It hurt, it hurt…why did it hurt?
"[Warning, host psyche seems to be experiencing high degree of dissasociation.]"
"[Warning, quarantine Mind Core seems to be going on a rampage, increasing amount of energy dedicated to keeping it contained.]"
Ale felt as if her head wanted to split, the words…The words resounded on her head. World? World? World? World?
What? Why? She could see it, her body splitting, the world around her splitting…
"[Finished counterasures, restarting new defenses, temporary Mind Core Created. System Start.]"
And just as it started, it ended, Ale felt the whole world turn to a stop and refocus once more, her head no longer hurt, what she noticed first was that she was kneeling on the ground holding her head with both hands, a stream of blood flowing from her eyes.
"That is worriso," Ale said as she quickly reabsorbed that back into her body. At least no one had seen it since her Face Mask covered her.
She had felt her…[Consciousness Stream] wanting to split into several pieces; if she had been built differently, then that may have worked; at least [Main Core] managed to mitigate and solve the issue.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH THE SHADOWS! THE SHADOWS!!!!!" Not so much for the other people around her.
The Domino-masked minion she had been talking to was bashing his head against a wall, and if Ale was hearing things quite right, then people outside were not having it any better.
"[Filtered]" That one was new.
Ale…hadn't quite heard that?
"What was that?" Ale said aloud and noticed the people around clawing at their ears.
"[Words have been shown to have so kind of effect on the mind of those that hear it, all words following the sa cadence and pitch are being filtered. Do you wish for a translation?]"
"....Of course I do, I need to know what is happening," Ale said aloud, sighing; sotis Main Core seed really smart…while others it seed incredibly dumb, as if it couldn't act upon the more nuanced aspects.
"[Translation suite activated.]" Main Core said at the back and Ale noticed a new program hovering on the edge of her [Consciousness Stream].
"[You need to wake up! The world is a lie! This world is a mirage! Wake up people!]" The voice resounded once more, but there was a chanical aspect to it, perhaps it was because there was a new program parsing the aning? How could [Main Core] even parse it?
He isn't. I am.
"Ah yeah, that makes more sense," Ale said nodding, [Core] was more efficient after all. Why was that?
"This is a wide-range communication attempt; we are attempting to identify the range of effect; please report your codena and location. Also, if you can see anyone being affected by the current outbreak and the reason for it." Ale heard that being transmitted to her earphones.
So she pushed the button that allowed her to answer and did so, "Rhapsody here, I am awaiting pickup. I can see one of the Domino-Masked Minion being affected, he is currently attempting to break a wall using his head. Should I…do sothing?" Ale said speaking into the speakers.
"Rhapsody? Are you in a safe zone? No wait, the other is being affected? Can you tell us what is happening? No one in the imdiate area is able to answer." The voice in her head said once again, who was this one? She didn't recognize the voice quite yet, but since it ca from her headphones then it should be soone from [Haephestus' Forge], "Move it or lose it!"
That one she recognized, "Rhapsody, this is Hers. Your vitals spiked with everyone else, but they went flat and returned to stable. What happened?" Her vitals did?
"[Correct, a full hard reset was required. A limited brain surgery was also realized to temporarily isolate so nerve endings, this last part is advised to not be disclosed as the Humans seem to have so qualms with brain surgery done on-site.]" Main Core answered the question on her head.
"I got a very bad headache followed by the feeling of being split," Ale said, recounting the events that had sucked, "Main Core managed to pull us together before we broke, and then we just used our power to deal with the interference, I can't hear or interact with whatever is causing this now."
And that was the important bit; she wasn't sure if she would be immune to directed applications of this [Core Power], but at least the broad uses of it should not work on her, for now anyway.
"Hmm….What can you tell us about whoever did this? There aren't many who can achieve this degree of chaos, but…still we need to be sure." [Elder] asked, so multiple types of [Core Users] could do this?
"I'm not sure, besides the weird symptoms the only thing that cos to mind is that weird voice," Ale said, unsure of what else to say, she hadn't actually seen the [Core User] who did this, and all she had heard were those weird words that her [Brain] couldn't process, and yet she sohow understood.
She knew they were words since the new program at the back translated them into words.
"Weird voice? Did… did soone speak to you?" [Elder] sounded worried, "Are you hearing it now? Is it telling you to do sothing? To act in so way?"
…that was a very specific thing to ask, was the new [Core User] that arrived a [Mind Core User]?
"He said that this world was a lie, a mirage. And that we needed to wake up. As for what he said before I don't know, Main Core deleted those mories." Ale answered while picking up the briefcase and checking if it had been opened. It hadn't, dang it.
"....He deleted? Can this Main Core…tamper with your mory? Is it that why…but if he is deleting…you can't hear his voice anymore?" [Elder] asked, was he arriving at another convenient realization on his own again? The [Humans] really liked doing that, didn't they?
"I can't hear him, his voice is dangerous. Main Core is parsing the words for and giving a translation of what he says, but I can't actively interact with him. He made a program that recognized the pitch, tone, and vibration his voice makes and deleted it as soon as it interacted with , then made a secondary program to turn what it deleted into data that fed the aning of what he attempted to communicate. So I only get the sound but not the [Mana] he had on his voice." Ale answered. That was one loooong explanation.
"Hah! Knew you had the Tinker Bone in you!" [Elder] laughed on the other side of the call, "Yeah yeah I get it, stop glaring at Cerberus, the kid is all right. It will probably not do anything if she finds herself one-on-one against him. Because it sure as hell sounds like him."
Him?
"Who is doing this?" Ale asked trying to find sothing to snack on while she waited for new orders, she was feeling hungry with all the things that Main Core was doing at the back, and she didn't want to quite tap into her [Banked Storage] if she could help it.
"Brace yourself kiddo, you are officially in the big leagues." [Elder] said suddenly sounding serious, "[The Scrambler] is back in town."
…The who?
"I have no idea who that is," Ale said after finishing her scavenging hunt, the only thing that she had found to eat was the domino-masked minion who was frothing on the floor.
She knew he was frothing because the saliva was leaking from the side of his domino mask as he tried to cover his ears, but he did not succeed on that.
"Side question, what happens to the victims of this Scrambler guy?" Ale said kneeling at the side of the domino-masked minion while poking him in the side, there was no answer to her poking.
"They will be fine…mostly, they usually get so tastes moved around, their favorite food turns into what they hate the most, they suddenly forget who they married. Their preferences change, at worst so may wake up thinking they are of the opposite sex." So far, nothing of what [Elder] had said sounded that troubleso…Or what she had experienced.
"I felt as if what makes [] was splitting multiple ways." Ale said turning to stare down at the Domino-Masked Minion, "And it also felt as if I was staring down at an empty void, as if I would turn into nothing."
Ale did not like that feeling, she would have probably destroyed her [Brain] first if [Main Core] hadn't reacted in ti.
"....Fine, you are…right. Among the worst cases people wake up as soone else, no mories of their life, na and no matter what we try they never return to normal. That is as close to Identity Death, as you can get. You woke up on your own, so you should be fine… But if the others are exposed for long…" [Elder] let his words trail.
"[Fan-]" Ale was about to ask, but rembered that she was at work, and also was better than Alexa, "Are [Sylph] and [Golem] fine?"
"Sylph noticed the ruckus and called it, she is currently flying as high as she can while keeping an eye on the situation. She has experience with [The Scrambler], so she is staying as far away as possible. As for Golem, he was detained five minutes ago and transported to a prison, he is waiting for his release. If needed we will call for him to bust himself out," [Elder] recounted the situation of both of them, it seed that only Ale was affected then. "Also Mikey your getaway driver is outside the area of effect, if needed we will send him in. He knows the risks, but we would rather not lose more Minions if you don't mind it."
Lose more Minions?
"How do you lose more minions? Wasn't this effect one that was limited to the psyche? How could it be a cause of losing Minions?" Ale asked confused.
"Most of the ti, the victims of [The Scrambler] never return to their forr lives. So any Minion that is affected…is being counted as MIA." [Elder] said in a low tone, "As far as we can see, there are very few unaffected individuals, our client and so of his minions, a couple sidekicks, two heroes, and one…guy running around with a Pizza?"
So that would an, at worst, six people? And at best eight? She assud that the client and minions would be The Theater Guy and Aqua. The only one that Ale was concerned for was the Pizza wielding one to be honest, she was hungry. And it sounded as if she wouldn't be able to nom the domino-masked minion. Or forr minion?
"What are my orders?" Ale said walking towards the window, there was chaos down there, "I have the [Data Banks] and the [Briefcase] that were one of the targets of this [Mission]."
She wasn't sure if there were more [Data Banks] around, or other briefcases with more data, but perhaps this would be her chance to fish for more? She wanted to be sure if there was data of her going around or not.
"Hmm…let patch…Aqua? Yes, I know….Yes….Of course…Of course not, we will not bomb the city yet…Yeah…I don't know, the Pizza guy ca out of nowhere!" The [Elder] started speaking at the very back, it seed he had connected with Aqua? "Yeah…Only one, yours? Hah! I told you to hire more Lieutenants! …No she isn't one….ugh…Fine, I'll patch you."
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Ale didn't even have a chance to say anything when there was the sound of a new voice getting into her earphones, "Rhapsody? Yes?" The voice of [Aqua] rang out, it sounded as if she was speaking surrounded by waves, "I need confirmation, what is the na of your teacher."
That was…a very specific question…How did she even know the na of her teacher?
"Tristan De'dicci." Ale answered with so worry, "How is that relevant? How do you know my personal information?
"Not important. The Theater Master has access to more data than you probably are aware. He designed the security question, and I just asked," Aqua said, dismissing her worry, "Either way, this ans you are the Rhapsody of this reality, and not one pulled from sowhere else. So I gotta ask you, do you have the package?"
The Package?
Ale looked down at the briefcase. That was one interesting way to say it.
"I have…" Ale did a recount of the amount of data she ripped, "around five [Data Banks] plus a briefcase with an unconfird amount of folders given to here at the rendevouz point."
Ale really hoped they asked her to confirm the contents of those.
"Good, the contents are irrelevant, the briefcase cloned the data banks and will send the data in one data burst to our base as soon as you are clear of the area." Aqua said dismissing her wants, "Briefcase is tinker proof, so if it emits a warning sound throw it away, it ans soone breached it."
…It was good that Ale refrained from trying to worm her way into it then.
"Okay, we will send an evac route. Try to dodge the fighting if possible; if you are compromised on the way, throw the package in this direction-" A series of coordinates flooded into her eyes as the Mask she was wearing received a data dump; it even updated in real ti the air humidity and wind direction… That would make it easier to deliver the package. "We will do what is required next, if you can't make the shot then just throw it at the closest ATM."
…That was one weird instruction.
"[The Theater Master] is sure you can make the throw, so you should be able to. Godspeed." And like that, the call was cut.
"...Don't mind her manners, and while you are within the area of influence of [The Theater Master] you should be able to make the throw, the world will make sure it is successful, even if it is by weird coincidences." [Elder] spoke next in her head, "The evac route just arrived, we are making sure there are no weird risks, but so far it looks good. It should keep you away from the predicted area of conflict. And it seems [The Theater Master] will step up to confront [The Scrambler], that should be a good sight."
…Why did both sound like that?
Not like it was Ale's problem anyway, as soon as she wondered about her route of evacuation it manifested on her sight, as a minimap that showed her current location and nothing else really.
"There you have it, good luck out there. Just…don't mind the others and get yourself out of danger, you really shouldn't have to deal with this just yet. Not while your Core is still young." [Elder] finished the communication with that.
Did it matter the age of a [Core]? Ale didn't think it mattered that much; all the [Cores] she had seen were roughly the sa, and the sa could be said of all the [Cores] she made. If anything, there weren't that many differences.
The perceived difference attributed to age may be related to the Mana Density achieved within the Core; as there is more mana stored within, the sa Mana increases in density, allowing more Mana to grow and increasing the sturdiness of the Core.
"[Notice, impossible to asure such differences.]"
Notice:
Current density asured for all the Cores within both host and blueprint library asured using Mana μnits that they can store.
Mana DensityNaDensityMana μnitsStatusTypeCore330FoundationAnchorMind01TempSlaveNanite110PrimaryInformationConstruction110SecondaryDeconstructionShapeshifting01TempSlaveBeast00BlueprintBaseRat00BlueprintFormCat00BlueprintFormHuman00BlueprintFormMutant00BlueprintAdd OnBroken00BlueprintAdd OnTruth00BlueprintMindInformation00BlueprintDataMana110BlueprintStorageSpeed00BlueprintBaseAccel00BlueprintAdd OnBurst00BlueprintAdd On( ` ꒳ ´ )✧
"[....]"
"So there is a difference, but we don't know how much it will change with ti," Ale said reading the blue screens.
"[Theorical change could cause a fundantal change within Core.]" Main Core said, turning the conversation into one that seed to ignore the fact that he had previously stated sothing very different.
But Ale was magnanimous and would not poke fun at him (for now).
"Okay, then plot a route, we are leaving at the fastest speed possible," Ale said placing the briefcase on her back and grabbing it firmly by using so wiggle-wiggles that would hug it, she changed their color to match her current Nuzzler Armor too.
"[Increasing pressure within Air Tank reservoir, plotting most efficient course within sight…]"
Ale could feel the pressure building within her boots and arm-mant, she would need to be very precise with her change of directions, lest she end up as a splat. That was sothing that only Alexandra needed to experint.
"[Preparing holographic trajectory within Host sight, please follow indications, lift off in 3,2….1…]"
"Rhapsody, lift off!" Ale said, giggling as she jumped out of the building and allowed the pressurized air to shoot out from her feet; she extended her arms sideways to try and control so of her trajectory as she was flying through the air.
One could hear her laughing as she was changing directions at high speed while following [Main Core]'s directions, this was quite fun actually.
Ale would do this again when she wasn't surrounded by the masses screaming while crying tears of blood and clawing at their ears, that kinda ruined the image.
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