Chapter 296: A Loyalty, Fractured (1/2)

The Overseer peered up at me, ”To think that you'd come this far as quickly as you have.” The Overseer opened his status, viewing my class and whatnot, ”It's been a long time since a Sovereign was made, and with your stats no less. Excellent work.”

Not expecting a compliment, I beamed with some pride, ”Well...thanks. I appreciate the recognition.”

The Overseer turned to the Sentinel, ”Further talk must wait until after his service has transpired.”

The weary giant walked over to the fallen Sentinel's armor and spear, but I stopped the Overseer with a hand on his shoulder, ”I already paid his respects.”

The Overseer stood taller as if a weight was taken off of him, ”Ah, then that is good...Very good.”

I let my arm down while the Overseer stared down at the corpse. His gaze lingered, and thoughts of all kinds boiled beneath the surface. The Overseer remained solemn as he muttered,

”Of all the people I imagined to honor us in death, you were among the last of them. Did you have a change of heart due to Schema's awards, perhaps?”

I raised an eyebrow, ”What was my opinion before just now?”

”Spear tells me of your disdain for Schema. I imagined it would extend to us as well, as we are representatives of the AI.”

My eyes widened as I remembered my remarks to Spear. After the situation with the Spatial Fortress and Althea, keeping my cool regarding Schema grew difficult. I might've been more scathing than I intended, so I kept the Overseer's words in mind moving forward. If Spear relayed my chats to others, then I'd watch what I said around him.

I raised a hand, ”There's been a misunderstanding. I'm not trying to act like Schema's evil or that I hate him. I'm just aware of his shortcomings. That's all.”

I pointed at the Sentinel's armor, ”And to say I don't respect someone like that, a soldier that dies in battle for what he believes in...that's disingenuous.”

The Overseer leaned back, ”I'll take your word for it. Worthy of note, you've gotten better with words. In our first meeting, you once sounded like a simpleton. Now you speak with purpose...and the mark of intention.”

He narrowed his eyes at the last few words, but I shrugged it off, ”Eh, it's the class talking.”

The Overseer gave me a slight nod, and his guarded nature waned. He rolled his shoulders as he loosened up some. He even let his hands clank against his sides. He seemed 'off' like something bothered him. For an average person, I'd have ignored signs this subdued. However, the Overseer showed little emotion, so even subtle cues hinted at larger issues beneath the surface. Trusting my instincts, I frowned,

”Hey, you alright?”

A touch unbalanced, he peered up at the shifting, underwater seascape, ”Does it matter?”

”Depends. If you want to perform on your job, then yeah, it does.”

He sighed before shaking his head, ”I...I just need to rest.”

I stomped the ground, generating two blocks of stone. I sat down on one of them, ”Why not take a break here? You look like you need it.”

He glowered at a Hybrid in the distance before one of my super golems destroyed the abomination. Watching one of the disgusting monsters be rived in half, the Overseer let out a melancholic laugh,

”This is as good a place as any, I suppose. I do enjoy watching those beasts die.”

We sat under my base with the war waging over us before I leaned forward, ”So, how's Schema doing against Elysium?”

The Overseer put a hand on the side of his head, ”Less than optimally. We, his soldiers, are faring even worse still. Our forces have been pushed further back than our projections initially indicated. They send wave after wave of Hybrids at us, and that result is in an endless wave of casualties for both sides.”

I nodded, ”Torix predicted that they'd do that. It isn't like silvers or the eldritch are in short supply, and that's what Hybrids are made of. Althea confirmed it.”

”Those are banes, yes, but now their disease, Hybridization, it spreads to even us. They've begun turning our own soldiers into vessels that are awe-inspiring in their power and might.”

The Overseer glared at the dimensional slicer beside us, ”That is a fact you are well aware of. I can see you've already handled one of our converted members.”

I frowned, ”Yeah, he had to be put down. Or she. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what it was after Hybridization.”

”It doesn't matter what it was. It matters what it is now. That corruption spread through it, and so now it must be culled. I wish that I could say that is the only Sentinel we've lost, but that is far from factual. We've never suffered this many fallen Sentinels, not since Schema began recording our fatalities centuries ago.”

The Overseer shook his head, ”Even more so, we lost an Overseer the other day to Lehesion. That is the rumor spreading through our ranks.”

Staring at the Overseer's many wounds, it was only a matter of time before one of them fell. You could only work someone so hard before they tumbled apart. I winced at our Overseer, ”Damn.”

”This is the first time in Schema's history that one of my kind has been killed. It brings home a stark reality for all of us. We may perish at any moment.”

I remembered Alpha, ”That's true. We all can.”

”It is different for me. One of the benefits of becoming an Overseer is immortality. You're guaranteed to live forever. With this war, that is no longer the case, and my coming mortality makes me dwell on my life. Did I live it well, or do I carry regrets with me that I refuse to acknowledge?”

He peered at a cluster of Vagni being huddled to safety, ”As an example, since this war has started, I've killed civilians like them. Others have replicated that same evil, their beings drenched in blood and their paths marred by corpses.”

Visions of cities being disintegrated in balls of fire and light passed over my eyes. I envisioned the millions I killed on Giess during my nightly bombings of their metropolises. Yeah, I was one of those people the Overseer talked about. The Overseer continued, his words like a dagger between my ribs,

”Wars bring about the deepest horrors of those that fight in them.”

I swallowed a sickness in my stomach, ”Huh...yup.”

The Overseer waved a hand, ”Not, not to criticize you or your efforts. You killed the enemy. That constructs you in the image of a hero, and you are one of Schema's greatest assets. That makes you one of our greatest assets as well.”

It was a weird way of wording a compliment, but I took it to heart, ”Yeah, it's easy to forget I helped anyone sometimes.”

The Overseer pointed a massive finger at me, ”Your decisive action against the rebels delayed their initial offensive, and that resulted in several planets not being overrun during their original blitz. Throughout the conflict, those planets inevitably fell, but you gave them time they wouldn't have otherwise had. Save that guilt for another time or for tangible mistakes because killing those monsters wasn't a mishap. It saved billions of lives.”

”Holy shit. Billions?”

”Yes.”

”Woah...Still, it sounds like my bombing of Giess didn't matter in the end. The planets still fell.”

”Evacuations were more complete, and fewer casualties occurred. That alone is more than most of my actions have amounted to.”

I never fully considered the results of my decision to bomb Giess. For me, it equated to mass murder, but hearing about evacuations and fewer deaths bolstered my own spirits a bit. That encouragement faltered as the Overseer rubbed his missing eye without thinking about it. As he did, blue, humming nanomachines kept most of his body intact at this point, glowing over patches of exposed skin.

The suit could only stop so many of the impacts he suffered from. Some of his exposed, tar-ish skin revealed a nasty wound on his shoulder, the nanomachines unable to fully protect him any longer. It made his doom and gloom attitude fit his appearance. That culminated in his brooding sense of mortality that now loomed over him.

The rebellion changed him. Instead of being an invincible, almost robotic director of affairs, he now carried a weakness and vulnerability. He no longer spoke with absolutes, and his faith was shaken to its core, giving way to doubt. It made him more human, and it warmed me to see him show some emotion.

But, it also made me somber. The Overseer was kind to me in his direct, no-nonsense way. His advice helped, even if it was often blunt like a hammer. Before I ruminated further, the Overseer caught himself rubbing where his eye once was, and he pulled his hand back with a quick jerk,

”Despite those setbacks, we have ceased Elysium's advancements, for now. They took the planets they initially targeted, but their success came from their original strategy. By choosing vulnerable worlds, they ensured a high chance of success. After those easiest of worlds were taken, they now lack any firm grip on other planets. That we know of.”

He reminded me of Althea's report on Gypsum. A place like that was just begging to breakaway from Schema, and I imagined there were plenty of other planets just like it. I peered around at Blegara,

”Yeah, kind of like this place, huh?”

”Indeed. You've managed to establish a place of relative safety here. It's dreamlike that such serenity can be achieved amidst this mayhem. It's thanks to those constructs, as I understand it.”

He pointed at Alpha's memorial. I nodded,

”Our progress is definitely because of them.”

”It would serve you well to remember that. Many in positions of power forget those that are under them. In many ways, that is what I am experiencing now. Schema is leaving us to fend against this army by ourselves.”

”Isn't he sending classers to help?”

The Overseer stared down at his massive palms, ”Yes and no. Some classers still decide to help, but they will abandon us if the situation becomes remotely dire. That is exacerbated by Schema's lack of tactical utilization. We, Overseers and Sentinels, are being thrown in lines of fire where we are killed in mass. This leads to inefficiency, and by now, we could've achieved far more with the lives we've lost.”

”It sounds like you have your own ideas of how to fight Elysium. If that's the case, why not let Schema know about them? It couldn't hurt to get a new perspective.”

The Overseer scoffed, ”You've attempted discussing your viewpoints with Schema before, haven't you?”

I grinned, ”Like talking to a brick wall.”

The Overseer shook his head with a laugh. He raised a hand, turning serious, ”Humor aside, I commanded troops in my past. I fought against Yawm and his kind, and I learned how to wage war. That put me in a position to judge how Schema fares at the task. I believe that we are strong, but our enemies are endless.”

He turned a palm to me, ”You understand this, but you are fortunate enough to retain the tenacity to fend off wave after wave of enemies. We are not in such a fortunate circumstance. Sentinels and Overseers are explosive, powerful, and quick. Each member is akin to a moving bomb, one with high initial resilience and a tremendous output of force.”

The Overseer waved his hands, ”Your golems, they are more reminiscent of a hurricane. They slowly but surely march forward, whittling the enemy down one at a time. This means they are similar in their abilities when compared to a Sentinel, but instead of explosivity, they shine in their resilience.”