Outrun - Chapter 209

I returned to my apartment and nearly immediately collapsed onto my bed. I didn’t move to spend the Intimidation Perk yet. Instead, I spent some time surfing the Net and checking recent events after my talk with Shinobu. Specifically Aythryn City Live, the largest news company in Aythryn City.

ACL had a daily crime tracker on the website that I paid particular interest to. Especially the gang crime tracker. It had a noticeable uptick starting a couple of weeks ago, as did violent crime with a firearm. Correlation? Or were the Circle’s plans already in motion?

Hmm… I checked a few other sites to compare numbers, finding nothing concrete. There were a few signs that things were starting to go down though. I carefully read through the news. Bricktown in particular had it bad with the Neo-Jokers gone. Massive power vacuum.

I read a few other articles before putting my phone up to charge and lying down. A moment later, I was whisked away to the Pavilion. 

I stood before the Intimidation shelf for the first time, eagerly checking it out. Intimidation was one of those Skills I was growing more and more appreciative of as time passed. It wasn’t subtle like the rest of my skill set, though that made it all the more attractive to me. 

I noticed the attraction grew especially after spending time with the Blue Crusade. Intimidation was one of those Skills that allowed me to brute force through issues, solving them a lot quicker than a subtle approach. Maybe since it's something I wasn't used to? It was quite fun.

I read through the Perks as per usual, stopping and noting down the occasional good-looking ones.

「Cold Glare」

「Harsh Voice」

「Aggression」

「Stalker」

「Overkill」

「Whisper」

「Fear the Reaper」

「Shattered Morale」

「Blacklist」

Yeah, lots of really cool ones. Cold Glare was a mental attack, at least from what I could see. Short spikes of fear if an enemy met my eyes, causing them to momentarily freeze up. Super cool, though I don’t typically meet anyone’s eyes in fights. A little too hard to trigger. And what if I was against robots or chromed eyes? Would it still work? Pass.

Overkill was also super interesting. It looked exactly as it sounded; particularly bloody and overly brutal kills inspire fear in my enemies. Again, another mental attack from what I could tell. This one promised slower reaction speeds and movement of my enemies after activating the Perk in an AOE. Brutality wasn't quite my MO though. And, like, brutally killing someone spreads fear on its own even without a Perk.

There were a surprising amount of combat-related Perks or Perks that could be used during a fight all things considered. Then there were a few… creepier Perks.

Whisper, in particular, gave me the willies. According to the Perk, people around me would hear shadows whisper their names and other auditory hallucinations. I knew firsthand how debilitating it was from my short time with hallucinatory paranoia and how unsettling it could be when something is stalking you. Maybe it'd be a good idea after all?

After looking through the list a few more times, I decided on Fear the Reaper.

「Fear the Reaper - Project an aura of intimidation, as if those surrounding you have a scythe’s blade wrapped around their neck. Grows as your kill count does.」

Yeah, growth-type Perk. First I’d seen of it, I think. And it sounded badass. An aura of intimidation that had the chance to grow was perfect for what I needed. Really, just anything to boost intimidation considering my small frame wasn’t exactly intimidating in the first place.

The biggest hold-up was the Perk growing as my kill count did. I’m not much of a killer- or at least, that’s what I first thought when I saw the Perk. Thinking about it again, I was becoming noticeably quicker on the draw these days. I mean, I butchered the Circle’s Adepts without a second thought.

And the Perk didn’t say it was human kills either, so even if I stopped killing people I could still enhance it by killing monsters. I ran into scum that needed to be removed often enough.

I grabbed the scroll and moved over to the easel, dropping it on. It unraveled to reveal a cloaked figure glaring at me with malicious eyes. I felt a bolt of cold go down my spine as I stared at the person- creature? Being. Their cloak seemed to warp and shift, revealing haunted faces as if the souls of the slain were woven into it.

The pavilion faded, kicking me back out to my apartment. I waited a moment, though nothing happened. No shocks of pain or feeling something of my body change. Effect type, then. I wouldn't know its effect till I tested it on someone.

I checked the time- barely a few hours had passed. 

I was planning on spending two days in the pavilion learning a new Perk… not that I’m complaining. A lot to do these days, and so very little time. I moved to my bed, more than ready to sleep.

— — —

In the middle of the night, I snapped awake. My mind already racing a mile a second as my brain finally pieced together why the last ritual room looked so familiar. It’d been months since I’d been there, but the layout was highly reminiscent of that subterranean storage chamber that Mira and I ran into. The one protected by Fedra troops.

A layer of murky water covered the ground at the time, so I wouldn’t have even noticed had there been ritual engravings along the stone. Even the corpses weren’t that suspicious. At the time, I’d chalked it up to a Fedra plot.

Corvin himself jogged my memory. Six glowing eyes. I’d run into it a few times, but the first time I ever saw it was up in the rafters of that cave. I briefly caught the gaze of his eyes before he vanished into the shadows back then. I’d discounted the experience as a hallucination thanks to my glitchy eye, but with the added context of recent times?

Assuming that the cave had been hiding a ritual circle just the same, what would that mean? It was on the entire other side of the city from the one down south. I mentally conjured a map, marking the two spots. They were in a fairly straight line with each other, the line tracing alongside the east side of Aythryn City. What did it mean?

I still didn't know enough. Hell, I didn’t know anything about ritual magic in the first place. Hadn’t even known it existed till recently. And that wasn’t even broaching the whole ‘mother’ topic. That creepy entity that writhed in the Aether was something I seriously needed to look into, especially considering it could connect to and hijack the interface.

Unfortunately, it was midnight. I'd have to wait till the morning. Unfortunately, my attempts to fall back asleep were fruitless as my mind raced, recounting all recent events through the lens of the Circle.

— — —

Early in the morning, I put in a call to Inquisitor Ligh. “Hey, boss, I think I got something.”

”Yeah? Good. Good news would go a long way right now… jailbreak in Bricktown. Lotsh of shcum on the streetsh.” The Inquisitor sighed deeply. 

“That’s…” Very rough. What poor timing… unless? Hmm… they were arming minor gangs, right? Add in a jailbreak- are they trying to cause chaos across the city? If so, it would make sense. Divide the various factions’ attention across the entire city so that we don’t all focus on the Circle. 

They were doing something big, that’s for sure. With what I’d seen in New Tress City, I came to an unsettling realization. Were they trying to make plants and ‘mother’ take over Aythryn CIty? 

But of course, this was all a guess based on assumptions. I needed more evidence to really pierce the veil of mystery. “Can I get some reinforcements to go check it out? Underground. And do we have anyone that can control water?”

The line went silent for a few moments before replying. “I’ll get Inquisitor Varus to meet you. He’s a Shark Magus.” 

Shark, eh? This would be my first interaction with marine sprites. “I appreciate it. Bristole Coffee next to Talus Tower.”

”Jusht, uh, be careful, yeah? There are some troubling movementsh in the Crushade. Jailbreaksh don’t just happen without an insider.” Inquisitor Ligh paused as someone’s voice came across faintly. “I have to go. The commander is talking about getting reinforcements from Oraoyt. Even one of the High Lords are coming into town.”

Oraoyt sounded familiar. I did a quick check of the Net as the Inquisitor hung up. It was a city on the southwest side of the FSA, and the continental headquarters for the Blue Crusade. Even more Crusaders coming to town was not ideal for a plethora of reasons. But I could worry about that later. The most pressing issue was the Circle.

As for his warning? I’d take it in mind. I mean, one of my first gigs after getting the interface was helping a betrayed Crusader, Iris’s friend… I wonder how she’s doing? 

Anyway, as far as the Crusade went, I felt much safer alongside a Magus. There was definitely an antagonistic relationship between the eidolons and this mother entity. Or at least, that’s how it felt from the past month or so of me running around.

I held back a sigh as I rounded up my gear. The first thing I wanted to do when I got back was find a book or something about She Who Grows. Knowing nothing about my enemy was a very bad idea. Surely there was some way I could find out more. Maybe I could head back to Echidna’s workshop and try to trade for info?

I left my apartment and headed for the north side of Little Yukoto. It’d been a while since I was up here, and not much changed since then. If anything, it looked just a tad bit safer without Sentinel’s patrols. No more roving bands of heavily armed and psychotic soldiers out and about.

Just insane police as the Blue Crusade ramped up their presence. I was in gear though, so I had no worries about being stopped for spot inspections. I got a lot of friendly nods from the patrolling Squires and their Jaegers.

I waited at the coffee shop for nearly an hour, drinking copious amounts of synthetic coffee to push back my exhaustion. Last night hadn't been restful.

I caught the telltale silver sheen of Crusade armor out of the corner of my eye. I looked over curiously, momentarily thinking it was just another Squire on patrol. The man who approached didn’t look like any Crusader I’d seen so far. 

Instead of the hard, plate armor that everyone opted for, this guy had chainmail. His armor looked closer to shiny silver clothes than anything. If it wasn’t for the aura of intimidation and the guilt-evoking mask, I’d almost say he was some kind of rich partygoer rather than a Crusader.

Then again, he was a Magus of Shark. I guess it made sense he didn’t have the heavier armor I’d grown to connect with the Blue Crusade. It’d probably get in the way if he had to swim… I didn’t know anything about Shark, so that could've very well been the reason and not a joke like I intended it.

The man nodded to me. He could easily pick me out of the crowd thanks to my Crusade ball cap and Trench coat. And, you know, the fact that everyone in this coffee shop avoided me like the plague. I’m pretty sure there were even strangers crammed into the same table together so they wouldn’t have to be near me. Even without Fear the Reaper active, the Crusade was mad intimidating to the normal civ.

”Inquisitor Varus?” I asked the man as he sat down at the table on the opposite side.

”That’s me.” The man’s voice was surprisingly gentle, like a flowing river. 

“Squire Zuku.” I looked around for his Squires, though I didn't see any of them. So much for reinforcements… Hope we don’t run into anything down there. I tried to keep the expectation off my face, though it seemed he saw through me.

“Just me, I’m afraid. I don’t have any Squires. Not too many followers of marine Eidolons these days… makes it difficult to hire anyone else considering my usual jobs.” He sighed slightly.

I could see why. Most people wouldn’t want to touch the ocean with a mile-long pole, let alone go into it. Lots of horrifically mutated monsters down there. And I imagine most marine eidolons were of the ocean, so it made sense that people wouldn't want to follow them. Speaking of, how many marine eidolons are there? “Your usual jobs?”

”That’s right. I’m the go-to guy for anything underwater. Mostly stuff in the ocean.” Inquisitor Varus looked around the coffee shop casually. Several people shrunk back with guilty expressions. “I imagine you didn’t want me to just come to a coffee shop to hang out and talk?”

I laughed lightly and shook my head. The guy was… disarming? He seemed to be an easy-going sort. “No, no. Inquisitor Ligh didn’t tell you anything?”

“Just to meet you here.” Varus leaned back in his chair. “I’m horribly out of my depth. Been disarming deep sea naval mines off the coast for the past few months.”

That sounded… absolutely awful. Not only being in the depths of the ocean, but also surrounded by naval mines? Still… I filed that little tidbit of information away. There must’ve been a reason he was out disarming the mines in the first place right? Maybe… some kind of treasure? 

“We’re going to Talus Tower to investigate… something.” I eyed the civs around us. It was definitely just paranoia once more, but there was no telling if anyone here was with the Circle, so I didn’t say too much.

”Sounds good with me.” The easy-going Inquisitor breathed deeply, his head tilting towards the front counter. “Let me get one to go, and then I’ll be ready.”

I watched the guy walk off to join the line. Mysteriously, the entire line seemed to vanish as he got to the front in record time.