Chapter 171: Everyone Has an Opinion

“Oh yikes,” Craftalot murmured to himself from his hidden-away pod that was far in the atmosphere. While some might call his actions cowardly for a level 400+, he would laugh at them instead. At the end of the day, he still wasn’t a fighter. Sure, he could fight, but that was fundamentally a different thing from being a combatant. So instead, he was far away, controlling his drones and fake bodies to do the fighting for him.

If he were actually down there, then he would die; all his life-saving measures would eventually run out.

Despite being willing to help, he didn’t want to die; he had enough of life-threatening adventures years ago. Now he just wanted to help his family and get rid of a universal menace in his own way.

He activated a few artefacts, and a number of large devices flew down towards the surface of the planet. “Take care, my Susan…” Most of these weapons flew down to where his family was. The most powerful did go down towards Asta, where something had fundamentally changed on the surface. The new machines weren’t simply engineered robots; they almost felt alive, but just within a mental form. It was something he had experimented with before but decided was outside his scope of needs.

“Dominous Hood, truly a group of madmen.” The cyborgs as well were an unexpected sight; his fake body had been examined close up. If anyone who had metal limbs and prosthetics were considered cyborgs, then there would be a lot in the world, but no, the definition had shifted to those with the extensive mechanical mutation.

In the past, there had been people who tried to go down that path, reaching new power not through the Soul Pages, but through machines and technology infused with mana. The results didn’t go well. The ones who managed to survive the processes were the already high-level individuals; anyone who was low-level died gruesomely. Craftalot had no involvement in such activities, but he had read about them in depth. Due to his position, he had the power to access those records and it was horrible, which was why the process was outlawed.

A few people tried to ride the line with artefacts stored within the body. Craftalot was one of these people, and technically speaking, Nina. But the line between that and what was truly a cyborg could easily be compared with the cyborgs below. However, even those cyborgs clearly had horrifying acts done to them to create that form. They were simply people with mana amplifiers and storage within their bodies; the bodies themselves had been completely recreated in a man-made monster.

“...” Craftalot watched as his drones targeted the cyborgs, and the human monsters melted them whenever they got close. The drones could attack from a distance, but the cyborgs were jumping towards them, destroying them.

He stayed back and continued his effort to support the battle from behind.

Then a large metal structure appeared on the surface for a moment, and the man who sat on the throne terrified him. The mana within him was too much, and so was the way the world bent around him. “What have they created…”

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“Oh no…” Nina could look on in horror as the situation had deteriorated.

She knew the situation wasn’t going to stay the same forever. The first wave was only ever going to be the first wave; neither side had shown all their cards, and the most dangerous players on both sides hadn’t shown themselves… well, maybe that wasn’t exactly true. Ceella’s performance had been well beyond what Nina had expected.

The only saving grace was that from the one-way communication she was getting from the fleet, there was nothing unnatural suddenly occurring in Lisb.

Should she not have used her energy protecting people earlier? She would still say no. Waiting to the last minute meant more people would die when they could’ve been saved, which was ludicrous to her. This may be war, but that didn’t mean it was a game of chess on a board.

The monsters of metal and the Dominous Hood reinforcements were worrying enough; both were powerful in their own right, and while the former were certainly more dangerous, the question remained how many of those monsters could be made, as they just appeared in existence.

The cyborgs were scary additions, not for their powerful abilities–Nina watched as that black flame they somehow all could wield could melt nearly anything–but for the implications. As one of the best healers in the universe, she could understand the work that was required to create monsters like that. At the bare minimum, the process would’ve been painful and life-threatening… That was the minimum.

How could they do their own…

These people, despite their inability to talk, didn’t have any mental influence, from what Nina’s magic could tell. Such magic was complicated and nearly impossible by default, made even harder to use on anyone of slightly higher than level fifty.  So their loyalty had to come from a place of actual stupid loyalty to the disgusting cause that every other member had. But they had the will to be subjects to such life-threatening experiments that cost them part of their humanity.

So many people were likely lost… These cyborgs weren’t perfect in the standard definition of perfect cyborgs, but they were extremely powerful. However, there was no way they were the first trial run of the experiment and the chance they only used Dominous Hood members as experiments was… How many did they kill?

She had wondered how many people were like Lila, just poor souls who made bad decisions, but such hope couldn’t be used on these planets–the main operation of Dominous Hood. Anyone here was likely too far gone. Perhaps that was untrue, but that was not a decision Nina could make. It was war after all.

Nina pushed herself up. She still had mana, and she was willing to push herself as much as she needed. Her recovery was far from perfect, but with her own artefacts and what Craftalot had provided, she was ready to fight.

Scuuuuuuu…

In the far distance, a black thing emerged from the ground. There was clearly a human–what was a human–in the centre of the structure of black metal and matter.

What is that…? Nina felt her heart shake as the presence of this new being reminded her of some of the most dangerous monsters she had witnessed, but it was beyond that. It was something more. A dark pull that sucked in the world around it.

The artefact in her body shook as it resisted some kind of pull, and Nina felt dread at this being. She swallowed and pulled her body back upright and was ready to enter combat. Such a monster, no matter what human he was once, needed all the support they could muster to deal with it.

However, the vast swarm of enemy combatants made the goal of uniting seemingly impossible. Still, so many people were standing tall, impacting the world with their power.

–!

Suddenly, a bright light shot across the battlefield like a glorious shooting star that a child would make a wish upon.

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“Oh yes…” Within the large room in the deepest core of the base, the leader of Dominous Hood smiled as he felt the power flood his body. Energy was even dripping down his body like black tar, but it wasn’t useless, as he could still use all that energy while in that state, despite it not being in his body; it was still his energy, and it was a wondrous advancement.

He flexed his muscles that had hardened like mana-reinforced metal but were still completely flexible. With motions of energy, he created lifeforms all the way on the surface without a sweat.

“My perfect form.” There was ominous silence. “No… this is only my step towards evolution." Once he had taken this form, did he know this wasn’t the end? There was hunger that demanded that he go even further beyond.

Power pumped through his blood.

Domas Maxwell, no one knew if that was his original name, and based on the known facts, it likely wasn’t the case, but that didn’t matter anymore.

He was, by all accounts, the de facto leader of Dominous Hood. All the higher-ups theoretically shared that role, but if there was ever a tie-break required, it was up to him. There was also the fact that he was in charge of what was considered the most important project in their collection.

Domas took a quick recount of the prior events that happened while he was busy with his evolution. The added stress of their base being attacked was a great motivator to push the soul to its limits. Though that wasn't the only reason for his current success. Some recent additions to their collection, along with other advancements, made this possible.

“At least they were able to show it off.”

Project Arm, an incomplete superweapon, did less than was expected. Domas could imagine the head of the project being furious with how relatively quickly it had been destroyed, but the machine hadn’t been completed, and it fought three people who were likely the perfect counter to it. Domas had only watched a segment of the fight to gain an understanding of Nina’s ability that was clearly granted by the legendary artefact. He always felt Arm’s ability to create great gear was better than their leader's war machine goal, but he did understand where the desire came from.

Every camera feed had been sent to him, and for most of it, he had ignored what was shown. It was up to others to plan and counter the assault fleet. He was busy completing his masterpiece, but there were a few important notes that caught his eye. One was the true form of Nina’s artefact. After a year with the staff, he felt something was missing, a key piece, but that could’ve been because no one could bond with it. It wasn’t the only artefact in their storage that held a similar issue for that reason.

The camera showed a large beast that reminded him of a star with the heat and rage within its core.

“Too bad we missed another monster artefact…” He paused his words as he did a double-take on the creature. It was impressive, and he could only glance at it earlier since he was busy crafting his perfect form. Artefacts that held monsters were especially potent, and some even granted more power once their secrets were unlocked. “It is also a strange one. Creatures with more elemental-based physical structures are rare…”

And such creatures were among the more powerful of the monster artefacts they had stored. It had a similar signature to the third figure who attacked the mech; despite the physical prowess they displayed, Domas hadn’t regarded them with much thought. The other two were more impressive, and it was clear Craftalot’s artefact had the biggest role to play.

“Perhaps there is another artefact nearby after all.”

It never occurred to him that this person wouldn’t be anything but an ordinary individual. He hadn’t heard of them before, so they couldn’t be anyone worthwhile.

They followed the record of the people who had lived in the past. Those who managed to push against the boundary and those who managed to communicate with the unknown. Existences that lived beyond the boundaries of what they perceived as their world were known by a few people, and Dominous Hood was no stranger to them. They had managed to create some contracts through artefacts related to such existences and granted their members great power.

They weren’t able to extract any information from these beings, but observing their form brought them much insight. They hadn’t realised exactly that the form they saw through the artefacts wasn't their real being, but it wouldn’t be the first wrong assumption they had made on their journey.

He sat back, creating his monsters everywhere. Once one was destroyed, he simply created two more. This was the perfect chance to test his abilities while his body was still building up energy. The forces that had been lying in wait had now emerged and had turned the tide of combat. With all the gear and power they possessed, they were

However, it didn’t take long for his body to itch. Power was flooding into his system; they had achieved something the organisation had been working towards for decades. He should… needed to make his presence known to all those lesser existences.

Emerging from the underground section, as the base itself opened up for his arrival.

He laughed as he could feel the fear and awe from his followers and the dread from the enemy. What a perfect sensation.

Nothing could ruin this feeling.

“Howdy, fucker!”

A comet of light smashed into his glorious form.

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“Oh, what the hell is going on over there!” Lila was high with emotion and a lot of anger. She turned back to the team. “Sorry… It is hard to control these outbursts.” She had understood at this point that Vice caused a large amount of anger to flow into her, which she warned the team about.

“Don’t worry.” The commander replied solemnly. “I think we all share the feeling.”

The people under Nina had managed to rescue a large number of prisoners from the depths of the Lisb. Along with the combined efforts of the other groups on the planet that had managed to push back against the Dominous Hood force that kept appearing, and now those numbers were dwindling. Dominous Hood sure had a decent force of this planet around their sites, but it couldn’t compare to their main forces on the other two planets.

Lila knew she couldn’t do much from her position. She was on a completely different planet, and even if she could get over there quickly, what could she offer? She was already exhausted and sure Vice existed, but Vice had been doing a lot itself, and while it could keep fighting for ages, would it be able to help properly? Its weakness was her; if she died, the chance Vice vanished was high and dodging was hard enough when fighting squads. Trying to stay safe from everything in a warzone where the average level was likely a seventy over hers, what was she to do?

“Sigh…” she let out a long, exhausted sigh. “I hope Nina is okay….”

“She will be fine.” Another member replied, “Nothing can break through her shields."

The commander let out a worried groan. “That may be true, but even she can become exhausted and knowing her, she would be pushing herself to keep everyone safe.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

Lila replied, “Keep everyone here safe.” It was a hard but simple mission. “It is what Nina would want.”

“What about your friend?”

“She… isn’t someone I need to worry about.”

“Quite a show of confidence.”

“Hee…” Lila nervously laughed. “She is likely the only person Nina is not worried about their safety.”

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“Aluber… Should we try to go over there?”

“I cannot contact Craftalot. Susan?”

“Me neither. I have a feeling he is purposely preventing us from contacting our vessel…”

Jordan complained, “Then are we supposed to just watch?”

“No…” Aluber paused. “There is still work here that can be done.”

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“ I will retreat without complaint. I only ask for one thing to make this trade ”

In the sliver of space between Existences, which would be considered in the layer of Existence of Expansion, many overwhelming presences filled the realm. Holding back enough not to damage the world around them, despite the conflict being supported by Varias, a majority of them were enjoying the show it brought; not to mention, breaking it all would go against the reason why they were punishing Varias in the first place.

[[ “Do you really think you are in the position to be demanding something?” ]]

“ I am able to cause an amount of chaos even if I would lose  ”

(“ What do you want? ”)

“ I am glad you understand Espr ”

(“ Don’t call me that ”)

“ Very well then ”

Varias agreed to the request.

For Varias, the truth of the matter was that they had already got most of what they wanted out of everything. Their actions, as Espr predicted, were for entertainment purposes, wanting to see how far they could push the limit.

Varias’s influences were minor at best, outside certain actions against Ceella and a few others, and Dominous Hood would’ve reached the state they were in eventually. Again, the Spiritual Beings didn’t exactly care about the state of humans, and it was more just about the rule-breaking.

In the end, they were mostly enjoying the situation unfolding, so there was no reason to stop it from happening. Though there were some who disagreed on the method to contain and deal with Varias. As Varias was right, they could cause some destruction; at worst, damage parts of Existence while it was still in an unstable state, or at best, cause them to lose this current show happening nearby. Neither outcome was great, but there were differing opinions, and there were Spiritual Beings that had no qualm with letting all the human life nearby die if it meant capturing Varias.

“ In exchange for my surrendering with no complaint, I ask for the people to assist with Espr’s request ”