World Keeper

Chapter 973: Removing The Mask

Leowynn appeared over the city of Ashtanu with her eyes closed. For the most part, the city looked rather normal at a glance. However, that was only the case for a passing glance. Both the cars and the people outside were frozen in place. Leowynn knew that those individuals who were currently working in office buildings or staying in their homes were largely unaffected. It had been only a minute since the effect spread, so many people wouldn’t have had the chance to notice yet.

The worst cases were where the hidden agents of the rogue ninjas were in such buildings, allowing the effect to spread from within. Thinking of this, Leowynn kept her eyes closed, focusing. I don’t have Chelsea’s skill with void scripts, but my divinity can help me out here. If this were a void beast, I would just need to cut the connection. Instead, a void script would require me to purge the void energy from millions of people at once… I can’t afford to use that much energy so easily.

So… an anti-meme. She rapidly constructed a divine circuit, originating from her ‘Void’ domain, one that would allow her to create anti-memes for memetic effects that she knew of. This specific anti-meme would target the memetic effect she identified, and reverse it while creating a wide pulse to spread the effect, after which it self-destructs.

This will still use a lot of energy, but it’s not as bad… it doesn’t compare to making the guardian, at least. She thought, before condensing a ball of mixed black and gold energy in her hand. She held it out before her, dropping it to the ground. There were a few seconds of silence before a rush of energy rippled out, washing over those nearby.

As the energy made contact with their bodies, the affected citizens let out pained gasps, their faces returning as the memetic effect was removed. Many of them opened their eyes wide, though this made some of them catch glimpses of those who were out of the pulse’s reach, causing them to once again suffer the effects until a moment later, when the second pulse spread out with them as the source. This time, none of those who had ‘learned their lesson’ immediately opened their eyes, waiting for confirmation from the surroundings that it was safe.

In total, twenty pulses spread out to cover the entirety of the city. Only at that point was the effect of the script completely wiped away. Leowynn finally opened her eyes when she felt the end of the pulses, sending a message to Chelsea. Are there any victims outside of Ashtanu?

No, all of the targets were in the city, it doesn’t look like any of them left. Chelsea answered in a small voice, before adding on. I’m sorry. How do you want us to handle this?

Leowynn shook her head. If you reveal to the public that you were the one that caused this while tracking a group of suspected criminals, the people’s faith in your team’s research will be shattered. Announce that it was a stray memetic effect, and the research institute will pay for any damages caused. It’s your group that has the greatest awareness of the void, after all. While people may hold you responsible indirectly, it is not the same as if it were done by your own hand. I’m sure Udona will agree to this.

Just don’t mess around with void scripts so carelessly anymore. Udona suddenly interjected, adding the additional condition. In the Admin Room, Chelsea nodded her head sullenly. This incident had taught her that she was relying too much on her expertise with the void, and that it was a subject that she had not yet fully mastered. It was too easy for her to jump to using void scripts as the answer to problems like this due to their flexibility, and she thought that she was able to avoid the subsequent dangers.

I understand. Chelsea answered the two goddesses. Perhaps because this incident had affected James, but Chelsea seemed far more meek than usual.

Understanding this, Udona let out a small sigh. At least the mutation was nonlethal. The total casualties should be small enough that I can step forward to resolve the matter.

In the research institute, Chelsea and James both gasped as their own faces were restored. Immediately, Chelsea slammed down on the button to close the map, knowing that the transfer of information from it was enough to trigger the effect again. Afterwards, she turned around and looked at James, her eyes full of concern. “Are you alright?”

James glanced down at himself, nodding. However, after a moment he shook his head. “I’m not the one to be concerned about right now.” He showed a rare, serious expression as he looked at Chelsea. “I want you helping with the recovery efforts, alright?”

Like Leowynn, James knew that Chelsea couldn’t publicly claim responsibility for this matter. Their research institute was integral to the development of not only Ashtanu, but the entire alliance of worlds. Still, he wanted Chelsea to accept some sort of responsibility.

The kitsune’s ears folded down against her scalp, and she nodded her head. “I understand. Are the others okay?”

James gave a much softer smile when Chelsea asked about the others. “I gave them the order to head for the bunker as soon as I noticed the effect. We should be able to recall them now.”

Chelsea let out a sigh of relief when she heard that. However, before she could get up to go out and help with the recovery efforts like she had been told, James spoke up again. “What do you plan to do about the ninjas now?”

Pike let out a loud gasp as his face was returned to him, bringing a hand up to feel it and confirm that it was no longer a smooth mask. All around him, the rest of the researchers were similarly shocked, taking in deep breaths. Some of them had yet to discard their physical bodies, so were forced to hold their breaths for the entire duration.

“Sir… what just happened?” One of the researchers asked in fright, looking over at Pike.

If you’re asking me, who am I supposed to ask? His mind raced as he tried to think of a number of possibilities. The Masked Soul did have a component of the void in it, but it shouldn’t have been able to do something like this. “Run a check on the energy, make sure that it didn’t develop any flaws.”

“It’s entirely possible that this had nothing to do with us, and we were just caught up in the blast zone.” He didn’t believe that someone would target them with such a malicious memetic effect, so that narrowed down the possibilities to either a flaw in the Masked Soul, a memetic attack on the city, or a void beast effect. “Thankfully, it seems like the Greater Pantheon stepped in to resolve the problem. That divinity just now should have belonged to Leowynn.”

The researchers nodded, immediately rushing to grab different scanning equipment to analyze the Masked Soul. At the same time, Pike couldn’t help but shudder, remembering the feeling of his flesh covering up his face.

My brows knit together as an emergency news broadcast played, reporting about a memetic effect that had temporarily crippled Ashtanu. Nearby, both Scarlet and Accalia sat up straight, looking at the screen in concern. “So that’s why Leowynn rushed off like that.” I said with a small sigh, shaking my head.

According to the news report, there were dozens of casualties, and the famous research institute had offered a relief fund to pay for any damages caused in the chaos. At the same time, the Goddess of Life had personally stepped in to restore those casualties. This was not a case where their souls had been destroyed, as those who died were all normal mortal beings. It only took a little effort on Udona’s part to restore them.

While some people would harbor doubts about the research institute, blaming them for a void effect getting loose, many were also praising it for the timely response with the disaster relief. After all, many considered the effects of the void to be no different from an earthquake or a hurricane, a natural disaster that they had no power to solve. In truth, that was indeed the case for most people.

I glanced over at Accalia. “The void barrier of Deckan wasn’t breached, was it?” I asked, and saw Accalia quickly shaking her head.

“I already checked. There’s nothing inside the barrier.”

Hearing that, I let out a long sigh. “That means that someone used a faulty script, or a Fallen God had attacked. Given that there wasn’t more damage, probably the former.”

That was my initial thought, before seeing images taken of the relief efforts, with Chelsea at the forefront to personally make sure that everyone was okay. She helped repair damages done by cars crashing into each other, people, or even the sides of buildings, obviously doing her best to help people.

Normally… someone would see this as an act of altruism on her part. Only those that truly knew her would be able to guess the hidden meaning. I let out a long sigh, bringing a hand up to cover my face. “Yeah… that’d do it.”

Tsubaki sat in her room, legs crossed on her bed as she meditated. For once, she left taking care of the Keeper to one of her avatars, deciding that she needed to handle this herself for the moment. When Ashley and Dale had spoken about legends, Tsubaki had been elsewhere helping to make lunch for everyone. However, one of her avatars had been near enough to listen in on the conversation.

Once that conversation had finished, the avatar transmitted the information back to Tsubaki. So… I need to create a legend to push the Maid class further. In truth, her Maid class had hit five hundred not too long ago, showing just how much talent she had in the class and how hardworking she was with it.

Did combining my divine domain of Service not count as a legend? Or… has someone else already done that form of legend? Tsubaki bit her lip at the thought that someone might have beaten her to that title. After all, she had been away from the world for more than a decade in the Admin Room with the Keeper. It wouldn’t be weird if a god that had a domain related to servitude used the class in the same way she had.

Either way, I’ll need to create a different legend if I want to advance the class further. What aspect of the Maid class can I turn into my legend? Tsubaki focused, thinking about all of her various classes. In truth, she had dabbled with almost every class that existed, with only a select few still out of her reach. For instance, she rejected any attempts to directly confer nobility to her, so she did not possess the Noble class.

Thelsa’s legend should have mixed Rogue, Assassin, Weaponmaster, and Warrior. My skills are… substantially more varied. If I could use my avatars to train multiple classes at a time, that would be wonderful. However, the Maid class’s energy won’t allow me to create energy cores in the bodies of the avatars. I managed to work around that with my divine domain, but that is still limited in quantity.

Tsubaki furrowed her brows at that, before suddenly her eyes opened in realization. Maybe I can do it in reverse? Use the maid energy only for the soul, the core consciousness, and then craft the avatar normally around it. If I do it like that, I should still be able to allow the avatars to retain their autonomy, while also using the energies of different classes. Though… the avatar will need to maintain constant focus to not allow their core energy to slip out of control.

Tsubaki nodded her head, a satisfied look coming over her face as she decided on the path of her growth. If this plan succeeds, it should qualify as a legend for all of my classes. Additionally, it should help me train my different classes more efficiently.