Year 2455

Ripley

The Civil War had always been ancient history to me, but I'd never really considered what history was until now. It was a bedrock upon which the present was built upon, events from decades ago which you couldn't even remember except in ramblings from those older than you truly did have profound effects on the present. I'd always been so focused on the here-and-now, that things were only terrible because of those who I saw in the headlines, not in the textbooks.

Everything had it's reasons. Yuzhou had always intended for New California to be its front in attacking the MALtitans, and SynTec was eager to steal their influence away. In truth, the Civil War's real purpose was only ever to exchange hands of who controlled the city, the people were an after thought.

Floridians were assimilated, and grew thankful to SynTec for overthrowing those who had massacred them. In time, they'd become Californians and be oppressed under the system all the same. For those who rejected it, crime had blossomed since the earthquake as the harsh reality of things came known.

Everything was blamed on the old system, and the new wasn't any better, but it was coated under a new paint. Everyone was given their stars, Krishav was hailed a hero, Free California had young Johan Trask mediating their new relations with SynTec as he became a part of the government, and that company had the perfect puppet in the same man.

"They were patient, waiting until the Fifth Swarm for him to be Mayor." The Bladefather said as we walked, it was deep in the belly of a shady crime district not too far from here, within the Sixth Precinct.

"Only other person with half the clout is Diana's father." I grimaced, not too keen on either choice. "But what I want to know is… The Uncaged, how on earth did things end up with Skeleton, Soul Killer, and…"

"Dogwhistler?" The Bladefather continued.

"You're dead, right?" I wanted to make sure.

"I am." He didn't look particularly bad about it.

"She's my girlfriend, Mirage." I revealed.

The Bladefather raised an eyebrow. "How curious of a development…"

"But I still want to know, you… Missy, my grandfather. You all met The Sin?"

"At different points in our lives." He said.

"And Missy was the one who… emboldened you into assassinating the mayor, fuck… she was a part of it?" I genuinely struggled to fathom it, someone killing a person that high up in power, sparking chains of reactions that unsettled everything. And Missy was a crucial component of that, did Diamante know?

Even Elsa didn't… and she was a part of The Uncaged.

The Bladefather looked thoughtful. "You'll know soon enough."

We stopped at a door in an alleyway. He opened it, leading me into a new memory of a crooked bar that was entirely emptied out, save for Missy as a bartender for a man in a bulky suit of gray steel with golden accents, a huge hammer resting at his side. My heart stopped, briefly taken aback at the man's Shardware.

It was… mostly non-invasive, surface level work that barely delved into your muscles, but it was astoundingly impressive in technicality, brimming with genius at every corner of the tech. He had eyes like mine now, a bronze with a hint of steel in them. My grandfather, as the Hammersmith. His face was fairly unassuming, black hair tied back in a bun and a few wrinkles on his skin. It seemed like unlike others, he wasn't into intense modification.

Yet, he radiated with an air of… magnificence. Missy smiled as the door opened, not to us, but to the younger version of the Bladefather who just walked in. "If it isn't Mr. Muramasa himself."

The Bladefather was covered in blood, his mask sinking into his flesh as he took a seat next to my grandfather. "It's been a while, Alberich."

"Twenty long years, none of which I regret." My grandfather raised a bottle. "And both of you are still looking like the old grouches I knew."

Missy smirked. "You're older than forty now."

"And you're now… what, a century old, madamoiselle?" My grandfather chuckled.

"Ha, if only Europe taught you not to try and guess a woman's age. I'm younger." Missy filled his glass. "You've got a lot of filling us up to do, you made it to all the continents yet?"

"Except Antarctica." My grandfather scowled. "I really tried, but the Founders have that place on lock down, it's the only place where the MAL are practically non-existent, they only let super rich people there."

"Yet, you're Gold." The Bladefather pointed out. "I'd imagine that took quite a bit to work towards, with no Swarm to feed you."

By work, I knew he was referring to the shadier kind. My grandfather just laughed it off. "Oh, my wife was always calling me a workaholic."

"Was?" The Bladefather's gaze shifted.

"She passed away." My grandfather said, his lips thinning. "She… was Tier IV, a Mutant. She… died during childbirth."

Both Missy and The Bladefather's gaze widened at that, not entirely out of empathy… even I was stunned by the revelation that my grandmother died giving birth. It was a cruel thought, but… it was impossible for Evolved humans to even have children.

"I'm sorry for your loss, and I don't mean to come off as insensitive, Al…" Missy rubbed his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

"I know what you're both thinking, and truthfully, it's the only reason I've come back." He grabbed his hair. "I… we did it, figured out a way for both of us to have a child. She was… a part of The Sin's scheme, for me."

He let out a bitter chuckle. "You guys know about the war between Polaris and New Anatolia, right?"

"Only reason why my grandmother couldn't get us any help for the Earthquake." Missy sighed.

"I was part of it, well… not directly, it's complicated. Avoided war here only to end up in another conflict elsewhere, I met Euriel there. She was brilliant beyond all the stars in the sky, a fighter for what she believed in. We were part of The Uncaged coalition, just freedom fighters who had enough of SynTec and… well, they were scarred by The Mother. Not too easy to figure out why I could relate?"

Both of them nodded at Al as he continued. "Yeah, we were in Polaris when it got… well, annexed into New Anatolia. Left soon after, a bit of a world tour I suppose as we just… learned and fought."

"I've seen your bounty." The Bladefather took a drink that had long been poured by Missy. "One Billion is pushing it, don't you think?"

"SynTec really does not like me." He said, mildly amused. "Mostly, our entire purpose there was to research… Hybridism experiments done by SynTec. They kept on referencing work done back in The Gulf, a Subject-K who was capable of inciting Parasytism in SIM Adapters."

His gaze landed on The Bladefather. "Back in the camp, you helped a woman exhibiting all the signs of her Mutation."

"I did."

"And now I'm hearing rumors of something called… The Revenant."

"We're working with Jacob Grazhe to ensure she remains… unimpeded in her research." The Bladefather explained.

"Yeah?" My grandfather's grip over his bottle tightened, it began to crack yet refused to shatter. "I figured out why the corporations want to make hybrids."

"You have?" Missy leaned over the barstand.

"I'm not done with my story." My grandfather shook his head. "The Sin… all he wanted was for us to get an idea of what was going on, but… it was more than that. When we found out about Hybrids, about the potential for a human to be so… in tune with Warp Energy, me and Euriel thought that maybe… it would help us have a child."

"You sought to make your child a Hybrid?" The Bladefather scoffed.

"No." My grandfather let go off the glass, it fell according to the cracks that had been made many seconds ago but never released. "We tried making Euriel one… we tried… to make her independent of the Implant inside her."

"Did…" Missy held herself from asking more, but Alberich nodded.

"We figured out how to do it. Turns out it requires a lot of Implants to be independent of one, but… yeah, I figured it out. Hybrids, at the core of it, are deeply connected to Aether without a medium such as an Implant that regulates it — they can harness it from the world itself… at a level that's frankly… terrifying. From what I saw, it's the same as being 100% compatible to your Implant. Where you and the Implant are the same thing, in a way… you're a human MAL."

"So then you're saying… you raised her Compatibility to a hundred percent?" The Bladefather asked.

"I did." He nodded. "And it killed her. She gestated my daughter in the span of a week thanks to her Mutations, and everyday she became… more lost."

"I'm sorry for your loss. But your daughter?"

"Alive and completely human." Alberich said, frankly relieved. "Except… during her genetic profiling, I noticed one thing."

"What?" Missy asked.

"The Founder-Gene. She has it." Alberich sighed into his hands. "Which means they're inextricably linked, Hybridism, the Founder Genes… Tier V and beyond. I don't know, yet. And I feel like… I'm being used by The Sin to get to it."

As I looked at the older incarnation of the Bladefather, my thoughts running in circles, I realized this was the real memory he'd wanted me to see all along. "If my mom has it… then I have it too?"

"Centuries in the making — The Sin's machinations." The Bladefather looked just as conflicted as I was. "We're all pawns to the works of Gods who've been manipulating us for centuries, yet… even the Gods have their Sins."

I looked back at my grandfather, who had a pleading look towards the other two. "The guy hasn't talked to me in years, but… he lingers in the back of my head. I can feel him, planning my every step and… that's only possible if he's working with The Allseeing even when his goal is to eliminate the Titans."

Missy frowned. "I suspected as much."

The Bladefather sighed. "He has not yet spoken to me."

"Good." My grandfather declared. "But I doubt that means you aren't a part of their schemes, this whole idea of taking down the Founders and the Titans… I don't think it's a bad thing. And I'm more than willing to be the price for it, but…"

He took a deep breath, turning his head to a door on the side. "Kid!"

The door opened up, almost nervously, and out came a small metallic girl — her body pale steel and petite, two knotted pigtails of wires coiled from behind her head. She was sheepish in his demeanor, walking slowly with something held in her hands.

Someone. A baby… my mother.

She silently lifted my mother's infant form up to my grandfather, who held her tenderly. "But I can't let Isabel be involved in any of this, what she has… I'm trusting you both with this secret. To not use it against her, against me. But to be aware of what you're working towards with The Sin. Because as much as I hate it, I'm still probably going to work towards it myself…"

He looked pained. "There will come a time when I leave, when I can't protect her, when I need you both to… pretend like she doesn't exist. So she can live and struggle in a world where she's not a part of any of this, can you promise me that? That you will never get involved."

The Bladefather and Missy shared a look with each other, and nodded. It was honest, it was respectful towards my grandfather, and it was…

A complete and utter lie.

I saw as this younger Bladefather left the bar, sitting in a car opposite none other than an Emily Kaisel. I watched as he revealed everything my grandfather entrusted to him, except about my mother's existence, as Soul Killer absorbed that knowledge gleefully, growing excited. They'd always wanted to know what was the reason of their birth.

Then The Bladefather asked her a question. "Can you do it, can you make other Hybrids?"

"None other than this body resembling Emily Kaisel." The Revenant smiled, amused. "Even then, it's unstable… while it may be a Hybrid… instead of freely connecting to Aether as a whole, she's connected to me."

Kaisel bit her thumb, drawing blood. "But you're a carrier of The Founder Gene… and you wield a portion of my power."

"You know what happens when I wield it." Every stroke of the Muramasa blade invoked upon the power of the Titans, it was an object of vehement malice that eroded him. "Even containing it within me… has…"

"Being Evolved with a CyberGene certainly has it's weaknesses, along with the merits." Kaisel chuckled. "How often have you fed yourself?"

"Not enough." The Bladefather responded, for him to truly command this blade would require him to massacre daily… I could feel it's need for bloodlust like my own. "I fear it will… devour me, first."

Taking a deep breath, the Bladefather thought long and hard about his friend, my Grandfather. He'd witnessed the man grow up, known what ideals he strove for, they weren't so different from his own. They'd both been failed by the ones who promised this world's safety, and both were determined to change things as they were.

And yet, a child had momentarily unravelled him.

And at the same time, what had grown in Alberich's eyes was a resolve, a need to make things right for the future of his daughter. From a logical standpoint, The Bladefather knew he would never reach Tier V — not until the next Swarm began, and his mind wouldn't last until then. It wouldn't survive the required usage to gather such materials… unless he cleaved a part of his need.

An heir. He required one, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he had the perfect child to follow him.

And thus, a Dynasty was born.

"You fucking bastard." I held back my rage at the Bladefather, utterly in disbelief at what had transpired. "You really don't care, do you?"

The Bladefather stayed silent, as memories flashed.

2460

Children gathered, each of them orphans or from abused homes, the Bladefather had collected an Implant he'd pried personally from a Yuzhou DataDelver. He let the children bare their minds against all sorts of psychic threats from his blade, they clawed their own eyes out, tearing away any part of them that brought terror into them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

At each stage, he carved their very minds to be dutiful watchers of all threats. Those who failed to notice the tides shifting in war would drown in the blood that followed, until one among them survived as his firstborn.

His War-Watcher.

2462

"The test with War-Watcher was a success…" Kaisel sighed. "He's not showing any signs of long-lasting impacts from the Catalyst. We've made good progress, I think it's safe to say you can begin… experimenting further."

"I will need a child waiting in the shadows…" Bladefather thought. Soon, Shadow Son was born.

For one capable of deciphering the thoughts of others, Redsight grasped the power of the Revenant for his own later that year. The two would grow up as brothers, always close to one another.

And I made them die together.

2465

The Widower was born into being by the abandoned children of prostitutes who sought revenge on their mothers; Crouching Dagger was a boy whose very mind was the blade he wielded; Mindmirror reflected the very terrors of her victims.

2466

Steel Vanguard wielded a strength none of his other children ever could; Diamondvein would be unbreakable even to his brother. Both wore shells over their humanity.

2469

As for Heart Seeker and Hexblood?

Kaisel began theorizing. "I've always wondered how two people who share a common-MALignant in their Implants would react to one another?"

That was how they were born.

2473

Azure Pheonix wielded undying passion, and an everburning flame; Winter Kiss would never love except to freeze the hearts of those who cared for her.

2474

Muramasa had grown, even as the blade itself starved, for no amount of bloodshed could ever satiate the hunger within it. The Bladefather did not show it on his face, portraying himself as a man with clarity in his goals. He needed not refuse the desire of his inner weapon.

But it sought something no one would dare ever give him. A fight worthy of exercising the demon he'd become. Until, eventually, his path led him to a fight.

In these twenty-one years since their meeting, The Bladefather had never once reached out to my grandfather, a notion that went both ways. I still wasn't clear on where my grandfather's morals stood, if he truly did hate the path The Bladefather had gone down or not… he'd left the city before the civil war, and arguably it ended up even worse after. While the topic was never brought up in that last meeting, I'd have to imagine…

There was a reason why Steel Vanguard was in a shattered suit of armor next to my grandfather, armed in a thick suit of power with his hammer levitating in the air. "Ken. I won't ask again… You'll give me that red blade inside of you."

"I refuse." The Bladefather stood up from his seat, this abandoned warehouse was distant from the city, he could fight in earnest strength without being found. "You will need another weapon."

"Wasn't that your whole motto?" The moment my grandfather clasped his hands around the hammer's long shaft, the room thrummed like it was owned by him. "We had a pact, for my daughter's safety, I avoided interjecting on your experiments… even when I knew where they came from. I respected that, even if there's little to like from your methods. This time, friend, I fear I need it."

"To excise a piece of a Titan…" The Bladefather's mask formed around his face, curved bone with eyes that now carried a hint of excitement. "If you truly wish this blade in your hands, you will meet it's wrath."

His chest burned red, as hands grew from his ribs to clasp the hilt forming from it. My grandfather's hammer smacked his head before the Muramasa could unsheathe.

The warehouse exploded.

Amidst the rubble and dust, the next scene I saw was my grandfather leaning on his hammer in the middle of a crater, the Bladefather laughing with blood pouring out his mouth as his body was broken into pieces slowly crawling towards him. The Muramasa Blade lay under my grandfather's foot.

I looked at my incarnation of The Bladefather with a modicum of annoyance. "Really? You didn't want me seeing your ass getting beat?"

"What you really wanted was to grasp your grandfather's Shardware." He declared.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact!" I argued.

My grandfather, meanwhile, lifted his hammer, and smashed it down on the blade. A crackle of red exploded out, the ground trembling and distant trees shaking hard enough to tumble over. The Muramasa blade lay in shards, it's hilt and guard all broken apart.

My grandfather only took one large shard, a beautiful ruby-like piece, isolating it into a vial. "Thank you."

The Bladefather was still reforming, but he looked almost grateful. "Finish it."

"No." My grandfather took his helmet off, more distinctly older than before. "I kill you, I make a power vacuum, not going to destabilize this city any more. Besides… keep that thing under control. You've let it go too far."

"I never intended to control it." Tendrils began to prop The Bladefather up. "They were always free to do as they please."

"Freedom has it's consequences, Ken. Subject K's freedom is… irresponsible." My grandfather grumbled. "Besides, I spoke to Krishav… he's eager to end your ass. Would be a shame to take it away from him."

"That fool is the one being controlled."

"I see a man who sticks by his convictions, even when the world pins him down." My grandfather looked down at the Bladefather, he reached down and picked up the golden blade with its scabbard — the one he'd forged so long ago. "And I see another man enslaved by it."

He put his helmet back on, his steps carrying him away from the edges of this memory. In that crater, the Bladefather laughed, it grew more maniacal than ever as his shattered blade reformed — humanity never burned so bright inside him.

2478

The Bladefather looked down at his BUG, his brain had felt violated by the very action to lose a part of itself… but this would certain an heir for him.

It all came down to two young girls. They wielded the epitome of everything he had always wanted of an heir, a passion to prove themselves, no matter how twisted it might be. I watched as they severed fingers off one another, as they bled until they collapsed down into the dirt. Even then, they still tried to kill one another, their teeth chewing the flesh off the other like rabid dogs.

"You're insane." I muttered. "And that blade's not the reason why."

The Bladefather looked at the scene of the fight with pride in his eyes. "Men build monuments to their egos and call them legacies. I build weapons — living, breathing monuments that will carve my name into history with their blades."

"And yet, they betrayed you!"

2489

We stood in Little Requiem now, I recognized this wrecked hellhole anywhere, but it was different. The scene of carnage was fresh, dead bodies all around us, and one man stood as the reason of everything.

Mr. Skeleton was alone in a street filled with identical, torn, bodies of his all around him. The Bladefather's crimson blade was pointed towards the man, only one nick in it's form. "I have heard of you."

"From where? Shadow Son, Missy, or The Hammersmith?" Skeleton gleefully chuckled. "I'm a man you'll be very eager to know."

"For what cost?"

"The future." Skeleton rest his skull's chin on his hands. "And our common ally, The Sin. You know… he goes by a different name now, Mr. R."

The Bladefather's weapon remained pointed on Skeleton. "One man does not permit your life's sanctity, for what you've done."

"Relax," Skeleton chuckled. "You'll find my throne here to be the most valuable investment this city has ever known, and my apologies, I forgot to mention. We have a common enemy."

The Bladefather's weapon gave an imperceptible quiver, but Skeleton noticed it.

"Amaterasu." He said, as the memory faded.

"Is that all it took?" I looked at the Bladefather with disappointment. "One mention of her name and you- you know my girlfriend is the one who really hates her ass!"

"Really?" The Bladefather's eyes flicked to me, almost impatient.

"I have an AI daughter born of…" I stilled, maybe not willing to test the Bladefather on that. "Why? Why him?!"

"Because, he was right." Bladefather chuckled, almost saddened by it. "And he was… everything to me I hoped your grandfather could be. Everything I hoped Missy would be, yet so much more. And so much less."

"Enough that you offered your daughter to him?" I questioned, anger eveident in my voice.

"He was worth the future." The Bladefather explained. "Mikail was… a man of pragmatic ambition, so different from The Revenant, who while fearsome in their power, is… lost. He is guided, and I am…"

He looked at the wound that grew in his chest, a sad look on his face. "I am nearing my end, again. I've been lost, Ripley Donovick, to the curse of humanity. Although I may not show it on my face, I am… prone to my anger, to my unwise tendencies of relying on another, I have always been one to be wielded, not the one to wield. I can admit that."

He sighed, as the scene changed, of him hearing of Jade Storm's betrayal. And I felt his true regret, that… his daughter looked to him the same way he looked to Yuzhou.

"I am an old man." He scratched the wound in his chest, as cracks poured out of it. "For me to change is to… admit that decades of my foundations had been wrong. I can only imagine it to be worse with the Founders and their centuries, and yet, we change. Never noticing it."

I saw him willingly order the elimination of all known locations of The Revenant after conspiration with Skeleton, it was only a fraction of Soul Killer's true reach into the city. They'd gone to their own devices a long time ago. Once again, he'd been betrayed by one he had grown to… care for. In his own twisted way.

"I loved this life." His voice was rich and meaningful. "I was tormented in it, but I found a purpose and dedicated myself to it. Some called it twisted, but it let me live."

I saw flashes of his children, of Skeleton amassing power with Muramasa's help. Of him freely talking with War-Watcher, with Bladedaughter, of parts of their talks even seeming lively. The Bladefather was proud and even the starving echoes of the blade inside him failed to sour his mood.

"I saw the legacy of an old friend, mingling with my own." He sighed. "I wanted to share it, I have never been selfish. Perhaps, I can be proud enough to admit that."

Then his eyes darkened. "And maybe, in truth… a part of me sought to give them the means to protect themselves from the harsh future this word has planned for them. For the Swarm to end all Swarms."

April

2497

A man stood in front of the Bladefather, he came and said one simple thing. "The Hammersmith said you'd have a blade for me."

The R0N1N, his eyes reflecting in the same color as the Bladefather's. For the man, who'd been searching so long to create an heir, the last thing he'd imagine was for one to find him. "Who will you wield it against?"

"Yuzhou." R0N1N was cold, efficient.

The Bladefather felt a greater intensity in the hate for that corporation fromt this one man than any of his other children. "You may have it, if you can prove yourself against my daughter."

The Bladedaughter looked alarmed, standing next to her father. "Father, you cannot be seriously intending to take this man's claim of-"

"He will go further than you ever will." The Bladefather silenced her, for R0N1N was the same as him, a clone possessing the genes of a Founder. In this one man, so simple, he'd found reason to disregard the very lives he'd raised with one purpose. "And should he beat you, he will be your master."

"Master?" The R0N1N questioned.

"You will take Muramasa as your own." The Bladefather declared.

"I refuse." The R0N1N looked entirely displeased with that idea. "I may resemble you, carry your blood in my veins, but I am not you. Whatever hatred I have for Yuzhou, it's mine. I refuse to be a reflection, and I refuse to burden your sins."

"Sins?" The Bladefather gave a dark chuckle.

The Bladedaughter, caught in her own thoughts, intercepted the R0N1N's declaration with spite. "Who are you to-"

"The only ones I intend to join me, are those who I pay." The R0N1N muttered, annoyed at this turn of conversation. "If it serves, I will provide monetary wealth and services to your kind, but do not expect me to lead them."

The Bladefather only looked more amused. With a flick of his gaze towards his daughter, she charged as her body became a legion of blades upon a human vessel.

Golden wire swept out from the R0N1N's blade, the very same weapon my grandfather had gifted to the Bladefather all those decades ago, but now perfected.

In a swift course of steel, they passed one another, and the Bladedaughter unraveled into pieces as golden thread tightened around her as both noose and executioner's blade. She collapsed, head decapitated but still alive. The Bladefather knew by then, that there was only one course of action for the future, and it lay in the past, it lay in him.

It lay in the R0N1N. He would be Yuzhou's true destruction, for that, the Bladefather was willing to sever his entire foundation.

"I can forge a blade worthy of your skill, only if you become the wielder I envision." The Bladefather rose, and from his chest unsheathed a red blade.

The R0N1N readied his stance, but nothing from his end could withstand the Bladefather's unparalleled existence. With one stroke of their blades meeting, the R0N1N was defeated as crimson force shattered through the outer layer of his Shardware.

Before even the R0N1N could react, the Bladefather stood atop his stunned body. "Goliath, do you know of it?"

"…Goliath?"

"A super-weapon, designed by Yuzhou. Its design is to emulate a fraction of my power, should you gain it… you will understand what you have to gain by wielding my legacy." The Bladefather had an almost tender touch as he picked up the R0N1N. Bits of the R0N1N's Shardware came undone by the very motion.

So this bastard was the reason why R0N1N's Shardware was so prone to breaking during the heist?

"Muramasa will be yours, wield it however you wish." As he said that, the Bladedaughter, even in pieces, shuddered from head to toe.

The memory faded, and I found myself looking to the Bladefather in even more confusion than before. "I thought you said you wanted to protect your children?!"

"Is there no greater protection than what I offered?" The Bladefather, this false form of him, was covered in dry cracks stemming through the wound in his chest yet he spoke so calmly. "Their forms; eternalized. Their legacy; lasting. Within me, I carry the lasting pains of so many others, I know it best what it is to protect others — their humanity. In this form, all that remains is the pure, unadulterated longing…"

"A longing for death? For killing others?!"

"A longing for…" He quieted. "It's just longing… for reason. No matter what it is, we have one."

"I think you're insane." I shook my head. "I think… you just heard the voices you wanted to hear!"

"Perhaps." He let out a dry chuckle. "In the last few months, I have heard the screams of regret, a shame that breaks your foundations only when you're so close to death."

"Regret, shame?" I scoffed. "Please, like anyone gives a fuck about an old man's dying regrets!"

His eyes sharpened, and I remembered who I was talking to.

The Bladefather's chest glew, as his hands cracked. "And the stem of all that… comes from the feeling that has most eaten me away these last few months."

A blade tore out from it, crimson steel ejected in my direction, he wielded it with poise and elegance even as he appeared like a statue on the verge of crumbling.

I didn't even see him moving to pierce me in the stomach, but I felt his whisper as my eyes shut in the expected pain to follow. All I felt was his breath on my ear, of the words that came out as he dissolved away to leave nothing but an echo of his words. "It's fear."

June 1st, 2497

This day… it was when the Toxin Club fell.

When me and Diana received our Implants.

The Bladefather sat in meditation, attempting to quench the ravenous voices inside of it, it was easy… he let them sing their rage and battled them all in his head.

Until those flaming voices silenced, and a presence stood in the room.

Opening his eyes, the Bladefather only saw the outline of a man filled with inky darkness that devoured all light. It was like he was a hole in the very presence of space and reality itself. Next to the man, was a woman.

She was bald, dark skinned, and faintly had scales around her eyes, with hands that were a bit too long, a neck that was too thin one moment… and too thick the next. Whether she was real, or an illusion, it didn't matter.

He instinctively knew what she was. In those soulless, devoid eyes, he saw an impossible creature.

The void-like man spoke.

This is the first time we're speaking, Zero.

"It is…" The Bladefather didn't ready his blade, it wouldn't even scratch this man. "You're The Sin. Now, you go by Mr. R."

You are correct.

"And the woman beside you?"

An associate.

"She's…"

Important, she's here to deliver her children.

The Bladefather stilled. "Do any of them know?"

No. But they will, I will guide them as they need it.

"And why come to me?"

I didn't come to you. I have never needed to.

"Then to who?"

To you.

The void-like man turned, looking in my direction.

Ripley Donovick. The next time we meet, Blood and Steel shall clash, and you will deliver me The Eclipse. We can talk properly, then. But for now, I'd like to introduce you to this woman beside me.

"What?" I tried to speak, utterly incapable of processing this.

The woman looked at me, her eyes shifting colors everytime I looked. At times, she had hair in various shades and texture, her skin changed with impossible patterns, and occasionally I saw feathers where there were scales, sometimes I saw nothing. I could blink and witness a fly, but the next breath saw me imagining a towering stalk of destruction.

She was endlessly iterative, endlessly Changing, endlessly… Infinite.

"Hello." She smiled. "I can't wait to meet you in person, my child."

They were gone, next thing I knew… it was-

October, 2497

"Father." The Bladedaughter pointed a blade at the Bladefather, her voice cold and steel-like. "You cannot lead this Dynasty anymore, effective immediately, I shall presume-"

"Put your blade down." The Bladefather stood up, calm in his age. "Hate me, chain me, but if you raise your blade against me… you should be prepared for mine to meet it."

Her blade rattled, turning down as her father stood up.

He walked himself down to his imprisoned chamber. Quietly, he whispered. "Come, those who dare, to where webs of lies shall unravel, to where the thunderous omens of the future whisper in the past. Come, Children of the Infinite."

December 19th

3:55 PM

Dreadwire

I was hunched, my body cold. Everything I had witnessed was tucked away into the confines of my memories, but it shivered in front of my eyes — of a future told only in the past. A near-century's worth of history condensed into a few passing moments, but quite a bit of time had passed because I wasn't alone now.

Dead bodies stood up in the room with me, tending to me, their death-graced forms couldn't capture the panic speaking through the vocal distortion in their speakers through which The Dogwhistler spoke. "Dreadwire, what happened?! Why haven't you left yet?"

"Don't talk to him like that!" Another corpse spoke, bulletholes in their police uniform and flesh.

"Why not? He's a scrap-brained idiot! And that's what we love about him!" Another laughed maniacally.

They shot that body, popping it's Neuroframe. I scowled, everything feeling… overwhelming. "Elsa, stop… not now, just-"

"I knew it!" One body cried from a headless corpse. "We're too much for you…"

"Well, duh." Another Dogwhistler echo tapped the neck-stump. "We're like a hundred minds contained inside one, dummy!"

"Both of you shut up!" The third shushed them. "Can't you see something went wrong?!"

"What's the status?" I interjected.

Before either of the other two could begin, the more sensible one raised their hands at them. "The Bladedaughter… went out to fight the police, um… she's been apprehended."

"By who?"

"Skeleton!" The headless echo peeped. "That bitch brought some weird masked soldiers with him that are… kind of unkillable."

"She's in police custody." Giggled the more… aloof one. "Oh, and like… we've retreated, Amaterasu is like… sort of trying to get into the system now so… we all ran with our tails tucked in between our legs!"

The sensible one shot the other two, they collapsed to be truly dead once more. "Look, point of it is… get the fuck out of here, Ripley!"

The corpse's eyes sizzled as their Neuroframe popped, in their hands a clutch of BUGs, mostly Bronze or Iron. Groaning, I stood up, ensuring the NeoCore stash was securely locked and that the Silver Implants and singular Gold were secure with me.

The ones delivered by Elsa, I quickly devoured to feed myself for escape. If I faced any resistance, I still had the Constellation to help… but I needed Starlight to pilot it for maximal proficiency. Reaching out to her, even with Fishhook, I felt nothing.

That meant she was either exhausted to the point of near inactivation, or that Diana was far from me.

But it couldn't be the latter, I could feel her approach. Securing my Shardware, I turned to see a woman with a pained expression slowly approaching the hallway. She wore a silver-colored suit that was marred with cuts, while her eyes — also silver — wavered as she stepped close. Faint tears were visible but refused to drop.

Her gun was trained on me, and Diana's expression was a blend of shock and fury, a reflection of her discovery of my manipulations. She'd arrived just in time to hear me talk to The Dogwhistler -- even call her Elsa. With her super-human senses, there was no way she hadn't.

Diana spoke softly, but it was laced with flame. "On your hands and knees, Dreadwire."

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