a simple sword that had only handle and a blade. The moment sword came into contact with air, weak blue light started seeping from the runes inscribed on it.
”He” made a wind sign to gather wind and made push sign to focus it into a rush of air that was directed towards the bonfire. Fresh air, made the fire burn brighter than ever before, attracting the attention of the talking men.
”He” didn't need any second chances. One mistake is enough to seal their fate.
The other one screamed to wake up others, but too late. ”He” was in front of him already, moving at the speeds that were simply incomprehensible for normal creatures.
A strong hand was gripping his neck.
”He” raised the body high into the air with one hand, while the other one, was used to pierce the heart.
The other two just woke up and the sight that met their eyes, wasn't of the sun illuminating the world, but of their comrade hanging in the air, impaled on the sword.
”He” swung his blade and the body was thrown away, towards a sentry. The boy just stood up, only to fall down once more under the weight of the corpse.
”He” looked at the sword that was excited by all the blood spilled around and asked for more, which was clearly conveyed by how the runes shined brighter and brighter.
Two men who were sleeping finally came back to reality and rushed towards. But what a shame.
”He” flicked hand a sword was already carrying a body by sheer force of the throw, while another was gripped in the same manner as the unfortunate soul before. But this time, something was different. The atmosphere has changed.
”He” reached for the dagger, hanging on the belt.
”He” started pulling out the dagger and all the blood around started rising up into the air and slowly moving towards the gems on the hilt. 3 bloodstreams, one from the pool below, one from woods and one from the person that was thrown before, were moving in a manner that was both terrifying and enchanting.
Finally, ”He” drawn out the dagger and the moment dagger left premisses of the hilt, all the blood that was slowly flowing in the air was instantly suċkėd into the gems on the hilt, turning 3 dead bodies into dried up husks.
Then he slashed with the dagger and all the blood inside that man, was drained into a giant ruby in the pommel of the dagger.
”You will die.”
This was the only thing ”He” said throughout the whole encounter.
”He” left the boy, who was on the lookout, alive, just for the fun of it.
A few hours later ”He” was close to exiting the forest, but suddenly ”He” felt somebody appearing behind him.
”Hey, it's been a while.” - Unknown said
”...”
”So many years passed, but you remain the same. Can't you say 'Hi' at least?”
”What do you want?”
”You were called.”
”Not interested.”
”Even if it's concerning Athena's progeny?”
”...”
For the first time in the while, ”He” faltered and faced the annoying man.
”So, are you coming, Dark?”
***
Similar activities happened across multiple Universes and Multiverses, all across the Creation. All sentient space-time dimensional beings, that served the ”Order” and were a part of the past ”Great Wars” were called forth to meet and discuss the threat of progeny.
In the meantime, Magnus was resting and drowning in self-critique at Weasley's place, so nothing interesting could possibly happen to him.
He had no idea, that his action of changing Black's fate has arisen such a commotion across multiple worlds and Universes.
However, all that commotion ended with one meeting. Meeting of veterans.
***
Markus was sitting in the giant meeting hall, capable of fitting more than a thousand people. However, he was neither awed nor amazed by this hall, because he was deeply engrossed in memories of past and gloomy thoughts of the future.
In the meantime, people of different races were entering the hall every few hours or so. Some of them were gigantic, others were small. Some of them were strong physically, others magically. But one thing was common. They were all creatures who lived in time-space dimensional Universes.
Part of these people was cheerful and lively, communicating with friends, they haven't seen for centuries. But the majority were quietly sitting in meditation, waiting for the official start of this meeting.
Or at least they tried to meditate. Some of them, like Markus, couldn't enter a calm state, due to the implication of the words ”Athena's progeny”.
Minutes and hours passed, but for attendees of this meeting who lived for thousands of years, this time meant nothing. Patience was something that just naturally comes after some time.
Soon, a calm and steady voice was heard throughout the hall.
”Let's begin. Commander Markus, you may begin your explanation.”
Hearing the voice, everyone was silenced.
Markus, hearing, has calmed down a little bit and walked towards the podium in the middle of the hall.
”Greetings everyone! My name is Markus Kay Boreas, from the Roman Universe, commander of Fixer Battalion. I requested this meeting due to a recent discovery. Discovery related to a very special system, called Skills Overlord.”
”So? How is that connected with Athena's progeny?” One of the attendees raised a logical question.
”As you may know, we, ”Order”, created multiple types and versions of Systems, inspired by multiple Universes, that are actively using said Systems. One of the earliest samples of such systems was Skills Overlord. And the problem of all earlier systems was the fact that they heavily depended on the outer source of power and information. And as you may know, the best source at that time, was ...” Markus couldn't finish, because he was interrupted by another person.
”Artificial Telecommunicational Hybrid Encyclopedia of kNowledge. ATHENa for short. Although these systems indeed took knowledge and power from Athena, it didn't mean that this system became her progeny.”
Just when Markus wanted to answer that question, one of the younger members of the ”Order”, that came after the 5th Great War, asked:
”Wait a second... Wasn't Athena an Artificial Intelligence that went haywire? Why is it called encyclopedia?”
One of the older members, who looked like an elder scholar from China, decided to ”enlighten” people sitting in the hall with his knowledge:
”It started as the encyclopedia of knowledge, used by operatives to inspect and fix timelines and remove parallel Universes. It started as a library with a search engine. Later on, the first leader, Thanatos, decided to modify this system and make it smarter. This way, Athena became a voice ȧssistant.”