Chapter 260: Island

September 5th, 626

“So what do you think about them?”

My eyes remained on the spar beneath us. Umara pondered beside me, her gaze on the figures of Feiden and Tana slugging it out with Kwon and Song. The rest of the Desert Eagles were resting on the sidelines. 

Katta was coming down from a Vigor high, Shadowbane was stretching, which was catching Ponteck’s eye, Blackblood was reveling in frustration, and Aki was talking with Aria, Ilinca, and Jaya. 

Umara took a deep breath, giving me her evaluation. 

“They’re good. All of them. Ilinca’s skills have improved rather significantly as her cohesion with the team increased, as has Aria’s and Jaya’s. Katta has proven herself to be just as powerful as advertised, and though she relies on her serums, her invocations and Crowns are no joke by themselves. She can operate at our level even without serums. Aki’s Aura is rather obscene, as unassuming as she is, and she’s taken to training everyone. In battle she’s also menacing. I’ve never seen someone overwhelm an Authority 9 King Blood like she has…”

I nodded, recalling the video footage Umara had made sure to capture of all their battles over the past month. 

Aki was a kind of brawler, defaulting to using her fists more than anything else. According to video footage, the reason she was so capable in a brawl was because of both her Aura and her Invocations. 

Invocations could grant a variety of generalized abilities, like the ability to manipulate Vigor, Psyka, or Mana. Different Invocations could control the energies in more specific ways than others, but no matter what, controlling them at all demanded the user’s Aura. 

Aki had powerful Invocations. I didn’t have the details but if her battles were anything to go by, they weren’t any lesser than Katta’s. Perhaps she didn’t have so many, but then again, Katta’s Aura couldn’t compare to Aki’s. 

This was all to say that with her bare fists she could neutralize warlock spells, go toe to toe with knights, and even react with the acuity and speed of a summoner. 

To top it all off, she was an amazing martial artist, her skills given wings by her Aura. In battle, she was as prophetic as I was, perhaps even more so. Then again, the fact that she could match my neural acuity without being a specialized summoner was asinine. 

She was an all-rounder, and a powerful one at that. Fast, smart, strong, adaptive. The Earthling talent was clear as day within her, and she gave us a glimpse of the kind of warriors people were at the Pillars of Creation. 

Now she was helping those around her train their Aura as well. She would be invaluable to my Desert Eagles. 

Umara continued. 

“Blackblood is abrasive but I’ve yet to see him ever deviate from the team. He’s professional. As for Kwon and Song, they’re extremely powerful even by themselves, but they know how to work around others just as well and with each other like they have one mind. They’re easily the most powerful between all of us, me and you included.”

“Good to know.”

“Shadowbane is just as fast as ever, Feiden has adapted to his Crown and knows how to take advantage of it with his spatial warping, Tana has taken to her role as an assassin well, and I heard that Jaya is working with Katta in alchemy. They’re helping each other and Jaya is improving significantly as a result. I don’t think I have complaints about any of them.”

“But are the outsiders trustworthy?”

I glanced at her, a frown surfacing on her face. 

“I… don’t know. That’s something only you can answer.”

“I believe in your judgement more than that.”

“I know, but I’m not the one who’s hellbent on locking down information. I can’t judge those from Earth like you because they have no inherent alleigances to the Kingdoms of this world, and that means only Katta, Jaya, and Ponteck are normal outsiders. Everyone else is from either our Class, the Talerrias, or the Ravens.”

“I’m not as concerned with locking down information as I am making sure that when shit hits the fan, they’re going to have our backs.”

“I get that, but…”

She sighed, staring at everyone around the spar. 

“I don’t think we’re going to know until the moment comes.”

“Well, then answer this. Is everyone proactive in making sure the best outcome to every conflict is achieved? Do they take it upon themselves to ensure collective survival?”

I watched her as she thought, her eyes twitching between everyone’s figure once or twice. 

“…Within the mission objective and circumstance, I would say so, yes. Perhaps only Kwon and Song don’t, but that’s because they’re so powerful. If they engaged with their full power, the rest of us would have nothing to do.”

I nodded. 

“They’re an ace as much as they’re an unknown. I won’t assume to know their motives but I’m willing to bet on their alignment with us.”

“You mean we can trust them with our backs? Such powerful people?”

“I don’t trust anyone with my back, except those who have already had it before. But that doesn’t mean I expect them to betray us either. I’ve spoken to those twins and they came here for the same reasons Aki did. They knew I was from Earth due to my inventions. I’ve given all three of them hope. I believe they’ll do everything I expect an ally to do. Even Vatsy would, despite my distaste for his complacency. But honestly, I’m worried about something.”

“What?”

I narrowed my eyes and looked out the window, glancing at Kwon, Song, and Aki. 

My suspicions arose. 

“I think the Church knows that we’re from another world.”

“What? How could they?”

“I don’t know. I have absolutely no clue short of another Earthling telling them. Perhaps they have an Earthling in their highest ranks. I couldn’t know. But I’m willing to bet that Aki and the twins were sent here not just because they requested it, but because the Church, or at least the Order, knows that we’re all from another world. Call it a hunch.”

“Your hunches are usually correct…”

“Maybe. But then that begs the question of why they’re allowing all of us to gather. If they know about our origins, then they know about our talent as well as the kind of danger we would pose to them should we be allowed to fulfill our potential. I don’t want to believe it’s just out of the goodness of their heart that they would allow such powerful people to come here.”

“Maybe they aren’t concerned?”

“Well that’s even scarier.”

I chuckled, Umara’s face falling. 

“Good point.”

“Well, maybe one day I’ll ask the Pope. For now though, if you’ve given them top marks, we can proceed.”

“If we’re not debating trust, then yes, they all pass with flying colors.”

“Good. I plan to deploy in a couple days then.”

“You’ve finished your device?”

I nodded.

“Yup. I got the finishing touches put on it yesterday. Boris is manufacturing a few more, which I’ll be giving to you, Tana, and Feiden.”

“Not the others?”

She smiled at me, making me shrug.

“My form of distrust. For now I’ll be the only one who uses it but I won’t keep such a safety device exclusive. I think you three having it will cover all our bases in case something happens to me.”

“You know we won’t let anything happen to you.”

“These ruins may not care. I prepare for the worst. Go ahead and bring them all to the briefing room.”

She nodded, the two of us splitting off. 

I arrived in the briefing room and prepared everything. Once the door opened again, I saw Umara walk in with the rest of the Desert Eagles. 

They grabbed themselves seats as I sat behind a desk. 

“Welcome everyone.”

“Something happen, boss?”

I gave Shadowbane a smile. 

“Yes. But first I need to preface this by saying that the information I’m about to share with you all is going to be classified with the highest secrecy. There are few people in the world who know about this.”

I glanced at Katta, who smiled a bit after noticing my gaze. 

I then turned to a screen, showing the updated map of the island. 

A few heads tilted. 

“This is an island cluster about 2000 miles off the western coast. Sector 4 has been running scans and reconnaissance for over a month and thus, we can safely assume that this main island is home to the outpost of a previously unknown civilization.”

Pictures and video started appearing on the screen, everyone leaning forward. They showed all of the ruins of the city, as well as the signs of battle, Scourge corpses, and dilapidated robots. 

Upon seeing all the pictures, I noticed a change with the twins. 

Both of them got anxious, uncharacteristically. I’d never seen them lose their cool. They were as stoic as they came. 

But these images stirred something. I had to admit, I already had my suspicions.

“In three days, we’ll be deploying to this island for recon and data extraction. I want the knowledge held within that city. I want to know what kind of civilization that was, what happened to them, and get a general overview on this civilization’s combat capability. It’s clear that they have technology well beyond our own. It may not be in sheer power but there’s no doubt that minds who can create magic robots like those are capable of complexities beyond anything the Kingdom or Church has had to deal with.”

I glanced at Song and Kwon, continuing. 

“I’ve developed some weapons and countermeasures against what we might encounter. I intend to infiltrate into the deepest parts of the citadel at the center of the city, where the most valuable knowledge will likely be held. Of course, anything that can survive an onslaught of Scourge and survive for this long won’t be easy to handle. We’re going to encounter threats unknown and systems capable of killing us on the flip of a dime. But I’m confident in everyone’s skills. That’s why we’re going to be the only people dropping into this place.

“We’re going to be blind, we’ll have no support, and I’m allocating a week at the barest minimum to scour this place for information. We’ll have at least two months of food on us as well as what will be held in the plane that’ll be over our heads every hour. We’ll also have Vipercraft for each of us, not that it’ll help much within the city or citadel. Anyway, you all will need to plan for two months of isolation. We can order supply drops from our eye in the sky, but it takes time to cross the ocean. I want all of us self sufficient in case anything goes south.

“Any questions?”

I glanced around, Shadowbane opening her mouth. 

“It’s just those robots and Scourge?”

“Yes, that’s the only identifiable enemy presence. Scans have shown not a single sign of active human life, only old systems and remnant monsters. We don’t know what we’ll find inside that citadel, though. Again, we’ll be blind.”

“Right.”

“Why do we have to be there for two months?”

Blackblood chimed, making me click my tongue.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. But you’ll be on lockdown for the duration of our absence.”

“I didn’t say that! Two months seems like a long time though.”

“Because it is. If we can get in and out within a week, then I’ll be a happy camper. But the ruins may not be that forgiving. We don’t know what will happen, so we’re preparing for the worst case scenario. Two months of food will last us double that time if we ration. If we get trapped, we may need that time.”

“What the hell would be able to trap us?”

“We don’t know, Blackblood.”

Umara suddenly barked, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“No more stupid questions, or I’ll bring you to the arena where you can complain as we have a bout.”

“Hrm…”

He grunted and turned his gaze, Umara letting out a huff. 

I smiled a bit. It seemed she had him on a good leash. 

“I’ll be speaking with all of you today and tomorrow individually. We need to prepare everything that ensures full combat capability for the duration of this trip, as well as protocol. Unless any of you have the hidden power of cracking advanced enchanted systems, I’m probably going to be crunching data the whole trip. I’ve developed my own tools to that end, but I’m going to need you all to support me depending on the situation. That also might mean that we can’t just destroy every barrier in our way. That might lead to nasty situations, especially if the people who built that place were as smart as I think they were.

“I’ll have more details later. For now, I’m sending you all data packets. Sift through them and go make your acquisition lists. Song and Kwon, stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed.”

Everyone stood as they received messages on their Aerials. They tapped them while leaving the room, looking through the pictures, videos, and collected data on the island. 

Umara stayed with me, as did Song and Kwon, who remained in their seats.

The door shut, and I looked between them for a few seconds before speaking. 

“What can you tell me about this civilization? Or, perhaps I’d like to first know how long ago you two came to this world.”

The two were silent and still, until Kwon suddenly took off his straw hat. 

I saw his jet black hair, and then he removed his mask, revealing a pale, mature face. His features were sharp, his face was almost disgustingly pretty, but his eyes were deep with the wisdom that came with age. 

These two had been here a long time. 

Kwon looked me in the eye. Song remained silent.

“They were called the Mantle of Wisdom. They were a long lived civilization with at least six centuries underneath them, even older than some of the Kingdoms within the Pillars of Creation. We appeared in their lands almost 50 years ago, and you could say that it was our fault they collapsed.”

I leaned back into my desk, simply letting him speak. 

“They were an empire of Summoners and Warlocks, but they were unique in the fact that every single person, without exception, had a Crest. There also wasn’t a single Knight. At least, not in open civilization. The Mantle of Wisdom believed in intellectual superiority. Summoners ruled above all, even above Warlocks. Unlike on this continent, those Summoners were powerful. They could call upon primordial beasts and esoteric weapons and tools. They studied these summons, collecting vast knowledge from what we can only assume were a variety of dimensions. It’s part of what empowered them. 

“But the Mantle of Wisdom harbored a deep shadow state. The two of us arrived with the Crests of Knights, but all knights within the empire were enslaved. We were enslaved, not yet having the power to resist. But one thing led to another. We joined a resistance group, fought for nearly a decade, freeing knights and assassinating key figures of the government. Over time, civil war started to brew, some Summoners realizing that though knights weren’t as smart, we were still people and we could put them down with force if they pushed.”

“Hm, the opposite of how things are here.”

Kwon nodded.

“Exactly. For a while things were going well for us. The empire changed. Some nobles started to harbor and support us instead of persecute us. We even had the support of the great Paragons and their Flickers. The civil war eventually sparked and blazed, yet we were making more progress than ever. But that’s when we made contact with the Pillars of Creation. 

“And they brought the Scourge with them.”

I glanced at Song, who had another bout of anxiety. 

“At first it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. But then a King appeared on the horizon and the Pillars said that the Scourge was redirecting their forces towards us. Perhaps we were the weaker enemy, but we were on our own and soon we were in total war. The government started bringing down the hammer. It quickly turned into a military state and knights were being forced into the military and thrown on the frontlines as the Scourge razed our cities.

“Those within the resistance doubled down and started eradicating the government. Chaos ensued, the military became disorganized, and then we started discovering traitors and Scourge pawns who were only worsening things. But by the time we thought we could install our own government and get a handle on the shattered empire, the King of Despair marched on our lands and sealed our coffin. Everything after that was a slaughter, and we barely fought our way out.”

Kwon finally went silent, mirroring Song. I pondered quietly, giving them some seconds.

Almost five decades they had been in this world. They had to be around 70 years old, but Kwon looked no older than 25. He was an older man by our standards though. Decades of experience, more time in this world than on Earth. 

It was honestly harrowing to see. I had a life here now, with a fiancé that I wouldn’t trade for anything, but seeing living proof that I would be here for the rest of my life made me die a little inside.

I sighed, deciding enough silence had passed. It wasn’t like these guys hadn’t had decades to brood on it. 

“Alright, so I can assume that everything relating to the Mantle of Wisdom is in ruins. As for the mission. Do you know anything about that island?”

“No. It was probably a forward post for those attempting to reach this place. There are many things we knew nothing about even after everything that happened.”

“Then what about those robots? What kind of technology did they have?”

“The Mantle of Wisdom prided itself on technological development. Their enchanting is centuries ahead of the Kingdom and Church, but only in sheer complexity. Those are automatons, and they are a kind of golem with artificial intelligence. They’re smart enough to differentiate between friend and foe, but who knows what parameters those automatons were coded with.”

“Right. We don’t know how far they’ve degraded either. What about their… wait…”

I suddenly stopped, looking Kwon in the eye. 

“…What did you say they were?”

“A golem?”

“With what?”

“Artificial intelligence. AI.”

“…Kwon, what Earth year did you come to this world?”

Every millisecond felt like a year as I waited for his answer. I have a feeling Kwon knew why I asked that question.

“Song and I were both 19 years old when we died in 2037.”

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