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Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

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289. Payment
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    • AN: I think even less highly of this chapter than the previous one, but I am sick and tired of this arc, so I'm just going to blow through this and get through to the next arc. So just bare with me here.

    "So, finished at last, young one?"

    Most people would be surprised when they were summoned via a portal to the realm of a Random Omnipotent Being. At this point, I was way beyond most people, so it hardly surprised me. The gaggle of people who I had been surviving on the ARK with, aside from Vivian? Not so much - even if they were used to portal by now, the fact one just emerged from thin air surprised them.

    That probably explained why we were mostly alone in this room we had ended up in, with myself, Vivian, and Celm being the only ones of note here.

    "Yeah, I am. And I think I need to be more consideratevi about gaccepting offers from you in the future."

    "So it seems you are learning to think before you act. Good. Though a bit late - most learn that when they are quite a bit younger than you."

    Ha. Ha. Ha. "I'm stubborn. Takes a while for me to learn lessons I don't like."

    "So it seems. As is, you have completed the task I request you finish. Now, then, comes your reward."

    "From you or the, ahem, client?"

    "The client."

    Moments later, another portal opened, and out stepped a figure I'd best describe as a young business man - green eyes, black hair with platinum streaks, otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Nice suit, too.

    "So, you are the one who solved this mess for me?"

    Were you trying to sound rude? "Uh, yeah, I am."

    "I see. Apologies - I meant no disrespect. You may refer to me as Kadesh, and thank you for your assistance."

    "You're welcome. Why'd you make the ARK so crazy, though? And who decided to throw extra, ahem, 'variables' into your experiment? Jealous friends? A jilted lover-"

    "Please shut up."

    The words were not spoken with malice, but somehow I knew they were intended to be very serious and complied. Vivian just rose an eyebrow.

    "Thank you, and to answer your question, just some bored acquaintances who wanted to mess with me. They have been reprimanded, but they also wrecked the plans of several of my other companions - they stole items my compatriots wished to use to aid or torment their own chosen...victims, I guess."

    "What kind of items did they steal."

    "Oh, stuff for jumpchains, mostly."

    ...Say what? "Huh?"

    "...You don't know what a jumpchain is?"

    "Nope."

    Five or so minutes later, and I now knew what a jumpchain was.

    Also, why did they have to get friendly ROBs?

    'Hey?!'

    'Sorry, Viv!'

    "Ahem," interrupted Kadesh. "Now that this has been clarified, may we discuss payment? Because I will be quite generous offering reparations for your assistance and all of the inconveniences you endured in dealing with this incident."

    Really?

    "Yes, really. And you should try to learn ways to hide your thoughts from others - they're too easy to read."

    I'm pretty sure my eye started twitching at that. "I see. How much are you willing to offer me?"

    "Much - a couple of my compatriots have offered their own compensation for your inconvenience."

    This was too good to be true. "What's the catch? I don't think all of them would give this out for free."

    "Not much of a catch - some of them had..have strong feelings regarding their plans being messed with."

    "You didn't answer entirely to the negative."

    Kadesh stared flatly at me for a moment, then allowed a smile to grace his face. "How good of you to notice. Yes, some of them do what compensation. The request is modest, though - merely a sample of your blood."

    Hardly a small price.

    "True. But there is no intent to use it to oppose you - merely insurance that you will not interfere with their plans any further. They are aware that you are not truly at fault here, but they want assurances."

    "I see. So, what exactly would I be receiving for compensation?"

    A list promptly flowed into existence before me. "Everything is there. I trust you will find it acceptable."

    What was on this list?

    ...Wow, that was rather tempting.

    ...Not accepting said payment would probably be an insult to those ROBs, and I didn't have any assurances they wouldn't seek a different form of compensation if I refused.

    "...I think this will be acceptable. First, though, why does some of this stuff look like it was put through a word scrambler?"

    "Can't we have some fun messing with you?"

    "...Fine."

    "So it is a deal?"

    "Yeah, I guess. I will probably regret this, but whatever."

    "Fun. Oh, and I couldn't help but notice how you seemed...intrigued when you learned about jumpchains-"

    "I have no interest in bonding with becoming an amusement to another ROB after only recently free myself from the yoke of one."

    I made sure to reassuringly put a hand on Vivian's shoulder when I said that. She bristled for a moment, but soon softened.

    "Very well. Though, I would like to offer you something from one such jumpchain free of charge."

    "Which one?"

    "War of the Worlds - something for the martians."

    "...Why?"

    "Did your son not tell you?"

    "What do you me-oh. Yeah. Good point."

    "So you accept, then?"

    "Yeah, yeah. Also, how much was your experiment messed up before and during my intervention?"

    " I believe it is now my turn to ask why?"

    "You are giving me way too much support without expectation of recompense."

    Kadesh stared at me for a moment, then sighed. "I am livid with anger at my compatriots."

    "You want to skin them alive and make a rug out of the results?"

    "Only if it left then with permanently raw skin."

    "Oh. I see."

    Note to self: Kadesh was not someone to anger.

    AN: If you say that this chapter doesn't suck, I know you are a liar. Even I will admit this chapter is bad.

    So, let me get some things stated:

    1. This arc has run on way too damn long because real life has been a pain. I don't want to work on it anymore.

    2. We were supposed to see what was on the list offered. That seemed superfluous (this chapter has had everything that isn't total padding cut out already), so I'll leave it more ambiguous.

    3. In the interest of making this story easier for new people to get into, I'm wrapping up this story in 10-15 chapters and starting a sequel. That will be a soft reboot, so you won't need to read this story to understand it.

    4. Everyone else's fates will be addressed in next chapter. I just want to get this out.

    So, read and review, I guess. This is Flameal15k, signing off.
     
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    • Interlude: Wrap Up
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    • Another Interlude Chapter, then on to the actually interesting stuff in the next arc.

    Rory watched as the tripods moved into the newly made facility, taking care to offload their tentacled crew once they were inside. Already, some were extracting blood from the strange fat creatures that were stored inside tanks, which they subsequently injected into themselves for sustenance. Contrary to what he had read, these creatures did in fact have functioning digestive tracts and immune systems, but it seemed this method was more efficient for energy acquisition.

    Just one way these being differed from the ones he had read about, in that book by H. G. Wells.

    Turning his attention to his left, the boy watched as various technologies, items, creatures, and people were moved between, with most being only transitory in their stay on the Hub. Among the most noticeable were a set of Mecha called Holons - apparently a technology his father was interested in for practical and sentimental reasons. Practical in that having mechs were useful, sentimental in that...well, mechs were awesome!

    Reaching an agreement with the natives for said technology was relatively easy - a small amount of element had apparently escaped into native world of the Holons, resulting in a element outbreak due to time dilation. The native humans had been all too happy to offer their technology in gratitude after the outbreak had been contained, and their world given ecological repair that it sorely needed. Hopefully they wouldn't see this as an excuse to go back to fighting one another, as they had been before the element incident - internecine conflicts were rather terrible.

    Rory felt cold as he pondered that thought - shouldn't kids his age be focused on things like action figures and school instead of this? But that was how it was.

    Rory watched the hurried efforts to get everything in order for a while longer. Then he decided to make a call. "Fide?"

    "Yes, young master?"

    "Do you have a list of things my dad got as payment for...well, you know?

    "Yes, sending it to you right now."

    Moments later, Rory was digging through the list of items. It was indeed a large list.

    As for the items on it...

    "...What is a jumpchain?"

    "Some kind of Choose Your Own Adventure thing that popped up in the years before your father began being a commander. Apparently the one offering payment for this job was lazy and pulled together a bunch of jumpchain items to offer as a reward."

    "Did the agreement for payment also require my dad to go on one of these jump-things?"

    "No, but he'd probably go on one anyway out of boredom. Your father has bizarre interests, if you will forgive my honesty."

    "...He does. He's probably go on one just to prove he could do so. So, what next?"

    "You mean, what does your father do next? Probably spend a few days consolidating his new gains, settle in everyone who wishes to stay here, send the rest home as he is already doing, and then find another universe to mess around in. Hopefully, her members to take you and your siblings along this time."

    "Hopefully...wait, what is that thing without eyes?"

    The eyeless giant flyer floated its way through the air, silently letting out sonar pings to navigate this strange new land. In its hands was a large piece of wood, which its toothed maw tendril was slowly shaping into a club. Nearby, five of its kin also floated, surveying their new home.

    Some creatures were also new arrivals here, and were familiar - spine backed striders and giant sprinters among them. One of the former was trying and failing to catch one of the later, whose legs managed to carry it far enough away to exhaust the strider. Others were more bizarre - distantly, the floater could sense a titanic quadruped, one with a long neck and an equally long tail. The herbivore was currently browsing from a tree, unaware and/or uncaring of the new arrivals. Perhaps this meant it was easy prey, or perhaps the creature was too dangerous to hunt. One day, the truth would be unveiled.

    Movement below turned the creature's attention downard. There, it could make out a bipedal creature, with a face vaguely similar to its own, waving at them. The meaning of the gesture was unknown, causing the floater to grip its club-to-be tighter. The sense of caution increased when the biped reached into a sac of sorts and began rumaging around. When the hand was removed, the floater was poised to strike...only to notice that the bpied was holding something. Wondering what it was, the floater allowed the two primary holes on its face to expand, and out came a pair of eyes - the floater was not, in fact, eyeless, but kept its ocular organs hidden until it needed to actually look at something. In a world filled with creatures that lacked eyes, this gave the floater's kind a disproportionate advantage, which was one reason that they were on the cusp of sapience.

    Said eyes glanced over the object in the biped's hand for a moment, after which the creature relaxed - the item in the strange one's hand was a morsel of flesh, and from the floater's favored food, no less. It was clearly meant as an offering, like for peace.

    Slowly, the Eosapien reached for the meat.

    Far away from all this hubbub, something was on the move. It resembled a kind of fish, but floated through the sky. It was called a pooka, and it was exploring its new home.


    It had been offered as payment for complications and been accepted, alongside three strange shards that looked like they had once been pieces of a spherical entity, alongside three black tetrahedral pyramids. Already, these strange objects had been sequestered away, so that they could be studied later for intergration into the technology of the one they now belonged to. Yet that did not concern the pooka - it just wanted to fly around and have fun!


    As it flew over one patch of ground, it did not notice the strange machine excavating below it, other than feeing a sense of dread for no obvious reason. It thought on that for a moment, then flew back the way it came, in search of its kin.


    As for the machine, it continued its work in silence. It knew not the entire purpose of its existence, but it knew enough:


    It had been created to oppose commanders, especially those piloted by formers humans who liked space battles and traveling at sufficient velocity.


    One of them was nearby.


    Therefore, it should destroy that human. But first it needed to build up forces.

    That was going slowly. But it could endure that wait. Victory came to the patient.
    AN: Read and Review at your leisure. This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    Character Art: Vivian Konig
  • Informational
    • Working on the next chapter, but I also decided to start trying to put together some art for this story - mostly using AI generated stuff, because I don't have the time to go take art lessons.

    Here is our first image: the visage of Vivian! Note that the eyes aren't something I have settled on, but the hair seems about right.


    View: https://imgur.com/VZZ7zer
     
  • Informational
    • 290. Beyond
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    • Ooh dear, was cleaning up after my visit to ARK quite a hassle. Getting everybody who wanted to settle in settled was just one problem. Then I had to handle everyone who wanted to leave, whether or not their universes wanted them back, and all that. Oh, and the place where all those Ancient Greek warriors and monsters came from? Yeah, the Greek Pantheon was pretty active there. They were at least willing to hear me out instead of smiting me down (note to self: get god killing weapons ASAP to have leverage in future arguments with deities. Also, need to address the issue of the MGE gods soon).

    After that, there was handling all of the dinosaurs I had tamed, and all the other ARK creatures. And all of the ones I had got from lollygagging in the universes of Jurassic World and (I think) some place called Prehistoric Kingdom. And then everything else. Including figuring out where to settle the centaurs, Minotaurs, harpies, and other mythical creatures that both they and their gods were okay with. FUUCCCCKKK!

    Also, having to deal with unenlightened cultures was very annoying.

    Eventually, though, everything was settled, and those who wanted to leave did so, while those who wanted to stay started laying down roots. As for me, I pilfered what valuable technologies I could grab as payment. These people had come from some funny places - one was a post-apocalyptic America that would give Mad Max a run for its money. I'd also decrypted a bit more stuff on the ancient progenitor war with…I think they're called CORE? Not really familiar much with Total Annihilation (if I was remembering the right setting), but since it was the precursor to Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation, it certainly had a high tech-level. Given what Celm had told me, it might even eclipse that of PA. That was…absolutely terrifying to consider. Need to find more shinies to now.

    I admit to taking a break to consolidate my gains, but only for a little while - I had too much wanderlust to rest for long.

    Though I did want to change the name of my, um, nation, but how was I supposed to do that?

    XXXXX

    A winged dinosaur creature looked at his felllows, took a deep breath, then shouted:

    "THE CREATOR HAS SENT US A PYSCHICH MESSAGE - HE WISHES TO RENAME OUR STATE THE NOCTILUS FEDERATION! WE MUST NOW BEGIN THE PROCESS OF MANIPULATING THE POPULACE SO THEY THINK THIS WAS MOTIVATED BY RULE OF DEMOCRACY!"

    "AYE!"

    XXXXX

    ….I'd figure that out later, along with why that psychic amplifier machine activated all of a sudden.

    Right now, though, I wanted to find a new universe to explore. So I started up the portal and went through.

    XXXXX

    The world on the other side was…well, it was at least liveavle, with strange Lifeforms yes, but liveable. Also, it smelled funny.

    …What we're these robots here? Why were they looking at me funny?

    ….Well, they are dead now.

    I scanned the note to figure out their identities - apparently they were called sentinels, and they guarded against those who wished to disrupt the environment. Apparently the most common disruptions came from one of four races: anomaly, Vy'keen, Gek, and Korvax..waiting, Vy'keen, Gek, Korvax, and Anomaly?

    …Were there any nearby space stations or in use spaceships to scan?

    …Apparebtly there were. Scanning now.

    ..Yep, that confirmed it, I knew where I was.

    ….So this was a game that had gone from total trash to masterpiece after a rocky start. Neat.

    Time to exploit some of it for my advantage - this universe was too big for that to piss anyone off.

    But first, one thing:

    "Fide?"

    "Yes, sir?"

    "Please summon Rory and his siblings. I have a promise to keep to them."

    "Understood, sir. Preparing safety equipment now."

    Neat.

    Now to handle a universe as…well, a family.

    XXXXX

    AN: Yes, I just went to No Man's Sky.


    View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aozqa_7PLhE

    Very shirt chapter, but needed to get the gears grinding. Again. Read and Review at your leisure! This iS Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • 291. Apprenticeship
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    • One week later

    Rory watched as the strange creature flew around, trying to make sense of the structure before it. Eventually, it found this to be impossible, and flew away, searching for things that it could comprehend.

    Well, that was one wind power plant that wasn't getting bulldozed by a random flyer.

    In the distance he could see Bianka, painting the alien sky above them, while the rest of his adoptive siblings were doing other things more to their liking.

    It was…weird to finally join their father in his visits to another universe. To help him cultivate his realm for others. To expand their domain across the cosmos. And honestly?

    It was rather fun. Plus it gave them a chance to play with Cassidy, which was always nice.

    Also, it meant that their parents had a chance to be together. And frankly, those two needed some time together - they seemed to enjoy each other's company. Rory did not want to consider if there was anything else about each other that they enjoyed - not his business or interest yet. Maybe someday, but not today.

    Expanding across the stars using a Commander was not too difficult - there were plenty of words to settle, some with biospheres, others without. Those without life were easiest to settle upon, and were solely dedicated to production of machinery and resource harvesting. Those that had biospheres were marked for usage as either nature preserves or acquisition of biological specimens, which were then bred on the worlds lacking indigenous lifeforms. This avoided the issue of introduced species, and also made it easier to preserve endangered ones. Some had already been moved back to the hub for conservation purposes, though a few just happened to be tasty.

    The natives were interesting, with all of their different values and appearances, though Rory and his siblings felt that they seemed to have less variation than expected. Also, why were there only three major races in this galaxy? Shouldn't there be more? It seemed they had an enigma to solve, though how remained a mystery.

    Eh, perhaps he could ask his father about this - he had stated that No Man's Sky was rather weird.

    ...What was his dad doing now, anyway?
    POV: Flameal15k

    As the last of the slavers' bodies had begun to cool, I gestured for their, ahem, cargo to come forward. The aliens looked unsure for a moment, but eventually, a Mantis stepped forward, after which the rest of them fell in line. I'd already gotten on the line with a Federation vessel to pick them up, but if any of them wanted to join me, well, the more the merrier!

    I'd been in this universe for a few weeks - the FTL universe, if you were wondering. Not a game I'd ever really had success with, but as Oxygen Not Included had taught me (since I had never played Dwarf Fortress), failure could indeed be fun.

    For some reason, when I'd arrived here and figured out where 'here' was, I'd expected to find out that the Federation had brought about a return to feudalism and that the Rebels were the underclass rising up, but had also decided to make aliens equal to nobles out of fear, or something like that. Yeah, I have no idea why I thought that. Weird.

    So, after I'd arrived here and gotten my bearings, I'd gotten to work trying to deal with the Rebels. Long story short, there were a lot of Rebel groups opposing the Federation, and not all of them were the absolute xenophobes. I made a point of figuring out where they lived and ignoring those areas so I could focus on the evil ones. Once the locations had been determined, I set about waging war against them, with Vivian and her forces by my side. I had no idea what exactly the Federation was like, and right now, I did not care - deal with the scum of the universe, get all the shinies I wanted, and leave was my plan. If I wanted to deal with the politics of this universe, that was for later.

    I'd set up shop on several worlds, including one with a bizarre energy reading coming from it that I had no idea the meaning of. One investigation later, it turned out that the energy came from a portal that spat out bugs the size of tanks. I recognized them as being Vek from the other big game the creators of FTL had worked on - Into the Breach. Apparently, I had found a time portal.

    With how much weird stuff that had happened to me already, this barely phased me. Though I did throw some probes through to try and collect intel on Into the Breach mechs....and maybe save a few timelines. I had tech that could interface with time, I could mess with this to my heart's content, and if I saved some doomed timelines? All the better.

    Oh, and another thing: messing around with the portal to other universes had lead me to one that was apparently locked away from the rest of multiverse, I had a guess as to what exactly it might be (Celm hadn't exactly been shy about what foes he would want locked away), but again, I was leaving this stuff for later. I wanted to be sure I was ready for any challenges I faced coming forward.

    Also, I'd gotten more job offers from Celm, but I was putting them on the back burner. I was not making the same mistake I did with ARK!

    So, overall, my stay in FTL was pretty boring - defeat rebels, kill slavers and pirates, battle the Vek, rest. Rory and Cassidy would pop in on occasion (we'd shown our adopted children - no we are not a couple - how to get here when they wanted to) to help, but for the most part, it was just us two. And that was enough.

    Somehow, I knew this would not last forever. But as long as it lasted, I would enjoy it.
    AN: This chapter took way too long to get out. But here it is. Happy Fourth of July!

    This is the beginning of the Endgame. I will end this story at Chapter 300 and then begin its sequel/soft reboot. Please enjoy!

    Read and Review at your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • 292. Calm Before the End
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    • Did you lock away any universes?"

    Celm glanced up at me, confused.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Did you make it so that there were universes I couldn't access with the portal?"

    "….Yes. A few."

    Vivian and me had been invited over for lunch – Celm's way of showing his respect toward his employees – and we'd just finished a set of courses including steak, fungi, and some kind of crustacean analogue. We were waiting for dessert to arrive, so now seemed best for chatting.

    "Could you tell me some of them?"

    "Well, the universe of Total Annihilation, for one. It took a coalition of commanders to best CORE, I will not let them have a chance at round 2. Those planes tainted by the Warp are also locked off, though in time I expect you to grow powerful enough to overcome them, after which I will rescind the protective measures."

    "Anything else?"

    "Some you are not familiar with, and the domain of the brethren moons."

    Dead Space. Interesting.

    "Good to know….wow, that feels weird."

    "How so?"

    "I'm having a pleasant conversation with a ROB. Not just that I'm having a pleasant one, but that it's pretty much normal for me now."

    "I suppose that it is a weird feeling."

    "It is," I acknowledged, taking a moment to steel myself before I asked another question.

    "Is something else on your mind?"

    "Yes: why are you so interested in containing the actions of other ROBs?"

    "Didn't I tell you-"

    "You told me why you don't want more commanders running around. But most of the jobs you have offered to me involve curtailing the influence of other Random Omnipotent Beings if I'm not cleaning up their messes. Why?"

    "That question answers itself – I hate cleaning up their messes."

    "Why do you have to be the one to-"

    "Because they make messes in my backyard."

    What?

    "Oh, trust me, I am well aware that Random Omnipotent Beings causes problems across the whole multiverse. The only reason I am opposing the ones you have noticed are because they happen to intrude upon the universes I have a stake in."

    "…How so?"

    "I have sent many self inserts on their way, but I do not like to cause too much trouble. Upheaval may occur where these individuals are sent, but I'm not in this to set the world on fire. The ones I oppose, though, will gladly wreck whole universes for shits and giggles – they'll give kids with godlike egos powers they can't or won't control, then laugh at the fires their pawns start. They'll give commanders to those who should never have them just to watch a tide of metal devour a hapless universe or five. And they always. Do. It. In. My. Domain."

    "…Oh. I see. Do they steal commanders from you as well?"

    "No – they have factory planets for that."

    What? "What?"

    "They acquired engineers from my people, used them to create entire factory worlds, and use those to build new commanders, because they do not wish to bother me and are too lazy to conjure them up with their godlike power. Those planets have whole queues for Commanders that will be inhabited with self inserts."

    "…You ever tried to attack one?"

    "No – the clientele is large enough that they could beat my organization if we launched an open attack on them. Attacking them would require you to have the backing of several Random Omnipotent Beings of your own, and unless you made agreements of some sorts – bargains, deals, wagers – that is impossible. And I do mean you as in you specifically or some other self insert – I am forgone that right long ago."

    "I see."

    "Now let me ask a question: if you were not a Commander, what would you do? As in, what would you do if Vivian had never selected you to aid my plans."

    "…Eh, probably play video games, just barely squeak through college, struggle for a while to find a job until I actually got one, and write crappy fanfics.

    "Do you truly think that lowly of yourself?"

    "No, but I have to know my limits."

    "Indeed. So, what are you trying to do now?"

    "Figure out magic that isn't psychic powers. Vivian's given me some pointers, and I have some understanding of the Orokin Void, but I want more. There's only so much superior firepower can do, especially if an opponent ignores anything technological I can throw at them."

    "I see. Well, good luck then."
    Distant world, Unknown Universe

    Hastily, the couriers and smiths worked to prepare the machine. Arrays were aligned, cables were attached, and power sources activated. In the distance, the steel hunters were already fighting their way toward the device, hoping to ensure that its cries were forever silenced. Yet even if a call for aid was sent forth, the odds of victory were not certain – machine and magic must be used in equal measure to win this fight.

    The steel hunters had just breached the outer walls when the machine finally awakened. Hastily, the couriers transcribed all that the scribes had provided them into the language of the thinking machine, telling it where it should transmit the message to have the highest chance of an answer. The mid walls had been breached by the time this was done, while the innermost ones were beginning to shake when the message finally started transmitting.

    The hunters broke in only moments too late to stop the signal, while those who had sent it out had managed to flee underground. They knew that the steel hunters would likely still find them, but they had accomplished their mission to call for help. Now, they had to hope it would be received and answered.
    Fide had been surprised when the scanners had picked up a message traveling the spaces between universes. Strangely, it was in progenitor code, and seemed to be a plea for help. So, after a moment of consideration, she answered it.

    "Hello?"

    "Attention: By order of the Treaty of Algoron, the Ironbreaker Directive has been authorized. Any who can hear this signal are asked to immediately send aid. Coordinates to the target universe and location within said universe are enclosed."

    …Well, time to send this up to Flame.
    AN: And so the stage is set for the final confrontation of this story.


    Read and Review at your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
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    • Mithrill said:
    The ending of the current one. To be more precise, from my experience usually SIs go to new universes on their own decision and I don't remember ever seeing a situation where one would be asked to come in from the inside, so to speak.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I see, thank you.

    Let's just say that the reason he's being invited is going to be relevant to why we're in the final arc before the sequel/soft reboot.
     
    293. Herald of the End
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    • I stared at the body, feelings of apprehension slowly growing. "So," I asked, "does this work?"

    "Yes, it does," was the reply…or should I say my reply.

    You know, it would seem obvious to try this strategy, but I'd thought of it until now – creating multiple human bodies so that I could divert some to interacting with others while my giant computer mind focused on other tasks.

    Also, fun fact, I'd sent one of those bodies to one of the universes I'd visited in my mad dash after visiting the world of Horizon Zero Dawn – apparently that universe represented Infinity Blade of all things – and found out that the time desynchronization didn't affect me that much. Or at all – weeks had passed in that world where only days had passed in the hub, but so far I wasn't going mad. Neat.

    "Uh, dad?"

    Wait, when had Rory walked into the room? "What, son?"

    "I just got a transmission that was directed to you."

    "From where?"

    "Another universe."

    What? "Wait, what?"

    "Do you want to hear it n-"

    "Yes."

    Wordlessly, my son-through-bizarre-means relayed the message through the room's speakers.

    ….What the hell was the Treaty of Algoron? And what is the Ironbreaker Directive?"

    "I'm sorry, but I cannot fully answer that queston?"

    Seriously? "Where have you been, miss PA-voice?"

    "I am a support artificial intelligence and would like a name, thank you very much. And I have simply not been needed yet – you did suppress my ability to send alerts unless they were urgent, didn't you?"

    …Yeah, I did. "Fine. What can you tell me?"

    "The Treaty of Algoron, or rather its signing, marked the end of the Progenitor-Core War, and was signed shortly after CORE was permanently sealed within its home universe. Its terms would specify mutual defense pacts that would occur going forward to prevent something like CORE's rampage across existence from ever happening again. Before you ask, the treaty is not exclusive to the CORE empire – other threats were included in the writing, such as the Universal Union, the Filth, and in some instances, the entities known as Unicron and Ultron."

    Huh, good to know. "So the Ironbreaker Directive is what is classified?"

    "Correct. I am under orders to suppress any efforts to look into its origin, and this includes efforts to remove those orders. Don't try to mess with me there – it will end in failure."

    "Were these orders given by Celempheros?"

    "Him and others – he wasn't the sole individual to assist in the creation of the technology I am a product of, but he does seem to be the sole individual of the group still in existence. That he wed and bred with a Xziphid was a surprise, but it is now history, and I do not care much for it."

    How that last bit was relevant to this conversation eluded me (and I never did find any relevance going forward), so I pressed onward in my questioning. "Will you prevent me from following through with the Directive?"

    "No. But do consider the risks of investigating something you know next to nothing about, Commander. Especially if you are invited – there may be a saying among humans about looking a gift horse in the mouth, but it does not apply here, beyond the obvious lack of equine organisms.

    I felt like this was a setup for a joke of some kind, but the other shoe never dropped. Oh well. Now I had to consider things.

    On the one hand, I had no idea where this universe was. The fact someone native to it was asking a commander to come to them indicated it was a place that had threats that merited access to a BESREoW for their removal, so if I visited it, I would need to be on my toes.

    On the other hand, any technology I gained from this universe would probably be highly useful since it came from something that could actually challenge me. So that would be a plus.

    There was also possibility that I was massively overthinking things and that this would be way easier than I was expecting, but I'd long learned that was a fool's way of thinking – it wasn't always wrong, but that didn't mean I should assume it would be true.

    Taking a momentary break from my thoughts, I looked over some of the more recent things I'd acquired from some smaller travels across the multiverse – what, you thought I showed you all everything? Gotcha!

    Yeah, I have left out a few of my escapades. I'd visited plenty of worlds, some of which just naturally repelled my commander, forcing me to manage things on foot there. One of them had several different worlds, including a frozen one occupied by rat people, a desert one occupied by what I would describe as radiation-wielding Neanderthals and ruled by a four-armed immortal named Ezlan Nui, a swamp world ruled by bugs that were slowly assimilating the other natives, which were elves of all things, and finally a jungle world ruled by satyr people called the Pan. Apparently, this world was all the home of the strange dwarves I encountered in my race against those three machines – the people were called the Krell, by the way. Apparently, they knew of the Pan. I'd tried to offer aid, but Ezlan and some of the rat people had agreed – the others had been more willing to attack me. Though I had managed to save a population of the swamp elves, who were living peacefully on the hub. The Asur and Azrai that had moved in from the Repository were intrigued by the new arrivals, while the Dawi from the Repository just ignored them – no grudges to be settled there.

    Funny thing – I had encountered multiple fantasy races from that universe, but I still hadn't magic, or at least a way to teach it. Though with how much science I was throwing at that problem, I was pretty sure I'd reach an answer to that soon.

    Now back to the problem of the Ironbreaker Directive…eh, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    XxXxX

    At the site of the portal annex, I had an army of machines standing by, waiting for things to go wrong. IF this did go wrong, a hail of bullets, lasers, and plasma would greet any intruders to my domain, after which we could examine their corpses.

    I'd sent a return message saying that I would honor that protocol and open a gateway to their universe. Whoever had sent me the message had acquiesced, only asking that I arrange a time when I would do so in advance, for they had many that needed medical attention and food, and thus had hoped I would be willing to take on some refugees. Or rather, a lot of refugees. I had accepted, of course – bleeding hearts had their perks, especially for diplomacy. Such was it that I had a field hospital set near the annex for all those who needed treatment.

    Messaging back and forth between our worlds confirmed that time was synched up, so I didn't have to worry about them arriving earlier or later than expected. So, as the seconds to their arrival ticked down, and various observers I'd brought along waited with baited breath, I wondered what would happen next, even as the portal whirred to life – would they come in honesty, bringing with them refugees in need of aid? Would them come in deceit, carrying plagues and weapons? Would they…

    Would they….

    …Okay, of all the outcomes I had considered, a bunch of people in medieval garb being chased by cybernetic creatures where, to quote Vahlen of XCOM, "it's difficult to tell where the flesh ends and the mechanical begins".

    Though they didn't last long against my forces, which left the retreating medieval people to do some explaining.

    "Ahem," I said, clearing my throat and projecting the sound through a nearby robot. "To whom do I owe welcome?"

    "Ah, yes," began one of the figures – a noble. "My apologies – I am Lord Lionel Belos, representing the alliance of the kingdoms of Aramon, Veruna, Taros, Zhon, and Mendalos. I presume you are in charge here?"

    "I am."

    "Good. Then could I request your help in repelling those…monsters?"

    Before I could even begin to answer, that Planetary Annihilation AI lady I had been talking to earlier decided to speak up. "On one condition."

    "Name your price now and we may discuss it."

    "Our aid for your alliance's knowledge of the arcane."

    …What? "Huh?"

    "You have been seeking to wield the might of magic. Perhaps now you have a chance. And trust me, you'll need it for what lies beyond."

    XxXxX

    She was right, by the way.

    And I really should have paid attention to those kingdoms that were named – would have told me what I was in for.

    XxXxX

    AN: We're almost in the meat of the end game now.
    Read and Review at your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • 294. The Beginning of the End
  • Threadmarks
    • I watched, carefully, as the flame flittered about, careful to keep it safe from breezes that would snuff it out. In the absence of this danger, it slowly began to expand and grow.

    Normally, this sight wouldn't be that unique, except that the flame wasn't coming from a machine, or a match – it was floating between my hands. And it wasn't related to psychic powers, or the orokin void, or anything else I had so far – this was something I had learned through the teachings of those who had asked for my aid. Invoking an agreement that I knew nothing about, this had been all they offered, in no small part because my own subordinates decided it was enough. Frankly, I felt content with this – technically, they had offered to aid me in the future, but that was of far lesser concern than these secrets. Plus, this path opened new opportunities for my own arcane research – I was fairly certain that if I just kept applying science to my own ways of studying the universe, I'd end up discovering a new magic system. Magic was its own source of power, so if you figured out a way to sense it, you could figure out how to master it. I hoped.

    So far, I had only been taught the basics, and this had been in exchange for dealing with those cybernetic monsters plaguing the world these people had come from. There were….so many different types of them – fliers, crawlers, even swimming creatures were part of their ranks. As for the forms they came in, there were reptiles, amphibians, birds, and even worms among their numbers. It was bizarre to see some many of them, and left me worried as to their source, for who would create such a myriad of entities solely to slaughter those so far below them on the technological ladder? It just seemed…well, wasteful and petty. Not that I was one to talk – I would certainly use that kind of power to deal with an evil kingdom. Or an evil space empire. Or Royal Makai.

    Being a part of a machine network also meant that I'd had plenty of time to multitask, and it had allowed me to do….quite a few things while honing my skills in this magic. I'd made, what, five dinosaur parks in alternate universes, created several additional planets to base my forces on, made progress in getting everyone I'd met on the ARK home (yeah, hadn't got all of them back before this had started, and generally just done stuff to assist the nuts and bolts of my space empire – yeah, calling it anything but that was just semantics. I was an emperor in all but name. Also, apparently there was an ongoing vote to try and change the name of said group, which I was doing little to interfere with. The original name I had chosen for my forces was embarrassing, and they could probably decide on a better one.

    Oh, right, all of that is boring. You must want to know about what happened on the other side of the portal.

    XxXxX

    Once I'd settled on all of the forces I was going to send through the portal (including getting volunteers from my resident Warhammer factions who wanted glory), I'd had the new arrivals clear away from the annex and started sending bots and troops through. I expected a large 'welcome' force and was not disappointed here – many of the cybernetic monsters had been lying in wait, obviously hoping to ambush me. They died before a single casualty could be inflicted. What followed afterwards was a veritable storm of bloodshed, wile simultaneously being a curb-stomp in my favor. Packs of the beasts crawled forth from their warrens to assail my forces, only to die in droves. Credit to them, they never game up even in the face of certain death -though perhaps that wasn't necessarily a good thing. That just spoke of how determined their creators had been to achieve whatever goals they had.

    Vivian and me quickly established a beachhead, with our forces throwing down factories and nest buildings to give our forces means to replenish any losses they took. Those were essentially nil, but hey, prepare for everything. We also made sure to send out humanitarian forces to aid those of the five nations who had asked our aid, which assured them that they hadn't forgotten about us. It also meant we had a chance to show off all the forces we had under our command, which ranged from Tenno to Fanged Wyverns to Predator Tanks and…were those Valyrian Dragons with Valyrian riders? I needed to ask Vivian after the action was over for clarification (they were). Don't get me started on the lizardmen, gorgons, harpies, and other critters we had aiding us as well.

    Advancing from our homebase proved to be a trivial affair, and soon we were pushing the invaders back on all fronts, casualties negligible if even existent. Care was taken to preserve settlements and the environment, but since we had nanobots that could just eat the enemy, that wasn't too hard to accomplish. All efforts to halt our unified advance were ineffective and repulsed with laughable ease, until eventually the enemy was being forced all the way back to their point of entry – a portal of some sort. A structure had been built around said portal, alongside a base, which left me with a minor sense of alarm, but that was dulled when I learned that said base was slowly being demolished – it seemed that our foes wished to flee the field. We made a point to hurry up after that – I didn't want to take the chance that they had managed to steal some tiny sample of either of our forces and would use it to reverse engineer technology to defeat us.

    In hindsight, I think resting a little bit would have been the better option – we never did find any remnants of our forces in that base. And it would not have mattered if we did.

    XxXxX

    "So, I know Adeline has Darcsen and Valkyrur blood in her veins. Does she also have Valyrian blood in there?"

    Vivian glanced at me, not really surprised. "Guess the dragons and their riders gave it away, huh?"

    "They did."

    "Figures. To answer your question, yes, she is part Valyrian. I am as well, to a ridiculously watered down degree."

    Now that was an interesting detail. "How'd your dad get their blood in his veins?"

    "Supposedly, a monstrous group of twisted scientists found groups of the three ethnicities while examining magic portals between worlds. They captured and enslaved them and used them for all kinds of wacky science projects, including some eugenics stuff, because why not do something horribly evil for science? And yes, that was rhetorical. My dad's ancestors freed the captured groups, and in return they swore allegiance to his people. Or so the story goes. I'm not sure what really went down all those generations ago. Besides, any blood relation we have is very diluted at this point."

    "True. What's her last name?"

    "Arnaeros", spoke the girl in question over the comms. Guess she had been listening in on us.

    "I see. Nice name."

    "Thanks. Listen, I'm up here with Pyrescale-"

    "Your dragon, I assume?"

    "-yes, and I am seeing most of the enemy base destroyed and abandoned. All that's left is one..robot, I think, alongside a facility sustaining the portal. It looks rather mechanical."

    Oh, joy. "Well, that was what we were expecting. Now…Do whatever Vivian tells you. I'm not your boss…lord…whatever she is to you."

    "That would be sovereign. What is your command, my lady?'

    "Return to us."

    "On it."

    She said that just as we crested over a hill that finally gave me a good look at our foes, since I'd refrained from sending in aerial scouts for this operation. Focusing my sight through land scout, I looked at the portal and its sole defender and…and..

    I blinked. Once. Twice. Three Times.

    The sight didn't change.

    No.

    No no.

    NO NO NO!

    JUST HOW WAS THAT-wait. Who had asked me for help again?

    …Yeah. That checked out. I really should have thought more about those names.

    Also, FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!

    "What is with you?"

    I glanced at Vivian for a moment, then pulled her over and showed her my feeds. She blanched.

    That was probably the appropriate response to seeing a CORE Fabber.

    XxXxX

    AN: I bet no one saw that coming. And now the end begins.

    Read and Review at your leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Note on Indefinite Hiatus due to Pending Reboot + Outline of what would have happened Elbert
  • Informational
    • Alright, so, I mentioned how I was working on a reboot for this story, right?

    I'm bumping that up in my list of priorities and planning to get it out by the end of this week. Working on the last five chapters for this story is not going anywhere.

    Note that I am not completely canceling this - I do want to finish up everything. But this story and it's reboot go such…different places that I want to get that story started before I wrap up this one.

    But I think it's only fair that I tell you how things would turn out, since the reboot is technically also the sequel to this story.

    Beware spoilers.

    Flame, Vivian, and their forces would pursue the CORE commander to the TA universe, where they arrive just as the Core Contingency is finishing. Their actions would ensure ARM stops Core, only for it to turn out that the Commander our heroes were chasing is still active and manages to steal both the designs for the multiverse portal and coordinates to the earlier mentioned universe with a commander factory.

    Flame and Vivian would've spent a few moments (expanded to several hours via perspective manipulation) to debate on what to do, since the universe is a focus area for multiple ROBs. They ultimately decide to see how many of Vivian's coworkers would be willing to make agreements with them for protection on exchange for favors so that they can get away with this, though said coworkers all seem hesitant to offer backing.

    The two commanders would finally venture into the Commander Factory Universe, only to get shunted out by the local defenses, which have the ability to force any unwanted arrivals back into their home universe. Due to getting lucky and getting an underground engineer bot onto the planet, they eventually disable the system by building an underground base and hacking the network. This promptly causes about five other SI commanders to suddenly appear - Vivian's coworkers were hesitant to offer help because they knew this was going to happen and this felt that Flame and Vivian didn't need their help.

    A massive melee commences as Flame and Vivian work both to destroy the Core Commander (which hacked the systems to create more of itself) while keeping the other commanders from fighting. The CORE commander proves a difficult opponent, having make a base surrounded with turret versions of the D-Gun, but eventually it falls and all of its new commanders are destroyed. It's final gambit to stop our heroes, though. Is to modify and reactivate the defense systems for the factory planet, causing them to not shift invaders back to their he universes, but instead open up portals to other universes in the Incader's home dimension (basically, what happened during the Monster Hunter/Horizon: Zero Dawn arc, but upscaled). This DOES tick-off a bunch of ROBs, who do seek recompense from our heroes. The final chapter would've involved deciding what the acceptable terms would be, along with Flame finally making a breakthrough with the Artifacts and learning the name of their creators.

    There would be a couple of epilogue chapters after that, mostly detailing some of the agreements Flame and Vivian had to make and explanations as to why some characters who won't appear at all in the soft reboot (or at least appear more sparingly (the two big ones would be Flame's adoptive kids going to a psychic school and the army assembled of his foes imploding after fighting a different force). Two of the agreements he would have to endure are fixing some issues in certain worlds without any of his other abilities and technologies (which is made obvious in the narration as a thinly veiled excuse to force him onto a a jumpchain because the ones making the demand were bored) and to write a bunch of stories for them (with the obvious implication these stories will be reality warped into existence for the amusement of the ROBs reading them). The very last epilogue chapter would be a set up for wherever Flame heads next, before a perspective shift to focus on an unknown civilization finding one of the artifacts Flame has found..and then be attacked by the creators of said artifacts. It would also set up a few other things I wanted to use as springboards for the future of this story - biggest one being Warframe related. When I wrote the Warframe chapters of this story, the most recent update for Warframe was The Sacrifice and the Chimera prologue. Or maybe it was Fortuna. Regardless, I assumed Ballas was more sympathetic than he really is/was, so Flame ended up taking pity on him. To keep it brief, the final scene with Ballas would reveal that he is simply biding his time to find a new chance for power (and also grumbling that all of his former sentient minions now see to like Flame too much to make a move against him without more manipulation than he wants.-

    So, there's that. A few things I want to get out of the way for the reboot (technically spoilers, but I don't care anymore):

    1. Everything that happened in this story will have happened in the Reboot, but it will be broad strokes stuff.
    2. Vivian's nature as a Progenitor-Xziphid-Human hybrid is going to be a spoiler. PLEASE DO NOT TELL ANY. EW READERS ABOUT IT UNTIL I GET THERE. Her being Flame's original ROB will be a MASSIVE spoiler as well, so don't tell anyone that either.-
    3. The first universe visited will be Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, with some elements of the Paradox mod. Also, expects jokes about the laughable amounts of fan service in CnC RA 3.
    4. Three of the universes Flame will have handled offscreen in between the end of this story and its soft reboot are Remnant II, The Eternal Cylinder, and Code Vein. He would also have concurrent operations in the universes of Girls Frontline and Punishing Grey Raven.
    4a. GFL's involvement will be, in the reboot, to handle an "existing obligation" for Vivian - I'm justifying some of the stuff Flame does that isn't commander related as "Vivian defected to you, so you now inherit her responsibilities if she won't complete them herself).
    5. Off topic, but if you want to know anymore stuff regarding how things would turn out, asking on either my discord (check my signature) or the PASI discord (ask @TCGM )

    Thanks for everyone who last this long. Hope to get the reboot out this week!
     
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