320: Quiet Knife

‘You strike me as intelligent. That is partly why I chose to spare you, take you under my wing.’

Chose to spare you. Took you under my wing. Beneath his helmet, one of his lips rose in a sneer. Standard manipulative start, noted Psychology. She spoke as though she was protecting him, as though she’d done him a favour, and not as though she had simply decided he was more useful alive than dead.

‘As an intelligent individual, I thus expect you to fully understand what I want from you. Infuriatingly, I am unable to speak it myself.’

‘You want me to kill the Highspawn.’

Her pleasure at this answer washed over him, emanating from her Soul. It felt oddly pleasant, calming. Like feeling the touch of warm sunlight over your skin on a cool day.

‘A simple answer, but it will not be so simple to do.’ She came closer to him. ‘Performing this task in some brainless, direct manner is unlikely to be ideal. It must be done carefully. They may guess at what you are doing—but they must never be able to prove it. If they can, then I will be compelled to kill you myself.’

She turned, glared at the curve of black force that separated them from the outside. He had the impression she was peering through it. ‘The Highspawn Vorath sent to the Empress, for instance. It would be… unfortunate if he were to reach her. But I can’t send you to rectify that right now. It would be too obvious.’ She tapped her chin, considering. ‘No—for now, you will join us in this assault on the Greybugs.’ She glanced at him. ‘Do you understand what is happening here, human? Why I have mustered my people?’

‘I understand a little,’ he said. ‘It is said that Hornets seek to forcefully enslave other bugs. I imagine that is today’s aim.’

She nodded. ‘Partly correct, though our aims are more benevolent than you would think.’

He tilted his head, confused.

‘Normal Bug clans are stupid,’ she said. ‘They are little better than animals. Thus, we are doing them a favour by enslaving them. We put them to use for a better purpose than whatever they normally engage in. We were designed to command them, after all.’

Nicolai accepted the ludicrous justification with a bland nod. He required no explanation because he did not care.

‘There will be quite a lot of fighting,’ she continued, ‘though they stand no real chance against us. I will look to reach their queen; at that point I will seize control of her, bind her to me. Before that, we will have to press through them, into their tunnels. The Highspawn will be there too, because they will be looking to see if they might steal some useful resources from the Greybugs. That will be your first opportunity. I will send you off alone. You know what I wish you to do. But none of them can survive to carry witness. If they do, I will be forced to kill you. You say you are an assassin—this is your chance to prove your claim.’

While speaking, she held his Blade casually in one hand, dangling toward the jungle. From the occasional glances she gave it and the way she twisted it in her grip, he sensed her pleasure at holding it. No mention of its return had been given.

Nicolai didn’t truly care about doing whatever this Queen wished—of course he didn’t. But he acted as though he did, because it meant that at least for now, it seemed he would be getting out of this situation with his life, and that was all he needed.

He also wanted those Greybugs removed, and in that regard it seemed these Hornets would be able to solve his problem. The sooner they got over there and the Queen did whatever she was going to do, the better. By now, the bugs might already have broken through and be once more assaulting Legal and the bots. He had no idea how long it could hold out. It might even have already been overwhelmed.

But if it hadn’t, and the bugs were removed… this could work out well. But there was something else, something he needed.

‘There is a problem, a major, tremendous problem,’ he said, looking at the Blade. ‘I am not capable of slaying these Tier 2’s without that weapon.’

‘This?’ She twisted it, looking at the black metal, the lines of gold. ‘This is a Tier 3 Artifact, human. You are only Tier 1. I do not think you would be capable of using this in any case.’

‘I can use it. Your son attested to that. Why do you think I carried it on my back? And I have killed Tier 2s with it before. They never suspect me capable of using it, so I simply need to get close, then I can strike. With speed, I am able to hit through their shields and kill them in an instant before they can fight back. It is the perfect weapon for an assassin. Without it,’ he shrugged, raising his hands helplessly, praying that he was hiding the nauseating desperation he felt, ‘I simply stand no chance of killing these Tier 2’s. Thus, I will be useless to you as an assassin unless you return my blade.’

The Queen chuckled. ‘Is that so? No, I think not. This is not the weapon of an assassin. It is the weapon of someone who would slay anything standing in his way, with no need for stealth. The moment you draw this all will know your position.’

She held it up. ‘Can you not hear it?’ she murmured. The bloodthirsty aura emanating from the blade was impossible to ignore. Focusing on it felt like you were drowning in an ocean of blood, could practically smell it and taste it, thick and salty. ‘You don’t even really understand what this is, do you?’ she continued, conversational.

‘It’s a powerful weapon.’

‘It is a true flying sword,’ she replied. ‘You were never going to be able to hold onto something like this, at your level of power.’

He frowned. ‘A true flying sword?’

‘There are many Artifacts that can be directed by Soul Sense, and there are many that go through shields. But there are very few that do both. In the hands of one who can activate it fully, this is a flying sword that goes through shields. I hope I don’t need to explain how useful that is.’

She made a gesture, and what looked like a glowing door of light opened in the air beside her. She tossed the Blade through. The door snapped closed, and the sense of bloodthirst was gone.

Nicolai’s arms tensed and his eyes bulged at the sight of his weapon disappearing. It felt like a piece of him had been torn away, like she’d grabbed his arm and ripped it off. No, worse. Much worse.

‘A very good weapon,’ the cockroach was saying. ‘Once I’ve broken it in, I think I will use it myself.’ He couldn’t believe how ugly she was. ‘You can consider this a reason to do as I wish, human. Once you have accomplished all that I wish you to do, I will return the Artifact to you. How about that?’

The bitch lies! The rage that poured through him was instant and total. He envisioned with great detail what he would do to her. He would fashion a magnifying lens a square mile wide, then he was going to stake her to the ground and position the lens, via the creation of many miles of wheeled scaffolding, directly above her. The suns ray’s, focused to a 5,000 degree lance, would then be carefully, slowly moved over her, starting at her feet and working up, and her head would be tilted so she could watch as the fire ate her inch by inch.

He was trying, reflexively, to control himself. But wrestling the Dark into submission was harder than ever because it had help. The Mask was riding on it, burning with a rage of its own. His Soul an ocean of it, and he and the Modules a ship of calmness—hopefully calmness—lost in the storm. Normally he’d have used the Blade to instantly calm himself. But the Blade. Had been stolen.

But we can’t kill her right now, snarled Nicolai, captain of the boat, as the Modules ran around the deck doing things with rigging, it’s not possible, and the Mask admitted this was the case and the Dark felt the truth of this and that spun it for a loop, confused it enough that the sea was calmed and the Mask and the Dark were sucked onto the boat, crew members. Cyberwarfare checked the hull for leaks. We will kill her later, when the time is right, he added, when the Module said they were sealed.

‘I sense some unhappiness, human,’ spoke the Queen, her tone strange. She was staring at him.

‘I have absolutely no guarantee you will actually return it,’ he replied, falling into Shenran because he couldn’t manage ripples, wondering just what she’d felt from him. He was pretty sure his Soul had been emanating.

She chuckled. ‘Then you’d better hope I’m telling the truth, hadn’t you? Anyway, I am not ungenerous.’

She reached out and the Storage snapped back open. His brief glimpse revealed a large room full of items. Something flew out and landed in her hand. With another flick of her taloned fingers, the magical door closed.

She tossed the item to him and he snatched it from the air, peered at it. It was a long, straight dagger in a sheath. He drew it slightly and saw a slender double-edged diamond-shaped blade blade, narrowing to a very fine point. He gently rubbed his thumb over the edge and felt the roughness of it, razor sharp. But it was not a weapon focused around slicing. This was for stabbing people, perhaps through the gaps in armour. He felt nothing from it.

This, he realised as he studied it, was quite similar to the item at Wu’s hip. She had also carried a dagger that gave off very little sign, which he had guessed was an Artifact designed for stealthy killing. The outward design of this one was notably different, but in actual shape and size it was very similar. It is exactly the same length, put in Threat Analysis, looking through footage of the last time he’d seen her.

He examined it.

Artifact: Quelian Quiet Knife

Tier: 2

Abilities: Soul Implosion, Shield Slip, Hidden, Oma Store,

When powered, this Artifact Knife is capable of passing through Shields up to the second Tier of Foundation. So long as its internal Oma store is maintained, it will release no signs of its capabilities either via ripple or if investigated with Soul Sense, except to the one who has broken it in.

Its primary feature, however, is its ability to inflict massive damage to Souls, and ultimately implode them without releasing a ripple.

Stabbing an opponent will cause a stunning, damaging wave to roll through their Soul. The more lethal the physical attack, the more powerful the wave. A target who is expecting the stab will unconsciously brace their Soul, thus resisting more strongly. If they are unaware and their Soul unbraced, and the blow is mortal, the wave is likely to instantly implode their Soul. If their Soul is stronger, the stab less immediately lethal and/or they are ready and braced, their Soul will merely be stunned. In such a case, successive stabs will be needed to implode their Soul.

Repeated stabs with this weapon will guarantee Soul-implosion on all but the very strangest or most powerful of Souls, so long as they are at the same Tier as the Knife. It is increasingly ineffective against Souls of a higher Tier.

An imploded Soul releases no spiritual ripples on its death, and thus enemies can be killed without warning others. Notably, the implosion will also destroy any Symbiotes held by that Soul. The user can thus disable the Soul Implosion Art at will, for instances where they wish to strike through an enemy’s shields but do not wish to implode the Soul.

Quiet Knives were created by the Quelian, standardised weapons for use by their assassins, of which they maintained an unusually large number. The Symbiotes and processes used to create the Soul implosion effect have been lost to common knowledge, and so these weapons are highly sought after by spies and assassins. Especially valued are the few remaining Quiet Knives with the upgraded variant, Soul Disintegration, which can silently destroy a Soul while doing no harm to any Symbiotes.

‘That is much more suited for an assassin,’ the Queen was saying smugly.

Nicolai stared at the Knife, cradled reverently in his hands. He wanted to scoff and call it a piece of garbage, but the words physically would not come out. This was, in fact, exactly what he’d been missing. A method for killing in stealth. He had only just gotten his hands on it and already he loved it like a piece of himself. Almost as much as he’d loved the Blade she’d stolen from him. His eyes flicked up to meet the Queen’s. The Devil gives, and the Devil takes away.

‘It destroys the Symbiotes when used properly,’ he managed to force out, struggling to hide his reaction—the clammy palms, the heavy breaths, the—was he aroused?—he could swear the handle was moving in his grasp, rubbing at his hand—in his imagination he saw himself with this on his hip, the Blade on his back—there was definitely something stirring—

He swallowed heavily and pulled his eyes away, reminded himself and the Dark of his fury. That did the trick. It swirled like drain water, flowed through the pipes of his Soul; now the Dark and all the rest of him was convinced of the need to wait and it gave him strength rather than tearing at his control. She’d stolen his Blade, and this, this, this wonderful thing was still not as wonderful as it. She would die. And he would have them both, the Blade and the Knife, a perfect pairing… And he’d turn the M99 into an Artifact…

His whole body shivered, and he dragged his focus back to the Queen. To his vast relief she showed no signs of recognising his momentary insanity. She was speaking. Had been speaking. Far too wrapped up in her own monologue to have noticed anything at all.