Chapter 389

  Pony

  “Your reign of tyranny ends here! I will not let you rule the world!” The fighter declares, their voice somehow pompous and echoing even in the fake vastness of space. Apparently, this is done by the match coordinators, a way that our conversations are being piped directly to our opponent to help drum up drama and intrigue into these matches. A great idea in theory, but utterly ridiculous in practice if this is what it gets us.

  “PFFFT! HAHAHA! This guy is out here monologuing in space about stopping you so he can keep you from ruling the world. Hahaha,” Raygunnr replies before breaking down completely and laughing. It is clear that these broadcasts while transferring the flashing lights of Raygunnr’s Mana Language, do not provide an auto translation feature his species’ unique communication barrier.

  “Rule the world? I don’t even like being in charge of a classroom full of students. Why would I want to rule the world?” I protest. Then after pausing for a second, I respond, “actually that might be the one way to keep me from trying my best in these competitions, if I have to be in charge.”

  “You have Christmas lighting?” Is what the Legrand opponent asks, a note of confusion in their voice as they just stare on in awe and wonder. But then shake their head as they realize I actually spoke, “do not think you can fool us. We are all aware of your want to subvert and change the world. Threatening those that you don’t like with beings of unimaginable horrors! And torturing those that get on your bad side.”

  I open my mouth to protest, but find my arguments getting stuck in my throat. Stupid pixie curse of always having to tell the truth kicking in. I want to refute, but I am changing the world. And I did in fat unleash a being of unimaginable horrors on the Legrand capital of Timult. I even turned spies that crossed the Midnight Hunters into beings of unimaginable horrors. Even now, I can remember the one way I forced pain onto bodies that wanted shortcuts to Immortality. In the end I made three Legrand spies a subject for why you don’t cross the Midnight Hunters, at the low cost of my humanity. Looking back, death might have been a blessing in comparison to what I ended up doing to them. Life in constant agony is not much of a life.

  At that memory, I make a mental note that I will correct that mistake as well. Another item in my ever-growing list of things to fix before these contests are over.

  “See you can’t even deny it, your want for world domination knows no bounds,” the opponent continues to speak. As they do, I open my mouth to comment but feel too exhausted to reply. They are wrong in that I would rather give up than be forced to rule over others, but I do admit that when I am angry, I have been known to go too far. Even now I remember the look of joy that Charlaine had when I was a prisoner on her planet, working myself to the bone until I passed out and had to be carried back to the rescue pods to rest up, only to be forced to work again a few hours later. At first, I disliked her, but then I realized she was right to hate me for what I had done to her. As much pain as I was in, I realized it was only a fraction of what she had to endure at my hands.

  Rather than responding, I used my time to make a solemn vow to myself, that I would fix her.

  The quest seemed rather dramatic, but I think I understand why it is so dramatic. I have a lot of negative karmic ties binding me to those three individuals. Karmic ties that are basically going to negate every good deed I do in the future, as these three ties have not been addressed and cleansed. Meaning that all of my good deeds will be marginalized until I fix this karmic debt. A debt that can never be fully repaid, as I can’t address the principal of the crime, but only pay off the interest. Odd that I finally reach this level of clarity from a want to be Bond villain. At least that is what I consider most Legrand fighters to be, particularly those that claim to be fighting for truth and justice.

  “You can’t even deny it, and that is why you will ultimately fail! Justice for Timult!” The fighter continues to cry out.

  Hearing his words, I can only take a deep calming breath as I wait for the smack talking timer to slowly wind down.

  “You will not prevail, for justice is on my—” He continued speaking, but the timer hit one and then faded, releasing the shackles that bound Raygunnr and me in place. That’s when I erupted.

  Space blurred around us, as tiny dots of light off in the distance held still and then blurred past us as we didn’t Teleport through space. instead, we used Celerity, making sure to first supercharge our Celerity with the newly democratically selected Divinely Akashic Qi Master class Perk Celestial Intensity to enhance the capabilities of standard Celerity.

  When that was offered as one of the class options, I didn’t even argue or ask how they got the system to agree to such an obviously broken power. My thinking is that the system realized that Celestial energy was very limited and only accessible in space as such this should ultimately be used sparingly. But with almost all of our mechanoid battles happening in space, getting access to Celestial energy is not a problem. This is why space seems to fold around Raygunnr and me, as we originally start off at vastly different parts of space from each other. Only for me to surge forward, pulsing blue Qi manifesting around my hands as I dash and slice my way past the mechanoid robot whose pilot still seems to be caught in the middle of their monologue.

  Only the brief clattering of dissected robot arms and legs flying past us that rattle against Raygunnr’s hull are a sign that anything happened.

  We come to a stop, standing perfectly upright and staring off into the distance, while the tier three mechanoid shell breaks apart behind us. Mana and Qi infused sparks flicker out into the vastness of space.

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  Our stance still stoic even as the opponent vessel breaks apart and begins to drift off into different directions in space. By standing still we are doing the original version of aura farming, just standing still and looking off in the distance while an explosion happens behind us. Even by our standing still, our momentum continues to slide us slowly forward, as if we were walking away from an explosion.

  There is a final burst, but fortunately, the emergency levers release, ejecting the Legrand pilot out into space. Only once the cockpit is fully clear of any potential blasts does the final timer begin to count down.

  While the countdown timer begins, Raygunnr says something that causes me to cringe.

  “I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I am all out of ass.”

  Yes, leave it to Raygunnr to ruin a perfectly good line.

  “Groan,” I can’t help but groan at the comment, it is that bad.

  “Oh, come on, it’s a great line.”

  “You can’t even chew bubble gum,” I reply.

  Fortunately, I am spared from having to listen to Raygunnr’s post victory commentary, as the match ends and with it, we are both ejected from this pocket space and sent back to the waiting area. An area where I should feel the safest of all, only to find that we are immediately ambushed by a very angry Penelope.

  How can I tell Penelope is angry? Well, there are multiple indicators. First, there is the fact that her heart rate seems to be elevated, her arms are crossed tightly over her chest, while her foot taps impatiently. But by far and away the biggest reasons why I think she is angry with me is that her lips are pursed tightly together, a clear sign that she is annoyed, and she is staring right at the area where Raygunnr and I both appear.

  For a moment I wonder how she knew right where we were going to appear so she could stare us down so intimidatingly.

  “How did she do that? Manage to wait right where we would return?” It isn’t until Raygunnr asks that exact question, that I realize how and why she was able to be right here at the exact moment we returned.

  “Simple, she hasn’t moved at all since we left,” I reply and mean it as the markings where her feet were sitting are now firmly etched in the ground. For a moment I almost wonder why she looks angry. To my defense, I just had brain rot from an overly bombastic Legrand fighter, followed by a personal checklist item that could lead to my death if not addressed quickly enough, so I was a bit distracted. Fortunately, I avoid making such an obvious mistake, of asking why she looked angry, only due to the fact that Penelope was the one to break the silent stalemate first.

  “Well?”

  There was a pause, as I already knew what she wanted to know the answer to. It was the same answer that I swore to Raygunnnr I would finally tell the truth to. Unfortunately, Raygunnr was the one to respond first.

  “Well, we won! You are looking at Biprism’s number one planetary representatives for Mechanical War Machine, Mechanoid Warfare Machine, and now space Mechanoid Warfare Machine. We just need a few more matches with our group members, and it will be a clean sweep!”

  At that comment, Penelope just blinks, angrily, and finally does something I have been trying to do for the past few days now. Trying to and failing. That is, get Raygunnr to be quiet.

  “Don’t make me rip your cockpit door off again to get you to be quiet,” Penelope responds, no screaming, no yelling, just pure conviction filling her words. At the thought of having his door ripped off again, Raygunnr stands still, and only a faint tremor vibrating through his massive frame lets me know that he is legitimately frightened. Then turning to me, Penelope locks gazes with me and stares. Her gaze letting me know that I need to give an answer this time.

  Seeing her filled with such power and conviction, I feel something stir within my chest. Something that I thought had died a long time ago. My heart began to beat loudly, filling me with both hope and fear. Then finally, Penelope asked the same question again.

  “Well?”

  This time I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid answering the question. For it was clear that I would have to provide an answer one way or another. Seeing her in such a way, I open my mouth and my words try to end this beautiful thing, before I even have a chance to experience it, before I am even willing to give it a chance to survive.

  “Are you sure? I mean, I’m just young—” I say, noting the first and most obvious problem to this, something that I am concerned about as it might cause issues for her.

  At that comment, Penelope scoffs, before she begins giving one of her most impassioned speeches.

  “You are mentally eighty-two years old, well sometimes. The fact that you are eighty-two years old makes you actually close to two decades older than me, from both lifetimes.” Penelope pauses and lets that first part sink in. I remember she was young when she uploaded her consciousness, well younger than me, but even then she was well in her thirties before she had to find an outlet for what was consuming her mortal body. That’s when she joined this world, and had been here for so long that I almost thought she was older, but really, she was younger than me. Not that she herself was young as she had over sixty years of experience combined herself. I had to pause as I let that thought finally sink in.

  “This is in addition to the fact that you are currently emancipated, in a body that will be the age of eighteen in a few months, but will be stuck in this age, likely forever at the rate you are going. But you can easily change into any one of several bodies that are of proper maturity to be together.” Again, Penelope pauses again, letting these facts sink in, before she continues once more. Never letting me get a chance to focus or form a rebuttal as she is continuing with her argument, though it is clear she is getting winded with her emotional speech as all the words and feelings she has pent up, until now seem to be finally allowed to spew forth in a torrent of unstoppable emotions.

  “Finally, if it is about actually waiting until your avatar is eighteen years old, despite being stuck at an earlier age, then know that I will be okay with that as well. I will be fine waiting for the few months until your avatar turns eighteen years old. Or I will be fine waiting however long you need, until you feel comfortable again to try for a relationship. I just need to know, that I am the one you want to have a relationship with.”

  “Just tell me that, and I will wait until the end of time for you to be ready.”

  Hearing her honest and sincere plea, I can’t help but feel slightly misty eyed, as I can feel pockets of dense energy pooling together at the sides of my eyes. For the first time in longer than I can recall, I feel a deep burning inside me, causing my breath to catch, and my heart to beat faster. I find myself nodding. Each nod causing mana infused tears to condense and slide down my face and pool at the base of my neck in my pressure sealed space suit. I open my mouth to talk, only to find that my voice is getting caught in my throat. Still, I force my jaw and throat to work, forcing sound out past my vocal cords. As I am struggling, I see the stern look on Penelope’s face loosen for a moment, as she drops her arms to her sides and takes one desperate step forward, her face imploring as she looks for an answer. An answer that I desperately want to give but can’t.

  “Yess—” I finally hiss out, the word filled with every ounce of honesty, hope, and want to do better that I can muster.

  With that, Penelope lets down her final air of anger and a smile burst from her face. A radiant smile that I feel could blind the world with its brilliance. Seeing her smiling, I feel lighter and that everything will be fine, as long as we are both willing to work with each other, anything is possible.

  Of course, there are some people who always find their way to but in and make a magic moment entirely about them.

  Cough, cough, “pony”, cough, cough, Raygunnr begins coughing, I can tell he is faking. His body can’t cough, not really, but he is seeming to mock me and my trouble to answer truthfully. Even going so far as to seemingly state the word “pony” while letting out sharp grinding sounds resembling a human cough. He even does an overly dramatic pose of holding his hand up over his chest, simulating trouble breathing, before finally stating the seven words that ruin this otherwise perfect moment. “Sorry my voice is a little horse.”

  We just glare at Raygunnr for a moment. Me from inside the cockpit, and Penelope from the outside.

  “You better raise this shield before I rip it off,” Penelope declares as she begins striding forward, pure intention radiating off of her in waves. At the threat, well promise of violence Raygunnr trembles for a second, before unsealing the hatch and trying to pop it open.

  “Just rip it off anyways,” I reply, feeling it suddenly a lot easier to speak now that I am not being asked about my personal feelings for things. That’s how I suddenly found myself staring directly into Penelope’s eyes, an act that was completely unnecessary, but seemingly unavoidable given how close she was to me at this exact moment.

  Being this close, we surprisingly both have a lot of space and seemingly little given how close the two of us need to be to both be in the cockpit area. Fortunately, my small frame makes it so the two of us can fit here easily.

  We just stare awkwardly at each other, my heart beating so fast that I don’t know what to do.

  “Oh come on, get a room you two,” Raygunnr states, though I think I can tell he secretly wants this to go on, he’s just adding his own commentary to help push us along. Or at least saying things that will get me to move, if only to protest his statements.

  “I do owe you a reward for placing first overall, that should be worth something—” Penelope says, and like that, she leans forward and gives me the motivation needed to continue living and trying for at least one more day.

  Aspects Book IV: Gravely Mistaken will be released on February 26th, 2026!.

  As such, I will be stubbing the chapters for here tomorrow: February 24th, 2026!

  Thank you all, and I will see you all again on Thursday!