- Location
- Up on a Hill
Brockton's Celestial Forge (Worm/Jumpchain)
- Thread starter LordRoustabout
- Start date
Wait what, was there are Chen that work for Coil?
- Location
- Maine
- Pronouns
- They/Them/Theirs
Yeah, he was a sniper and was Coil's mole in the ABB.
Cosmic
Novel Addict
- Location
- Library Nexus
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Deleted one. Thank you for catching that.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
But did Bakuda escape? She's still alive, but did she escape being arrested?
- Pronouns
- Dude, bro, etc...
Chen isn't his real name I believe, that just what Alec called him for whatever reason during Chapter 21: Closing Moves
Shit! Please tell me it's not the same Chen is there a WoG that confirms it, fuck Joe just empower one of Coils men if that Chen and sniper coil Chen are one and the same.
Uber and Leet Reassess Their Life Choices (akatoshslayer)
Non-canon Omake
Uber and Leet Reassess Their Life Choices
After he gave March access to their channel he was looking forward to the buzz she would create. Everything was being set up to make the most exciting stream of his career. The amount of clicks after the opening started already set national records as people from all over the world tuned in.
As he and Jeff sat down on the bed in their hotel he had to admire the showmanship on display. Everything was set to be perfect, Bakuda was wearing the new costume that they made prior to heading out to Boston. Of course Apeiron somehow managed to frame himself for the impromptu video call in a way that made professional movie sets look cheap. Leet was willing to bet (he in fact did so several times) that Apeiron's reported thinker power made his presentation skills supernatural.
Sure Leet expected Bakuda to have to go off script, but the speed at which the stream was breaking down reminded him of the past. Jeff visibly scowled as Apeiron somehow bent in such a way that all attention was going towards Apeiron's perfect ass. How it was visible when he was looking directly at the camera was mind boggling.
Then he said it. He said the line that sent Leet directly to his bottle of celebratory champagne he and Jeff got for this occasion.
. . . "Bakuda, that's three-day-old technology. Even if I could get it back, I don't know what I would do with it at this point. I mean, maybe as a curiosity…"
God, that line cut through him like the time his wing suit somehow exploded sending shrapnel into his back. He had a feeling that this wasn't a boast, the absolute certainty which it was said showed it. Leet's 6th sense developed over years of streaming pinged. He knew this was about to make a sharp turn into Apeiron's favor.
That was when March took center stage. The bottle drained faster than either of them had anticipated. Jeff saw the writing on the walls as well. Jeff actually left the stream to raid the mini-fridge. Leet was thinking about stopping him, but the thought of miniature bottles of liquor sounded really good right now. Besides it is not like the card they were using was their own.
. . . "An overly wide and poorly executed communication base that was largely unsecured and imprecisely managed for the number of people it was intended to coordinate. If the dumpster fire of logistics that led me to this call was intentionally implemented for my benefit then I'm impressed by your commitment, if nothing else."
Jeff got back just in time. The half a dozen tiny bottles were gone before the stream ended. What an end it was.
He knew March set up an ambush, he knew she had a plan, he knew that this setback won't be the end, but he knew the look of a failing show. This wasn't the thinker that made him famous, this was a little girl pretending to have everything together even as her house started to smoke behind her.
"Shit." He said defeated. It really was.
"Don't give up yet man, hell even if she fucked up we won't lose any rep." Jeff replied trying to cheer him up.
"Should we get back to the city?"
"No, March told us to stay at the hotel. If we showed up Lung would kill us for interfering."
"Dude if she fails we might get a kill order or some shit. We bet our lives on her and she starts messing up as soon as she needs to hold things together."
"Calm down. One bad show never stopped us, besides Apeiron doesn't stand a chance against all the shit she set up."
Leet laid back silently hoping Jeff was right. They had a few minutes before the second part started and were out of liquor. Jeff told Leet to stay in the room and he would run to the store across the street.
When Jeff got back the stream had already started. This time instead of Bakuda, Lung took center stage. March was standing next to Oni Lee in the background as explosions could be heard in the distance. Lung started monologuing about how the ABB couldn't be defeated, how Apeiron failed to save anyone, and how he would conquer the city. Leet rated it a 2/5 on style and a 5/5 on the sheer level of intimidation that was rolling off Lung.
Then Triumph appeared on a different screen. Lung let out a too toothy grin as he stormed off to fight the member of the Protectorate. It was brutal. Even the beat down Jeff gave the prostitute they hired looked tame. The amount of blood coming out of Triumph made Leet question if they just showed a live death on their site.
Thankfully it cut away, but when Apeiron showed up instead Leet was questioning if this would be any better. Then Oni Lee appeared beside him. What happened next was the four most heart pounding seconds of video Leet had seen. Oni Lee somehow was able to clone a dozen copies simultaneously. Each was armed with a glowing two-by-four and they all simultaneously swung at Apeiron.
What came out of the explosion could hardly be called human anymore. A mess of red blobs strung together in gray and white strings somehow not dyed by blood. A small part of him noticed even in this state Apeiron somehow was posing. The gore he could somewhat tolerate, what he was willing to swear made him throw up on the floor was that he recognized the pose from a painting he remembered called 'The Fall of Man'.
Lung showed up dragging the mess that was Triumph through a wall of flames that sprang from where Apeiron landed. Now that he looked, the area around Apeiron appeared as if someone took every RPG element and made blaster effects out of them. March started speaking, but the only thing out of her mouth was crazy. How she managed to convince him to listen to her was now weighing on his conscience.
Then the torture started. At least when Bakuda went after the Undersiders it was off screen. Lung stopped her with three words, but the damage was done. Before she swung the prop sword she got out of their stash Apeiron spoke for the first time since falling.
. . . "Proto… Aima…."
"First blood." Jeff whispered.
That was when everything went to shit again. Apeiron moved as if his injuries were never there. He slammed March into the ground with a backhand sending her flying into a nearby crater. He then punched Lung through a shipping crate. Looking at Apeiron as his body started to reform Leet noticed there was no blood on the floor. The fucker faked his injuries to get close to March. That wasn't blood it was his bio tinker nightmare mode and everyone fell for it.
Lung got back up and Oni Lee assisted, but the writing was on the wall. They lost. Sure it was the most intense battle yet. There were explosions, a honest to God magical girl transformation on Apeiron's part, and flaming chains shooting from Apeiron's body put a stop to Lee quick. Then Apeiron changed into a weredinosaur, started magically running on top of Lung's fire breath, and then punched Lung over the bay.
As if this Apeiron movie couldn't get more anime a fucking Gundam dropped out of no where and started fighting Lung. Leet thought another one showed up shortly after, but it was Dragon in her Endbringer armor. What amounted to one epic Godzilla fight later Apeiron blasted Lung with a beam brighter than the sun sending him off into space. Then the fucker shot Lung with some kind of missile that shook the ground in his hotel 200 miles away.
"So Canada?" Leet asked as the image was left hanging over the empty bay.
"Mexico." Jeff replied. "Farther away and easier to hide."
They packed up and left in under 5 minutes.
Uber and Leet Reassess Their Life Choices
After he gave March access to their channel he was looking forward to the buzz she would create. Everything was being set up to make the most exciting stream of his career. The amount of clicks after the opening started already set national records as people from all over the world tuned in.
As he and Jeff sat down on the bed in their hotel he had to admire the showmanship on display. Everything was set to be perfect, Bakuda was wearing the new costume that they made prior to heading out to Boston. Of course Apeiron somehow managed to frame himself for the impromptu video call in a way that made professional movie sets look cheap. Leet was willing to bet (he in fact did so several times) that Apeiron's reported thinker power made his presentation skills supernatural.
Sure Leet expected Bakuda to have to go off script, but the speed at which the stream was breaking down reminded him of the past. Jeff visibly scowled as Apeiron somehow bent in such a way that all attention was going towards Apeiron's perfect ass. How it was visible when he was looking directly at the camera was mind boggling.
Then he said it. He said the line that sent Leet directly to his bottle of celebratory champagne he and Jeff got for this occasion.
. . . "Bakuda, that's three-day-old technology. Even if I could get it back, I don't know what I would do with it at this point. I mean, maybe as a curiosity…"
God, that line cut through him like the time his wing suit somehow exploded sending shrapnel into his back. He had a feeling that this wasn't a boast, the absolute certainty which it was said showed it. Leet's 6th sense developed over years of streaming pinged. He knew this was about to make a sharp turn into Apeiron's favor.
That was when March took center stage. The bottle drained faster than either of them had anticipated. Jeff saw the writing on the walls as well. Jeff actually left the stream to raid the mini-fridge. Leet was thinking about stopping him, but the thought of miniature bottles of liquor sounded really good right now. Besides it is not like the card they were using was their own.
. . . "An overly wide and poorly executed communication base that was largely unsecured and imprecisely managed for the number of people it was intended to coordinate. If the dumpster fire of logistics that led me to this call was intentionally implemented for my benefit then I'm impressed by your commitment, if nothing else."
Jeff got back just in time. The half a dozen tiny bottles were gone before the stream ended. What an end it was.
He knew March set up an ambush, he knew she had a plan, he knew that this setback won't be the end, but he knew the look of a failing show. This wasn't the thinker that made him famous, this was a little girl pretending to have everything together even as her house started to smoke behind her.
"Shit." He said defeated. It really was.
"Don't give up yet man, hell even if she fucked up we won't lose any rep." Jeff replied trying to cheer him up.
"Should we get back to the city?"
"No, March told us to stay at the hotel. If we showed up Lung would kill us for interfering."
"Dude if she fails we might get a kill order or some shit. We bet our lives on her and she starts messing up as soon as she needs to hold things together."
"Calm down. One bad show never stopped us, besides Apeiron doesn't stand a chance against all the shit she set up."
Leet laid back silently hoping Jeff was right. They had a few minutes before the second part started and were out of liquor. Jeff told Leet to stay in the room and he would run to the store across the street.
When Jeff got back the stream had already started. This time instead of Bakuda, Lung took center stage. March was standing next to Oni Lee in the background as explosions could be heard in the distance. Lung started monologuing about how the ABB couldn't be defeated, how Apeiron failed to save anyone, and how he would conquer the city. Leet rated it a 2/5 on style and a 5/5 on the sheer level of intimidation that was rolling off Lung.
Then Triumph appeared on a different screen. Lung let out a too toothy grin as he stormed off to fight the member of the Protectorate. It was brutal. Even the beat down Jeff gave the prostitute they hired looked tame. The amount of blood coming out of Triumph made Leet question if they just showed a live death on their site.
Thankfully it cut away, but when Apeiron showed up instead Leet was questioning if this would be any better. Then Oni Lee appeared beside him. What happened next was the four most heart pounding seconds of video Leet had seen. Oni Lee somehow was able to clone a dozen copies simultaneously. Each was armed with a glowing two-by-four and they all simultaneously swung at Apeiron.
What came out of the explosion could hardly be called human anymore. A mess of red blobs strung together in gray and white strings somehow not dyed by blood. A small part of him noticed even in this state Apeiron somehow was posing. The gore he could somewhat tolerate, what he was willing to swear made him throw up on the floor was that he recognized the pose from a painting he remembered called 'The Fall of Man'.
Lung showed up dragging the mess that was Triumph through a wall of flames that sprang from where Apeiron landed. Now that he looked, the area around Apeiron appeared as if someone took every RPG element and made blaster effects out of them. March started speaking, but the only thing out of her mouth was crazy. How she managed to convince him to listen to her was now weighing on his conscience.
Then the torture started. At least when Bakuda went after the Undersiders it was off screen. Lung stopped her with three words, but the damage was done. Before she swung the prop sword she got out of their stash Apeiron spoke for the first time since falling.
. . . "Proto… Aima…."
"First blood." Jeff whispered.
That was when everything went to shit again. Apeiron moved as if his injuries were never there. He slammed March into the ground with a backhand sending her flying into a nearby crater. He then punched Lung through a shipping crate. Looking at Apeiron as his body started to reform Leet noticed there was no blood on the floor. The fucker faked his injuries to get close to March. That wasn't blood it was his bio tinker nightmare mode and everyone fell for it.
Lung got back up and Oni Lee assisted, but the writing was on the wall. They lost. Sure it was the most intense battle yet. There were explosions, a honest to God magical girl transformation on Apeiron's part, and flaming chains shooting from Apeiron's body put a stop to Lee quick. Then Apeiron changed into a weredinosaur, started magically running on top of Lung's fire breath, and then punched Lung over the bay.
As if this Apeiron movie couldn't get more anime a fucking Gundam dropped out of no where and started fighting Lung. Leet thought another one showed up shortly after, but it was Dragon in her Endbringer armor. What amounted to one epic Godzilla fight later Apeiron blasted Lung with a beam brighter than the sun sending him off into space. Then the fucker shot Lung with some kind of missile that shook the ground in his hotel 200 miles away.
"So Canada?" Leet asked as the image was left hanging over the empty bay.
"Mexico." Jeff replied. "Farther away and easier to hide."
They packed up and left in under 5 minutes.
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Beautiful! Absolutely Beautiful! I loved every word of this omake!
- Pronouns
- He
...yeah, Uber and Leet are not stupid. Know when to fold 'em indeed.
Berix
Toa of Twilight
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Thanks for letting me know! I'll probably just leave most of the dialogue as-is, then, since it works, it's clear in meaning, and its mostly just me nitpicking grammar. If I see anything super weird I'll still mention it, though.
Berix
Toa of Twilight
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Quality.
also, as has become habit for me in this thread, here are the edits I noticed on first readthrough.
'professional'
'was'
'hoped'
'beat'
'was that he' I think.
'blood," Jeff'
'"Mexico," Jeff'
Well, while I appreciate your writing speed the reason I LOVE this story isn't how fast you release chapters but quality of your writing (which is hella impressive for someting written in a week), So I think if you are concerned about quality of your writing dropping because of time restrictions , mayhaps you should stretch your schedule a little ( maybe release chapters bi-weekly instead of once a week ? )
Amazing. Incredible. It seems like almost everything I spoke about this last chapter about certain audience reactions was correct. And I was lambasted for it. Hmm.
Baby. Wailing.
Okay then. Anyway, actual important things to note. Aperion, not Joe, will definitely have to talk more. Especially with his new communication perk. Its not fool proof but at the very least it's anti world shenanigans. I wonder if this means a dialogue before the Endbringers fight can happen? That would be wild. They were people once. Hell we might get a talk with Zion. That is how powerful this new perk is. Its up there with his best.
The woodworking shop and the snails provide interesting vectors too. Does anyone think how will give out his new Wereperson gene to anyone? I kinda want Chen to be slowly upgraded.
That does lead me to an awkward question. Can Joe straight up make a person now? He can make the body in many many ways, he can make the mind and memories and now he literally can work with souls from the many different perks. And since he would be crafting them by hand, they would be functionally perfect. A true ubermench. That would lead to some very uncomfortable questions.
All in all the small things in this chapter jumped out at me. Tiny things that can have drastic consequences later on. Like that Matrix has all the trappings of becoming a Megadei. That Fleet is slowly ramping up to adding war to his speciality. That Tetra just consumed so much enriched blood she might be halfway to becoming an OLF in reality. I wonder if Survery just dropped opsec and straight was advising heroes and rescue personal on where to go as that was basically the precedent that Joe left her last before the start of the real showdown. There are more but that's all I can speculate about right now.
Baby. Wailing.
Okay then. Anyway, actual important things to note. Aperion, not Joe, will definitely have to talk more. Especially with his new communication perk. Its not fool proof but at the very least it's anti world shenanigans. I wonder if this means a dialogue before the Endbringers fight can happen? That would be wild. They were people once. Hell we might get a talk with Zion. That is how powerful this new perk is. Its up there with his best.
The woodworking shop and the snails provide interesting vectors too. Does anyone think how will give out his new Wereperson gene to anyone? I kinda want Chen to be slowly upgraded.
That does lead me to an awkward question. Can Joe straight up make a person now? He can make the body in many many ways, he can make the mind and memories and now he literally can work with souls from the many different perks. And since he would be crafting them by hand, they would be functionally perfect. A true ubermench. That would lead to some very uncomfortable questions.
All in all the small things in this chapter jumped out at me. Tiny things that can have drastic consequences later on. Like that Matrix has all the trappings of becoming a Megadei. That Fleet is slowly ramping up to adding war to his speciality. That Tetra just consumed so much enriched blood she might be halfway to becoming an OLF in reality. I wonder if Survery just dropped opsec and straight was advising heroes and rescue personal on where to go as that was basically the precedent that Joe left her last before the start of the real showdown. There are more but that's all I can speculate about right now.
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- Location
- Up on a Hill
No, I do not believe they were. Well, depending on how you define people, I suppose you could say they've always been such. They are intelligent beings. The Endbringers were never human though.
Assuming Zion reaches the point of rampage mode here, it certainly would be interesting for him to feel compelled to stop and chat for a few brief moments. He's not really much of a chatter in any circumstance, let alone in Murder mode. Not sure how that would play out.
I'm sure Chen appreciates the power up, but I doubt he'd feel all that tempted to become a biotinker project. Nothing to do with Joe himself, it's just that biotinkering is kind of culturally reviled and the idea of having your dna rewritten on a whim is kind of spooky all on its own. Plus, we cannot forget that Chen was given those powers for his own safety, not to become a sidekick. Maybe he'll become a collaborator of sorts, but Joe doesn't have to add every stray character he comes across to his main group.
Pretty sure Joe has been able to make a person ever since he got his Mad Alchemist perk, but it is certainly true that any person he made now would be far more impressive. I wonder if such an entity would even technically qualify as human. Of course, it's doubtful Joe will ever have a strong reason to start growing people, but the circumstance that would push him to do such could be quite interesting to see.
I do not know what an OLF is, but I too am curious of the consequences of Tetra partially merging with Joe and consuming such an incredible amount of divine blood. I can't help but be reminded of the effects of the divine food Ambrosia in Percy Jackson canon. It would kill any mortal that ate it, and even demigods had to be careful with how much they consumed. Seeing as tetra hasn't burst into divine fire I'm guessing her partial merge with Joe mitigated those sorts of side effects. Once they've been separated perhaps Tetra will remain intrinsically divine and serve as even better base material for her Kamui form.
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Lightwavers
Purple Noodle
- Pronouns
- they/them
Here's what the wiki has to say about blood:
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
I just saw the new WOG that cleared up any ambiguity in the chapter and I must say I am sorry for doubting you Lord. My biggest problem with this chapter was that it felt like you were going to take away the one thing that really felt like a victory for Joe and that made the entire couple of chapters leading up to this feel really hollow and pointless. But it seems as if I took a joke of yours too literal and misjudged what you intended, so for that I really am sorry.
- Pronouns
- Dude, bro, etc...
At least you had the integrity to say it, most of the complainers probably don't. Just please, don't be like that next time. Lord has only been polite and has done their best to take criticisms to heart, and I feel like it's wrong to take advantage of that and be the way some people have been acting since this chapter came out.
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- Location
- Up on a Hill
Oh! Shower Thought! I just came up with a reason Joe would feel morally obligated to create human life!
He's about to start receiving human souls as gifts from Fallen London Hell. There's no way Joe would be willing to use them as a crafting reagent or power source, even free of the need to kill anybody. But I also can't imagine him leaving a pile of bottled souls to rot on a shelf or sending them back to Hell. Maybe he'd just release them, but that might feel wrong to do since the only afterlife Joe has confirmed exists is fiery demon torture land.
Thus, an obvious solution presents itself! Grow these unwanted souls new bodies so that they might have a second chance at life as new people. Maybe we're talking resurrection of adult personalities in adult bodies. Maybe we're talking truly new life with divinely crafted babies. He'd either have to raise them or seed them out into orphanages or something. And either way, if Joe were to involve any alchemical knowledge there's a chance he might fuck up and have an early meet up with the truth, losing an arm or other such bodily part. This could be incredible!
Alas, for now, this remains pure speculation...
He's about to start receiving human souls as gifts from Fallen London Hell. There's no way Joe would be willing to use them as a crafting reagent or power source, even free of the need to kill anybody. But I also can't imagine him leaving a pile of bottled souls to rot on a shelf or sending them back to Hell. Maybe he'd just release them, but that might feel wrong to do since the only afterlife Joe has confirmed exists is fiery demon torture land.
Thus, an obvious solution presents itself! Grow these unwanted souls new bodies so that they might have a second chance at life as new people. Maybe we're talking resurrection of adult personalities in adult bodies. Maybe we're talking truly new life with divinely crafted babies. He'd either have to raise them or seed them out into orphanages or something. And either way, if Joe were to involve any alchemical knowledge there's a chance he might fuck up and have an early meet up with the truth, losing an arm or other such bodily part. This could be incredible!
Alas, for now, this remains pure speculation...
Foxy Boxes
[Verified Box]
- Location
- England
Damn right it is. While also completely counter to your stance.
I mean, there's no sane way to read "not instantly fatal" as the stated best case outcome and think "ah, perfectly okay!"
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Soon Joe will have all he needs to make his own chapter of Space Marines.
- Location
- Germany
Alright, I wanted to thank you for clarifying your previous WOG. This does indeed put a lot of my previous worries to rest and disproves most of my assumptions.
However, I still stand by the fact that your previous WOG implied that my fears were well founded. I'm afraid that you have a very genre-savvy audience, so when we see what looks like a well known trope in effect, we tend to assume that that is the case.
As someone else has already recommended, you should feel free to adjust your schedule as needed, even if it takes longer between updates, as it would surely help prevent such misunderstandings such as when we thought that March would get away with just a slap on the wrist instead of being effectively lobotomized, or when you implied that Lung may have survived.
Nonetheless, with these new revelations the majority of the problems I had with this chapter have been neatly resolved. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to address our concerns.
I was wondering why Aperion didn't just boost Lung into orbit, or possibly a lunar impact. For that matter, before Lung gets wings, I wonder how he'd do if merely punted into the mid-Atlantic?
One of the many challenges Joe/Aperion has is the the endless choices available to him - how the heck does he select an approach (to deal with a villan) from the many powers and abilities he has? He's gotten so many in such a short time, he really hasn't had a chance to just decompress for a few days and consider options. Yeah he has cognitive acceleration when on his diamond throne, but that's probably not the same thing.
Great to see Aisha helping out, and I wonder what shape the first pair of duplicates will be in? At least they wont have Life Fibers hopelessly entwined with their bodies and internal organs. Looking forward to the next chapter/episode!
One of the many challenges Joe/Aperion has is the the endless choices available to him - how the heck does he select an approach (to deal with a villan) from the many powers and abilities he has? He's gotten so many in such a short time, he really hasn't had a chance to just decompress for a few days and consider options. Yeah he has cognitive acceleration when on his diamond throne, but that's probably not the same thing.
Great to see Aisha helping out, and I wonder what shape the first pair of duplicates will be in? At least they wont have Life Fibers hopelessly entwined with their bodies and internal organs. Looking forward to the next chapter/episode!
I know I'm just reiterating everyone else's point. But I wanted to bring up some facts about this story, regarding the over use of the ABB:
Here is a list of every fight Apareon has been in:
I may have missed an off screen Protectorate vs Empire/Merchants background fight, but we've only had 2 on screen fights that weren't ABB...
We're 708,352 words in and we've been stuck on the same 4 enemies for the MAJORITY of this novel.
Apareon's 4 enemies are: March, Bakuda, Leet, and Oni Lee. All 4 are now 'injured' but all 4 are still alive and active.
I do NOT believe the story is done with them. I believe they were intentionally left alive so they could be a part of another combination fight vs Apareon.
I would be fine with this if there was a logical reason March and Oni Lee were still alive, Apareon specifically made tech that would kill Oni Lee on sight and he HAD March DOWN ON THE GROUND DEFENSELESS, and didn't DO anything about it!
Recommendation: It you're thinking about editing this chapter, please give a reasonable explanation of why nether Joe, Joe's clone, or Fleet was able to Capture/Kill March. Give March an emergency Teleporter that she used to escape, have Oni Lee pick her up at the last minute, have Joe get hit with a "Forget Me" Bomb, ext...
I'm not going to do anything like drop the novel over a "Plot Hole" like this. I love the characters and technology and I look forward to seeing how the plot advances.
There still are a lot of conflicts for Joe to resolve:
Here is a list of every fight Apareon has been in:
- Apareon vs Uber (Saving the Undersiders while distracting Bakuda with drones)
- Apareon & Undersiders vs Bakuda (cutting off her leg and forcing her retreat)
- Apareon vs Uber & Leet (Saving Imp and attacking ABB command center)
- Apareon vs Lung (The Joke fight)
- Apareon Clone vs Oni Lee (while attacking command ABB commend center)
- Apareon vs March (Hacking ABB's accounts)
- Apareon vs Dragon (Hacking War)
- Apareon vs ABB's conscripted Army & Gang Members
- Apareon vs March & Bakuda (Attempting to find and break into their headquarters)
- Apareon vs March & Oni Lee (The fight he lost)
- Apareon & Dragon vs Lung (This last battle)
- Undersiders vs Wards
- ABB's Gang Members vs Garmet
- March vs Wards (attempted to get to Flechette at the art museum)
- Uber, Bakuda, and Oni Lee vs Protectorate (when they copied Armsmaster's tech)
- Imp vs ABB's head quarters
- Uber & Leet vs Garden People
I may have missed an off screen Protectorate vs Empire/Merchants background fight, but we've only had 2 on screen fights that weren't ABB...
We're 708,352 words in and we've been stuck on the same 4 enemies for the MAJORITY of this novel.
Apareon's 4 enemies are: March, Bakuda, Leet, and Oni Lee. All 4 are now 'injured' but all 4 are still alive and active.
I do NOT believe the story is done with them. I believe they were intentionally left alive so they could be a part of another combination fight vs Apareon.
I would be fine with this if there was a logical reason March and Oni Lee were still alive, Apareon specifically made tech that would kill Oni Lee on sight and he HAD March DOWN ON THE GROUND DEFENSELESS, and didn't DO anything about it!
Recommendation: It you're thinking about editing this chapter, please give a reasonable explanation of why nether Joe, Joe's clone, or Fleet was able to Capture/Kill March. Give March an emergency Teleporter that she used to escape, have Oni Lee pick her up at the last minute, have Joe get hit with a "Forget Me" Bomb, ext...
I'm not going to do anything like drop the novel over a "Plot Hole" like this. I love the characters and technology and I look forward to seeing how the plot advances.
There still are a lot of conflicts for Joe to resolve:
- The city is arming itself to the teeth.
- S-Class threats like the S9, Endbringers, Nillbog, Ext
- The Travelers and Undersider's situation
- The Case-53s situation
- Interacting with Accord
- Finishing Sphere's work:
- Building self-recursive Tinker Tech hospitals
- City building
- Space Exploration
- Providing Powers to regular people
- Scion
- The Shard Network after Scion is defeated
- All the potentially horrible things that could escape from Joe's Workshop
- All the potentially horrible things Thinkers and Tinkers could recreate from Joe's Tech and Magic
- The PTR's response to Apareon's wet ware and AI's
- Joe's family life. Joe starting a real relationship of his own