Chapter 253: Conflicting Ideas (1/2)
Torix rolled his eyes, ”That's highly unlikely. They are beings that transcend time and space.”
I raised my hands, ”I'm not saying their controlling Eonoth, just that they've found a way of using him to their benefit. The Old One is connected to Lehesion directly after all. It's not that much of a stretch to say the Adair Family figured out a way to abuse that connection.”
Torix cupped his chin, ”Hmm, perhaps. I'm doubtful, but we'd better report our findings and our hypotheses to the Overseer regardless. He's busy, no doubt, but this information may prove vital.”
I nodded, ”Let's do it.”
Torix called the Overseer, who neglected to show up in person. Instead, he called over a chatline Schema made publicly available. With it, the Overseer used a randomly generated password for security purposes. Once logged in, a tired, annoyed voice rang through,
”What is it now?”
Torix turned to me. We both had a silent debate over who would answer until the Overseer announced,
”I'm leaving-”
I shouted, ”Wait a minute.”
Torix quietly cackled as I eyed the ancient lich. The old mastermind got me there.
”What did you both call me for?”
”Do you remember my last fight with Lehesion?”
”Vaguely.”
”I blocked one of his attacks with a pocket dimension I can control. I ended up getting a sample of Lehesion that we just studied.”
The voice perked up,
”This may have been worth answering then. What did you uncover?”
”Nothing direct. Some kind of nanomachines self-destructed the tail slice, but we did figure some details out. For starters, the tail was bathed with an unreal amount of energy.”
”Yes, his golden aura, as always.”
”At first, yeah, but then it glowed blue. It had enough radiation to even put Spear out of commission for a bit.”
”Spear?” the Overseer rumbled.
”Yeah, the Sentinel that's helping us.”
”The breaches in his armor plating are likely why. Their armor is highly resistant to radiation of all kinds.”
I raised my hands, ”That's the thing - it was enough radiation that lead-lined suits weren't nearly enough to withstand it. We're talking way more mana than a single planet could possibly hold. We think Lehesion's energy source is coming from somewhere else besides Giess.”
”Did either of you videotape the footage of the event?”
Torix opened his status, sending something to the Overseer. A few seconds of observing later and the Overseer murmured,
”It's very...blue.”
Torix leaned over, ”That's the Cherenkov effect. It's perfectly normal when dealing with high volumes of ionizing radiation.”
The Overseer sighed, ”It's giving me very little to work with as far as viewing is concerned. Do you have any samples left of the tail segment?”
I shrugged, ”I ate it.”
”...You ate it?”
”Yeah.”
A quick thud later, likely a facepalm, and the Overseer grumbled,
”No samples remain?”
Torix spread out his hands, ”It wasn't as if something of value remained. There weren't even cellular structures remaining. The energy-laden jelly was simply a blob of the elements composing Lehesion. It gave us nothing of value. At least Daniel may strengthen himself with it.”
The Overseer took a moment to consider Torix's defense.
”That is a shame. We could've have uncovered an actual weakness.”
Torix lifted a finger upwards, ”And therein lies the core reason for this call - we believe that they are drawing this energy source from Eonoth.”
I turned to Torix, ”You didn't want the call at first, right?”
Torix waved away my retort, ”Our point is that Lehesion may be empowered by cosmic beings that defy convention.”
The Overseer flatlined,
”It doesn't matter.”
Torix and I stayed silent for a second.
The Overseer's voice carried quiet confidence,
”You both know little of how a spatial fortress operates. Here is how they work. Spatial fortresses are ancient, almighty eldritch that have evolved beyond what eldritch are normally capable of. These eldritch are the end results of fringe worlds.”
I crossed my arms as he continued,
”A subspecies of eldritch will dominate, the evolution of their species wiping all life out on a planet. Over time, these eldritch can cover the entire surface of planets, creating worlds of flesh and bone. These worlds lob spores out in all directions. This is why fringe worlds are such high priorities. They often lead towards entire sectors being overridden by behemothic eldritch.”
Hm, that sounded a lot like what was happening on Wrath's world with Plazia-Ruhl. If that was the case, Plazia was taking his time with his assimilation of their species to stop a spatial fortress from blowing up the world he was on. Considering the depth of that plan, he was definitely related to Baldag-Ruhl.
I made a note of that for later.
The Overseer continued, ”Schema has discovered a use for these abominations. Using ancient techniques, he can override the sentience of the eldritch ruling over the planet. Once taken over, Schema converts them into a station that acts as a stronghold. Our worst enemies become our most powerful weapons in this way.”
Torix pondered aloud, ”I wonder what these ancient techniques may be?”
I leaned over and whispered, ”It's the cipher. I'm 100% sure of that.”
The Overseer griped, ”If you could avoid discussing forbidden knowledge, I would appreciate it.”
I gave him a thumbs-up, ”Of course.”
The Overseer continued, ”These overtaken eldritch are referred to as spatial fortresses. One of the upper-tier fortresses is going to warp into the solar system that Giess is housed on. From across the entire system, it will lob a metal bullet at such speeds, the entire planet will split apart.”
This speech sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember why.
The Overseer made a dull thud that echoed over the voice call,
”I do not mean that figuratively. Giess will splinter. Giess is an active, volcanic world. Underneath its crust is an endless sea of magma.”
Yeah, I could verify that.
”This shall not be a kinetic explosion that would wipe life from the planet. It will crash through the entire world. This will disintegrate the entirety of it from existence, washing everything in a gravitational storm of magma. Over time, the remnants of Giess will create a tiny asteroid belt where the planet once was.”
The Overseer deadpanned,
”That is why neither of you should be concerned with Lehesion. He is a powerful entity, but he will be alone. A single entity can only cause so much trouble, and we've already tasked several of our greatest Breakers with ending that monster. Without any base of operations, the Adair Family will crumble as well.”
I turned to Torix, ”Huh...That does sound pretty effective.”
Torix crossed his arms, ”I...I never knew Schema carried such potent tools at his disposal.”
The Overseer muttered, ”This is why I am not worried. The rebellion shall be quashed, as all other rebellions have been. Now, this is the last of what I'll listen to about this matter. Is that understood?”