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Chapter 982: The Stuff of Faith and Madness
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 22:00:06 +0000 UTCThe magitech submarine containing Simon McKean’s laboratory was divided into a lab section, a living area and the operational sections like
The magitech submarine containing Simon McKean’s laboratory was divided into a lab section, a living area and the operational sections like propulsion and the bridge. The corpses of the crew were piled up on the bridge, and those of the researchers in the bunk room. Elizabeth and Gerling were searching the ship for survivors, although she and Marie would both be startled to find any.
Marie was in McKean’s cabin. She was sitting at a desk set into the wall staring at a laptop open in front of her. She angrily stabbed at it with her fingers, setting the video to play for the fourth time. Simon, recorded by the laptop now in front of her, appeared and started talking.
“When you find this, Marie, I’ll be gone. I’ve purged all records of the research, other than what I am taking with me. Perhaps they are recoverable; magic makes ‘impossible’ a meaningless word, after all. I doubt it, though. I scrubbed the hard drives with magnets and magic before smashing them and dropping the pieces into the ocean.”
Marie resisted the urge to put her fist through the screen.
“I had hoped to make you a part of this,” he said. “I do find you to be a compelling woman, and not unintelligent. To my disappointment, it has become clear that you have formed a bond with the vampire queen, despite the incompetence demonstrated by her obvious and escalating failures. I considered offering you a chance to join me regardless, but I ultimately realised that my reasoning had been compromised by affection of which you are ultimately undeserving. Your ability to inspire that in me is, in itself, sufficient cause to excise you from my life. Even so, I have decided to indulge my affection one last time, and produce a farewell message. Obviously.”
“You smug, creepy piece of crap.”
“I am sorry that it came to this, Marie, but Elizabeth is a sinking ship. Leaving core-enhanced blood oaks in her hands would be tantamount to flushing them out the submarine’s airlock. After the debacle in Melbourne revealed the existence of the blood oaks, it is only a matter of time before Farrah Hurin and that fool Asano come hunting. I will need a deterrent, and sooner rather than later. Your hesitance and Elizabeth’s unwillingness to take action against Asano will only slow me down. I will be turning to other vampire lords, now that Elizabeth has lost her influence over them. I cannot trust them, of course, but I have a solution to that.”
He snorted a laugh.
“I suppose I don’t need to share the details. I’ll miss it, I think, explaining things to you. You were almost smart enough to understand what I was talking about. A clean break is for the best, but I do feel some obligation to you. I will be leaving you with no research and no crew, after all Vampires do get hungry. There’s a little side project I’ve been working on that you can perhaps get some use out of. I’ve left it in the testing room, but do be careful with it. It can be quite tricky to handle.”
He sighed.
“I am sorry it came to this, Marie. You should have made better choices.”
The video came to an end, McKean’s face frozen awkwardly. His features held an echo of the weaselly man he was in her head, but the magic of silver rank had smoothed them to handsomeness. Again, she stopped herself from punching the screen.
“You need to stop watching that,” Elizabeth said from the door.
“I know. Any survivors? Ideally ones who know how to pilot a submarine. I don’t like the idea of waiting for this thing to run aground somewhere.”
“No. I think it’s time to look at whatever Simon left for us.”
“It’s probably a trap.”
“Perhaps. He may have decided to punish you for your failure to return his feelings. But I can’t help but think it’s something designed to impress you. That, in his head, will make you realise that you should have followed him around like a good little woman.”
Marie shuddered.
“Such a little creep. At this point, though, we should probably take a look. The only other thing we have left to do is wait for Remy to come back.”
“I still assert that letting him return was a mistake. If it is discovered that he is working with us, we will be drastically inconvenienced.”
“If he didn’t go, when Geneva was pressuring him that hard, she’d have looked into why. I hate the woman, but she’s competent and thorough.”
“If she needed that many gold rankers, then she has larger problems than questioning Remy.”
“But if he’s been revealed as our associate, he isn’t coming back. That will make getting off this vessel and back on dry land an awkward undertaking.”
“Quite. Shall we start with whatever Simon has left us?”
“Yes, but even the smug prick said to be careful on the video, not that I wouldn’t.”
“We can have Gerling make the initial examination, and suffer the consequences. It is what I keep him for, after all.”
***
Holly Macrossan was Annabeth Tilden’s successor as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Supernatural Affairs, and it had been a rough few weeks. While the chance to visit her family in Sydney was nice, it was good to be heading for home in New York. The luxury jet she was using to leave Australia was a small but welcome compensation. It had been provided by Lenora Coleman, head of the yet-unnamed multinational taskforce operating out of Asano Village.
Sprawled on the indulgently large bed in the sleeping cabin, sleep eluded Holly, despite her exhaustion. Her mind raced, still trying to process what she had seen during her time in Australia. Asano’s briefing was the stuff of faith and madness. The origin of the universe. A throne that ruled the cosmos. The world threatening to tear itself apart. Even with all that magic had done, Holly would have had a hard time believing any of it. She wouldn’t have, if not for her visit to Jason Asano’s private universe.
Despite two decades of magic, perhaps even because of it, Holly maintained a sceptical mindset. In times like these, it was easy to believe anything. She had gone over every potential explanation for her experiences in Asano’s realm. Illusion magic or hallucinogens seemed more plausible than some guy from the Mid North Coast being what amounted to a god.
She’d considered the ways it might be a deception. Hallucinations, illusions or some manner of drug-induced hypnotic suggestion. But he’d shown them too much, for too long. Her mind had been clear throughout the experience, with no fog or gaps in memory. The other touring with her had reported the same.
Asano had demonstrated impossible wonders, and not just some curated display. Every question she or the others had was met with a demonstration, and sometimes a second. Every challenge they put to him was easily matched. She watched him shape mountains and oceans. A joke about turning the sky plaid was met with him doing exactly that. He pulled meteors form the sky, skipping them across the atmosphere like rocks on a pond.
The final straw had been what he referred to as the astral gate. Situated in a space station orbiting the main planet, it looked like an ordinary portal. What she sensed from it was something she utterly failed to describe in the aftermath, or at any point since. She had touched infinity, and the simple experience of that had changed her understanding of reality forever. Meditating on it later, no less than seven of her essence abilities had advanced. In the face of all that, she’d been left with no recourse but to believe.
She’d met people from the other world. Not diplomats and terrifyingly powerful adventurers, but refugees from a destroyed city. They spoke of Jason’s power. How it destroyed their city, yet saved them from it and wiped out an army of the angelic messengers. She had many questions for them, and was not the only one. They spoke of a System message about the Hegemon descending, echoing reports from the battle in Pakistan.
The universe Asano showed them gave weight to his claims that would otherwise have been dismissed as absurdities. The world would need to come to terms with what he had told and shown them. It was bad enough for Holly, and she was an eyewitness. Asano hadn’t been wrong in pointing out that the religions wouldn’t like it, once it all came into the open. She knew for a fact that some of the people at the briefing had reached out to the leadership of their various faith groups, despite their agreements of confidentiality.
It was finally dawning on the people of Earth that there was a god in their midst. Holly was now convinced there was nothing they could do about that, although she knew that others would rail against it. To her mind, Asano should be treated like a natural disaster. All they could do was evacuating people from his path, then repair and rebuilt once he had moved on.
Earth was no stranger to capricious gods, but they usually had the decency to stay in their holy books. They certainly didn’t invade secret mountain bases. Nor did they throw around whole groups of gold rankers alone, just to prove that they could. Holly had been getting regular reports on the events in Europe, and she had no idea how that mess would be resolved.
The European Network branches were mostly operating out of the surrounding areas, mostly Turkey and the United Kingdom. Operating in exile, they had largely downsized, with some shutting down entirely. The revelation of the Swiss branches covertly operating out of their old bases, with vampire approval, would be the source of every headache Holly had for the next year.
The unconfirmed collusion with vampires was bad enough, but, the reality core farming that had Asano so angry was potentially worse. Holly remembered the old days, when reality cores taken from transformation zones had led to a magical arms race. Without them, the vampires would not have had the strength to hold out against the rest of the world. The explosion of gold rankers never would have happened. Many of the leaps forward in magitech of the last decade would never have happened.
Despite what reality cores could accomplish, Holly did not want to see their return. It had been a time of secret wars, magical factions clashing over the cores that remained after the transformation zones stopped forming. Without that infighting, it might have been possible to stop the vampires before they had consolidated. There was also Asano’s claim that harvesting enough cores would cause the entire planet to be destroyed. Not reduced to some post-nuclear wasteland, but wiped off the face of the universe, like a dead bug from a windshield.
The most frustrating part was that there was little to be done. The most Holly could accomplish was to prevent anyone from provoking Asano, and to hope he wouldn’t go on a rampage. She sat up on the edge of the bed, wincing at a headache. Silver rankers could endure a lack of rest better than normal humans, but the sleep deprivation was harsh when it did eventually come.
The handle of the cabin door rattled briefly, then door swung open. Her familiar, Gumboot, was hanging from the handle. Gumboot was a cat with silver fur with yellow streaks, and dark brown sock colouration on her paws. Now that the System was in place, another of Asano’s godlike traits, she knew her familiar was called a mangrove star cat. Gumboot was not a stealthy creature, with her bright fur that always caught the light. She was also quite clumsy, for a cat, although very clever. Her powers allowed her to create pools of sucking mud that could trap even silver rankers.
Gumboot’s paws slipped on the handle and she tried to turn during the short drop to floor. The attempt backfired, and instead of landing on her feet, she landed on her head. Sprawled unflatteringly on the floor, she let out a disgruntled meow before picking herself up, nudging the cabin door closed again and hopping into Holly’s lap. A few head scratches later, she has purring happily. With her familiar’s companionship, Holly was finally able to get some sleep, her cat curled up in the crook of her body.
It felt like she had only been asleep an instant when a knock on the cabin woke her, but a glance at the clock said that hours had passed. She sat up, still groggy as a second, urgent knock came from the door.
“What?” she asked, her voice croaky.
“Sorry to wake you up, but the pilot said I should.”
Still wearing her now-rumpled suit, Holly got up and yanked open the door. Her assistant, Tim, was standing in the hall with an apologetic expression.
“Why?” she demanded.
“Uh, there’s a lady.”
“A lady?”
“Yep.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
Holly wasn’t so asleep that she couldn’t feel the motion of the jet.
“Tim, we are travelling at almost the speed of sound, more than a kilometre in the air, are we not?”
“Um, yep. We are.”
“And you’re saying there’s a lady outside.”
“Yes. She’s very pretty.”
Comments
Chloe
Tyftc
StarkRG
He anchored the bridge near Rimaros before he left. It hasn't yet coalesced into something you can just walk across, but there's nothing more he needs to do with it.
mzetqbbtyf
Feels like this series has really slowed down a lot. Loads of chapters recapping things we either already know or that aren't really advancing the story. Why hasn't Jason built his astral bridge already? Who gives a flying toss about earth politics? When is the big bad thing Dawn warned about going to arrive? When will we get some chapters where I read more than the first line of each paragraph?
Kconraw
Thx for the chapter
Kristy Riedel
Not to my knowledge.
Loading Error
Hi Kristy. Any relations in northern WI or FL?
Loading Error
I can tell. The symptom of confusing puns for metaphors is pathognomonic for it.
Jeff
A lot of typos lately. You're alright Shirt?
Corvid
That metaphor gave me Squ-AIDS.
ONEsie
There's also a channel in the list called Patreon chat when I checked just now, and Shirt was active in there. Try there, you'll be asking questions in no time
ONEsie
Ask for help in the general discord chat, someone can help you tag a mod and get sorted out
Kristy Riedel
I'm diamond (and technology challenged), and I don't know what a mod is.
JonO
I seem to remember Sophie being able to blink through things. She tried to do it in the transformation zone and failed which implies it can otherwise be done. Plus they laid the foundation in book 2 or 3 when Sophie got her cloud step ability. It adds a moment of intangibility where Belinda immediately said go fast enough to go through.
Loading Error
“All they could do was evacuating people from his path, then repair and rebuilt once he had moved on.” This sentence swaps tense more often than a crackhead at a hobo campsite.
ONEsie
You have to be gold rank here on Patreon I believe. Silver and below cannot ask questions--it's "read only" for us. If you are gold and don't have access, hit up a mod.
Kristy Riedel
Does anyone here know how to access the discord q&a?
DirePants
We do have a very accurate grasp of geography. Although I’m a little confused at why it’s taking so long to get to New York from Australia, it’s like right next to India and the UK… like literally right across the ocean by plane- should be fast moving at the speed of sound🤔. Maybe magic made the oceans bigger?
DirePants
Tim, a man after my own ilk lol. I could’ve just survived an attempted assassination, in the middle of explaining what happened and I’d be like “well she was very pretty” 😂😂😂
David Yow
I think Sofie is just looking for new things to race.
Ray S.
I hope it's Dawn just for the love triangle.
David
That would make sense. I completely forgot about her with how spread out things are
Rolling Dust
Yeah, my first thought was diamond ranker but earth can't have diamond rankers. So, Sophie is very likely. It could also be Dawn using an avatar like Jason. I can't wait to find out.
Rolling Dust
I love it 👍
Nea
What a great set up chapter!! Simon does seem like a creep. I can't wait for someone to call him out on it leading up to a fight lol It's so nice to see that Jason's diplomatic approach seems to be having some benefits, namely, having everyone on Earth finally realise they can't keep screwing him over.
Sabroso JFD!
Go buy any random plushy and staple a mustache on it and claim that is Stache's current form!!
Nea
Yes, but also I'm so glad I can't spend all my money on this amazing series
Soli116
And centuries of experience dealing with water based problems. Monsters, mines, and Builder cities that we've seen, who knows what else.
Maudley
I had been wondering how they've kept Sophie so quiet this long
Chris Furry
Zara and the Rimaros group have the means to search for a submarine because they are from the Storm Kingdom, and have water based essence abilities.
Larsi
I'm willing to take them as a duo and see if Marie can grow on me over time. They could also go with the "Elizabeth loses Marie which causes her to reevaluate her priorities and shows team jason how there is genuine humanity left in her" route, but I'm.not a fan of the redemption equals death trope so I'd rather we don't go that way.
Will Mill
I thought Casselton Beach was in New South Wales. Is she confused, directionally impaired or just another American with “perfect” geological knowledge?
Mitha
Well, the thing with traitors is that they aren't loyal. It's their inherent trait. So all of them betraying each other is rather logical. You forgot Maries superiors betraying her themselves. Lots of betrayal going around.
Kismet
Hi Dave, your knowledge & name could make you my brother. He was a 3rd seat in a military plane cockpit. If this was your job, I bet you've got stories.
Bettafish
Somthing just occurred to me..... Zara and the Rimaros faction have the means to search for submarines because of the Redeeming Light incident. It's a very nice quiet contrast to half of earth making the same stupid calls decades later when a Palimastus faction has visibly learned after getting played.
Jordan Brennan
Tyftc!
Alejandro Piña
I wonder what the name of this new Deity is gonna be.
Kristy Riedel
She does have a previous history of appearing in planes, so not a bad first thought. I agree it's probably Sophie though.
Oddrey
Seems like art imitating life
Soli116
I can't wait for McKean to get his comeuppance.
Arieh Sochaczevski
It’s been 15 years. I don’t remember exactly, but I thought she was going to be gone for 10 or so…. Maybe I’m just not remembering properly. I’ll see if I can dig it up. *after extensive digging* Nope. I was wrong. The 10 year thing was about Jason’s tribulations, not Dawn’s return. Meanwhile - am I the only one who didn’t notice she’s been gone since book 8?!? Holy biscuits with jam! So yeah, she can come back anytime now… I hope.
J W
No... I can't give shirt all my money. Seriously though I'd take a Gordon and a swarm of mini Colins.
Landsraad
Bet the Vamp Queen wants to take Asanos old offer to transfer her to his prison world until he can drop her off somewhere else. Maybe Asano should put the offer back on the table for intel of that rogue scientist.
Dave
Actually you can open the door on a jet in flight just fine, without even much of a disturbance, so long as you depressurize first. The wind flowing past the jet body is very laminar. I flew on a military jet and we had the escape hatch off in flight one time trying to fix a buggered door seal that was preventing pressurization. It was loud, but didn't do any more than rolling down a car window would have. Ruffled your hair and not much more. Now if a pilot had opened a cockpit window at the same time, it would have been a different story.
MoonlitShade
Dawn was my exact first thought for some reason also!
Brad Gammey
Sophie coming aboard a jetliner moving at the speed of sound? Ultimately believable. Vampires winning? Nah...
Naotsugu97
Thanks for the chapter!
Damaddino
Welcome to Earth. Third rock from the sun.
GrizzLeo
Nearly the speed of sound, it's gotta be Sophie! Dawn was a thought for me too but it's too soon still.
Jordan Mazza
This is turning into a real fuckin mess lol. The Swiss network betrayed the world by farming reality cores with the Vamps. Marie betrayed the Swiss network to team up with Elizabeth amd steal reality cores. That creep betrayed Marie for other Vamps who will probably betray him too. There's does not appear to be an ounce of loyalty on all of the damn planet amd way too much selfishness, ignorance, amd dumbfuckery to go around
Arieh Sochaczevski
At 1km up the pressure change would probably not damage the interior. The turbulence at near sonic speeds wouldn’t be good, but I think it would be manageable. They don’t need an airlock or special powers to let her in, other than purely for aesthetic reasons.
Arieh Sochaczevski
Biscuits! I’d love it if it were Dawn. I’m sure it’s not, but there’s just enough hope…
Chiqui Joy
“It was finally dawning on the people of Earth that there was a god in their midst. Holly was now convinced … Asano should be treated like a natural disaster. All they could do was evacuating people from his path, then repair and rebuilt once he had moved on” Bout damn time! Also… hurray for another familiar! <3
Joshua Morris
I was thinking the same, unless the astral gate is just that crazy of a thing. But I’m leaning towards non-core user from either during or right after Farrah’s time on earth. After all it’s been more than long enough for people to reach silver rank since then
Joanna
I'm not sure if Holly is an essence user from before Jason's time. The comment about seeing the astral gate and then gaining a bunch of insight (ranking up seven powers) from it when she meditated sounds more like something a non-core user would experience. The chapter doesn't mention her rank. She could easily be a silver ranker who started out back when Farah was retraining the Network. And that would fit her knowing basic ritual magic before getting all her powers too
Jacob Stevenson
TYFTC!
Monty
This also tells us that she knows atleast basic ritual magic too. And from before Jason's first return
Monty
Sophie
Chris Cahill
Or Sophie
Mike Zebill
I don't think it would be Dawn unless it is an avatar. The world phoenix has restricted the planet to only gold rankers.
Feu et Glace
Snarf Ra.... I'm dieing
Rando Calrissian
Or Sophie
Mike Zebill
In book 4 the network had a plain with an airlock drop area that Jason and Yakuri(sp) used to drop to land so they could portal to Makasar.
james foster
My guess is Sophie, who else is that fast... and pretty?
Justin Butler
Wonder what Sophie wants.
J Holmes
Storm Princess?
Adrian
While it's likely still Sophie, Zara is a gold ranker (who can all fly) with wind powers. She might not be an Avatar of Speed, but. It's likely she can pull off Sophie's air diversion trick better than Sophie can (in a straight line, anyway) with the wind essence to Sophie's wing essence
Scott McCarthy
"After the debacle in Melbourne revealed the existence of the blood oaks, it is only a matter of time before Farrah Hurin and that fool Asano come hunting." Man, the rest of his message is bad but really, he is calling Jason a fool when he is the one playing with things he does not understand, any sane analysis of the events would say be very cautious (as what created the transformation zone could not be normal) and the only people anyway close to being experts were all saying do not mess with this. That and he is working with backstabbers, who will backstabber him at the first chance. Backstabbers who are higher rank then he is. This is the standard to "smart" for their own good, and assumes being gifted in his area is the only real intelligence type of idiot isn't it.
Code Reed
Any number of abilities could make a simple airlock type of thing. Besides, if the lady didn't have a way in that didn't fling the entire contents of the plane into the ocean, I doubt she would have showed up in the first place.
Josh A
Gotta be Sophie. Racing a jet plane sounds like her style. Wind powers could let her open and walk right through the boarding door like they were parked.
Josh A
With Sophie's wind powers, it wouldn't be difficult to just control a bubble of air pressure around the entry door and step inside as if they were on the ground
3rdImpact
There is a pretty lady could be a chapter heading for 30% of the chapters.... Another 30% would be... Well shit.... I do look forward to alternatives. 30% work hard test harder complain even more... *10% just another pop culture reference
Cordell Patrick
Zara doesn't have flight powers so it's more likely to be Sophie
Morgan Smidt
Wonder who the lady is…
Zack
She's gonna complain that the plane is too slow
Tunedays
Traveling that fast its Sophie
Alex Schellenberg
We need a line of plushies for the familiars.
jacob butler
There is a possibility of a magical backlash leading back to the other universe
Michael Alpert-Appell
Funny enough, Dawn was my first instinct as well, though Sophie makes way more sense (racing planes, as stated elsewhere lol.) I think I'm just looking forward to the fan turning brown when Dawn is finally reintroduced.
Thomas Froehling
I wonder, a traveling height of 'just' one kilometre (nice to see use of the metric system here, btw) seems a bit low... most jet planes fly at an altitude of 5 - 10 kilometres, the big ones rather 10 - 15 kilometres. And why would they be surprised by someone up there with them, it's a world of magic now... Still, the question remains, how will they get her in? Just opening a door does not seem to be an option, magic or not; suction would still blast the insides of that jet out. And I would guess it to be Sophie being the one, Zara will be looking for the submarine with the rest of Rimaros gold rankers.
TjStorm
All they could do was evacuating people from his path All they could do was evacuate people from his path
Ariellus
Probably Sophie... and she is complaining why the plane is so slow
John Durrett
Biscuits! Tyftc! I admit, as a lifelong companion to cats - mud pools was NOT an expected ability associated with Mangrove Starcats. More like, with our power combined - ThunderCats Ho! Or perhaps thru the bond - power up to become Snarf-Ra!
Joshua Morris
I would die for Gumboot
NetWon
Kind of surprised he hasn't just made the offer to all of Earth through the System to just move to his universe. He can try to make a clone of Earth. Then wash his hands of Earth. Though, if Earth is destroyed does Pal get destroyed too? Can't remember.
Stuart Thwaites
I'm not a fan of Marie as a maybe ally but I'd enjoy Elizabeth earning some level of redemption. The only problem is, I get a 'lovers' feel from Marie and Elizabeth so I can't see one without the other.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Mason Bacalis
Zara.... no way that's definitely Sophie
Tarry Higgins
Zara or Sophie. My bet is Sophie though
Ken Sevier
Great chapter hmmm who could it be Zara or Sophie
ABTelford
Hehe, SO much fantastic setup in this chapter! I can’t wait for what happens on the submarine! I was happy to see an “Earthlings” reaction to Jason’s explanation of the cosmos. And, yea, I also think it’s Sophie outside the plane. She’s probably thinking how slow it is! lol!
Rina Lynn
I was thinking Sophie.
Alan McLaughlin Jr.
Or maybe Sophie?
Jon Stanfield
Tyftc
Lewis Long
Probably Sophie
Frog
It’s gotta be Sophie
Scott McCarthy
Could just be one of the Rimaros diplomats, Jason brought lots of "unnamed" gold rankers with him.
Larsi
Oh come on. You really had to go for the cliffhanger there. Seems like we are setting up McKean as the overarching antagonist of this arc. I wouldn't mind Elizabeth and Marie sliding into an Enemy of my Enemy situation with Jason. Sure, objectively they probably did too much bad to be redeemed, but I wouldn't mind the series trying. Elizabeth has been an interesting character throughout so I would enjoy seeing her slide into Ally territory
Stephanie Washburn
Sophie's outside?
Superior_Shaq
Definitely Sophie. Racing planes lmao
Dexter Vex
Or Sophie
Robert Hardwick
That would be amazing, but it's definitely Zara.
mhaj58
Please tell me that Dawn is finally back in the story. We need to check in on her.
Blayne Bryant
3rd tyftc
liam funk
mmm content
Christian Chavez
Thank you
Darkdragon
Biscuits tyftc
