Chelsea leaned back in her seat as she listened to the report from Tsubaki. It wasn’t surprising to her that the Black Shadow had been the one to release the tic entity. Though this was ultimately an unconfird accusation from Lena, Lena knew the person more than well enough, and had a fair amount of circumstantial evidence.
All that Chelsea had to do was run a quick check through his records with her main body in the Admin Room. Once she did that, she knew for certain that he was the culprit. Not long after Lena had wounded him, he had gone mad with a need to increase the scale of his research.
Although the Black Shadow had indeed gotten citizens caught up in his antics without remorse before, that was typically while he was performing so kind of mission, using the excuse that he was tying up loose ends. This was the first ti that he had gone out of his way to use an entire colony as the subject of one of his experints.
“Looks like it’s finally ti to bring the Four Shadows plan to a close.” Chelsea shook her head as she stood, tail waving behind her while she walked for the door of her office. She had been watching the Four Shadows project since shortly after its inception, curious to see how it would play out. Moreover, she had to keep a close eye on the Black Shadow, due to the inherent dangers with tic effects.
There had been tis when she personally tutored him on the dangers of s, back when he was just starting. At that ti, Chelsea thought that he could harness the power of tic effects to create a better future. However, whether he was corrupted by the prospect of the power he wielded, or the actual power itself, he had beco more twisted over ti.
Now, it was ti for Chelsea to clean up an old ss that she helped to cause.
The Black Shadow paced back and forth in his room, debating how he wanted to proceed. He couldn’t simply give up on his research at this point, not when he was so close to completion. However, at the sa ti, the only logical explanation for what had occurred on Oranii Seven was soone like Terra stepping in.
If Terra truly had stepped in, then he could take that reaction as a sign that he shouldn’t push his luck. If she hadn’t… the only way to know would be to ask soone close to her, which would reveal to them that it was him to begin with. Maybe move to smaller settlents… There will be less information to obtain, but as long as I have the entities move slowly, from place to place, the end result will be the sa.
As he thought about that, he heard the door to his mansion open, his head snapping to the side. Nobody ever visited him, they knew better. Walking into his mansion was the sa as volunteering to be a part of his experints.
Gritting his teeth at the interruption, the Black Shadow left his office, walking towards the foyer. As he approached, he sensed a familiar divinity spreading out across his ho, and narrowed his eyes further. “I didn’t think I’d get a visit from you.” He said, turning the corner to see Chelsea waiting for him. “I suppose this ans that the Greater Pantheon is stepping in?”
Although Chelsea herself was not considered a mber of the Greater Pantheon by most of the world, the fact that she had extrely close ties with them was sothing that could not be ignored. However, Chelsea tilted her head slightly, blinking. “I’m sorry, did you say sothing?” She asked in confusion.
The Black Shadow’s eye twitched, as if he had been taunted by her words. “Don’t try to play dumb. The fact that you’re here now can only be proof that the Greater Pantheon, maybe even the Keeper himself is sending a warning.”
“What?” Chelsea blinked again, before seeming to realize sothing. “Ah, you attached s to your voice now, haven’t you? Sorry, but tic properties are filtered through my domain. Whatever you’re saying is just white noise.”
“Anyways, I’m here to tie up so loose ends. Sorry that this can’t be a proper conversation after so long, but it is what it is.” The Black Shadow clenched his teeth as he listened to Chelsea speak.
Honestly speaking, those capable of censoring tic properties were sothing of an achilles heel to him. There were still ways around it, sure. Typically, a tic censor required too much energy to maintain indefinitely, or only protected the user’s sight. That was why he had gotten into the habit of attaching a weakening to his voice, making it so that all who heard him would grow weaker and weaker the more he talked.
However, Chelsea’s power clearly protected all of her senses. Furthermore, she had co to him, so he couldn’t just choose to wait until her power ran out or she lowered her guard. He had to think fast to co up with so way around her defenses.
As he was thinking of that, he heard a faint click, and light wrapped around his figure. He wasn’t sure what was happening, only that his mind had turned more sluggish, his vision gradually growing dark.
Chelsea shrugged her shoulders, walking over and picking up the card that had fallen where the Black Shadow stood. As expected, the card itself had beco distorted in her vision, showing that he had been covered with so many tic properties that they would even infect the stasis card he was kept in.
There was a reason why Chelsea had never given herself any extra domains, why she had always only been the Goddess of Security. She didn’t want any future domains to taint her power, to limit what she could accomplish.
As the Goddess of Security, she could embody the power of any security device, whether it was a cara, a lock, or even a stasis card. For that reason, she had studied the Reset Protocol, ensuring that she would be capable of recreating the effects herself.
“It’s probably not safe to let this guy get cloned, is it?” She muttered to herself. The fact that the card created by her divinity had already been infected with the Black Shadow’s tic influence ant that it had tainted the very core of his energies. Even if he was cloned, those tic effects would remain attached to his body.
Even the Collector wouldn’t want this guy. She thought to herself, debating on how to properly dispose of him. There were nurous thods at her disposal, she just had to choose whichever one would be the most efficient and result in the least amount of collateral damage. After all, despite how he behaved, he was an incredibly powerful individual, and would surely fight back as soon as he erged from the stasis card.
Ultimately, the answer wouldn’t be found from her divinity. Not unless she wanted even more of it to be tainted and lost to her. She closed her eyes, altering the energy pathways within her own body, which began to pulsate with dark, red power.
Once she was done, she tossed the card into the air, staring up at it with glowing red eyes. “Ruin.” She muttered, beams shooting out of her eyes and into the card.
The card began to crack, the power of her attack piercing its confines to attack the Black Shadow directly. Chelsea could hear him scream in pain, and feel years’ worth of her divinity disappearing as a result of this one attack. Still, the scream was silenced only a few monts later, golden specks falling to the ground.
“I checked with the Admin Room, and I didn’t see any hidden bases with back-up bodies… but you can never be too sure.” She said to herself, focusing and creating a three-dinsional sphere of magic. “Set the tir to one hundred seconds. Range is one hundred ters horizontally, and five kiloters vertically.”
After she said that, she calmly turned and walked towards the door of the mansion, leaving the sphere of magic hovering in midair. Ever since she had arrived, her vision had been largely a blur. The space itself seed to contain the power of malicious s, making it hard for her to determine where she was going. In order to account for this, she guided her mortal body from the Admin Room, watching what was happening from above.
Almost two minutes later, after Chelsea had left this place and begun to leave the planet’s atmosphere, the sphere turned bright red. Suddenly, it erupted, a pillar of light stretching into the sky. The mansion shattered, shredded by the powerful bursts of energy.
Nearby ninjas looked on in horror, unsure of what was going on, or if there was anything that they could do to help. They didn’t know if they even should help, given the location of the blast. Instead, they quickly averted their gazes, collectively deciding that it was better not to see what was happening. After all, anything to do with the Black Shadow’s mansion was automatically considered a tic hazard in the eyes of the people. There was no reason for them to think any differently of this pillar of light.
Chelsea flew through space, leaving the world of ninjas to return to her lab once again, where she was welcod by the arcane intelligence. After getting to her office, she closed her eyes and sent a ntal ssage. It’s done. Black’s been taken care of. The only shadow left with them now is Red, but I doubt that he’ll be an imdiate issue.
Very well. Thank you for this. Tsubaki’s voice responded. Were you able to keep it under wraps, to avoid drawing attention?
Chelsea’s brow twitched at that. That wasn’t part of the request. Like I said, he’s been taken care of.
Tsubaki hesitated when she heard that, only responding a few seconds later. Understood. If the Black Shadow’s death is connected to the recent incident at Oranii Seven, it is likely that those who discover it will see this as a form of divine retribution.
Chelsea nodded her head in agreent. That’s fine, isn’t it? I know your boss has the whole ‘let mortals take care of mortal problems’ policy, but he knows how dangerous s can be. If this sends a ssage to people to not thoughtlessly study tic powers, I would call that a win.
Of course, Chelsea knew that that wasn’t entirely true. As with any form of science, it had to be studied to be understood, to be developed into sothing that could help people. With the right , you could cure a deadly disease, restore lost limbs, or even defy death itself.
None of this would beco possible if the study of tic powers were banned outright, and both Chelsea and Tsubaki knew this. Thus, after a pregnant pause, she let out a sigh. I’ll tell the elders not to make a fuss of it.
Thank you, Lady Chelsea. Tsubaki responded almost imdiately, as if she had been waiting for Chelsea to say that. Are there any developnts worth noting in your research?
Chelsea grunted at that, shaking her head. We’ve still got a mountain of data to get through yet. Right now, we think we might have sothing, but it’s just a thread. We’ll need to finish our analysis before we can really co to any form of conclusion. Most likely, it will be another year or two before we’re ready to conduct our next Law rge experint. And I doubt the Keeper wants to fast forward again so quickly.
I believe that is the case, as well. Tsubaki answered in a respectful tone. My Keeper has shown that he wishes to keep such things for tis when they are truly needed.
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