Chapter 621: Ripples (1/2)
Zac sighed as he looked down at Leviala as her body collapsed in the drone chair. He hadn’t touched her, but it wasn’t hard to tell that she died. It looked a bit like she committed suicide, but Zac soon realized that was not really the case. One glance with [Comic Gaze] exposed rampant energies that ripped through her innards. It looked like her body was full of what Zac assumed to be temporal cracks, and there was even a hint of something all-too-familiar; the aura of the purple Heavenly Lightning.
It felt quite diluted, or perhaps it was more apt to say it was hollow. Still, it felt like ample proof that her messing with time really came with grave consequences, especially when she didn't have any means to protect herself like Zac with his [Void Heart]. The sinister cracks that were only visible to his special sight stemmed from her two cursed eyes, spreading throughout her body.
His best guess was that she had somehow contained or managed to delay the effect, but she simply gave up just now, letting the curse end her life. Zac had run through the corridors with righteous indignation before, a towering fury building over the betrayal and assault on his people. He had meted out justice, or at least vengeance, but there was no sense of closure at this moment.
Looking down at Leviala Zac just felt... cheated. The Cartava Clan definitely deserved what was coming to them, but that didn't change much.
“Poor child,” the middle-aged man next to the drone chair said with a sigh.
Zac’s eyes turned to the man, taking in the intricate machinery that covered his Technocrat-suit and the helmet lying to the side. He was definitely a Datamancer, probably one of the leaders and main controllers of the battlebot swarm.
“I guess you’re her uncle, the Datamancer?” Zac slowly said. “Where is the Spatial Drill?”
“Why should I tell you that?” the man said with a desolate smile. “My niece is dead, as is my own family. We have lost our elders, our mechanical armies, and most of our elites. Clan Cartava has fallen, this place finally did us in. Just kill me and get it over with.”
“Many have died, but even more should still be alive,” Zac said, steeling his heart as he pointed toward the direction of the gate to the Cartava Clan. “This is just a part of your people. There should still be thousands of civilians relying on your protection. What kind of future they will lead will depend on your answers. Or I can go there and settle things myself, leaving no lingering threat behind.”
Honestly, Zac didn’t want anything to do with the Cartava civilians. He almost hoped they would hide away in some corner of the Mystic Realm, out of sight and out of mind until he had dealt with his real goals in this place. But he had already confirmed that the quest was just at (1/2) in completion, meaning the drill was still unaccounted for. He needed answers, even if he had to use the rest of the Cartava Clan as leverage.
Zac was about to continue pressuring the Datamancer, but a pulse suddenly rippled through the air. It didn’t come from the middle-aged man though, but rather seemed to come from the inner parts of the Mystic Realm.
“Wh-“ Zac said as he took a steadying step, but he didn’t even have time to react before a second pulse arrived.
He suddenly found himself standing over fifty meters away from the Datamancer, displaced by some mysterious means. He hadn’t even felt himself move. The Datamancer had essentially jumped onto the drone chair of Leviala, and he stared at the direction of the core, his miserable demeanor replaced with a calculating look.
Zac could easily understand what he was thinking; was the Dimensional Seed Awakening?
Suddenly a huge sphere made from spatial tears and the same type of shielding as the base used sprung up around the Datamancer. Zac immediately realized something was wrong, and he rushed forward, his axe already shining with a sanguine light as he activated the first fractal on its handle.
The Datamancer only glanced at Zac before he bent over Leviala’s corpse, and Zac felt his blood freeze when he saw what he was doing. He was digging out her eyes with his own bare hands before he transferred them to a special vial he had taken out from a Cosmos Sack. After that, he took out a crystal sphere, a ball filled with something that looked like a black hole.
Zac still couldn’t figure out what the Datamancer was up to, but his instincts told him that he had to stop it. The shield was thankfully only so strong, and it soon crumbled under Zac’s all-out onslaught. One more swing and the Datamancer would be dead.
“Stop right now or I’ll turn you into mincemeat,” Zac growled as he walked closer, only keeping him alive because he needed answers.
The Datamancer frowned as he looked over at Zac before he seemed to come to a decision.
“You asked about the Spatial Drill, didn’t you?” the man said as he warily looked at Zac. “Well, here it is.”
The Spatial Drill appeared in his free hand the next moment, making Zac’s heart lurch. He would instantly fail his quest if the Datamancer destroyed it, but that wasn't the real issue. Zac's instincts told had that it would cause untold problems down the line if Zac didn’t get his hands on that tool. He expected it to be hidden or in the hands of one of the elders, but it turned out that they had handed it over to their chief Datamancer.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Zac warned, cosmic energy already coursing through his body.
“The Heavens have a sense of humor. Just as I was resigned to death, it provided a path of survival. I thought I was ready to pass on, but I guess not. I am but 180 years old, I can still start over as long as I get out of here,” the Datamancer muttered, but Zac wasn’t sure whether the man was talking to himself or to him.
“We can make a deal,” Zac said as he took out a teleportation token from his Spatial Ring. “I have dozens of teleportation tokens that can take you almost anywhere in the Zecia Sector. Give me the Spatial Drill and help me reach the core and I’ll give you one along with enough Nexus Coins to activate it.”