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The Least Common Denominator III.I Remainder
"Ughh..."A dull pain from my stomach woke me up from my slumber. I was on my back; what seemed to be a bed of straw serving as my bed as every feeling in my body slowly started to make itself known to me. I winced as I struggled to even begin to sit up from my position."Are you okay?" I heard a voice call out to me, a woman. "You need to rest, lady."My everything hurts...Using my arms as leverage, I ignored the call for rest as I slowly and agonizingly sat back up. A shot of pain sprang forth from my stomach as I blearily opened my eyes, the dim sight of cobblestone and darkness greeting me. It didn't help that the only light source seemed to be a burning torch just above me. But at least it was enough to show the sight of a worried, albeit childish face situated just a few centimeters away from where I laid.<
The Least Common Denominator III.II Remainder
"Hey! Newbies!""Coming!"I shouted at an elder Den as I grabbed Olivia along with me to our shared anvil. My shoulder-length hair matted against my bare neck as we walked for a mere few seconds in the constant blistering heat, as was the constant when living in these insane conditions, before reaching our destination."You have another job, the both of you." The older man barked out, half-panting at the constant heat from the numerous furnaces. "Some big-shot Num requested you specifically so you better make it count, Crimson."I nodded in affirmation as the built elder left us to our own devices. With a sigh, I pulled out one of the numerous molten pieces of metal from the nearby furnace. I turned towards Olivia, the kid visibly huffing with her large hammer already raised high in preparation."Just like I t
The Least Common Denominator III.III Remainder
It happened all too soon."DENOMINATOR CRIMSON! YOU ARE HEREBY DESIGNATED TO INTEGER UNIT NUMBER 193!"Olivia and I were in the middle of eating our daily rations, which is to say, me giving more than half of my portion to the younger girl since she needs it more than I do.I'm done growing, she's not."GATHER YOUR BELONGINGS AND HEAD TO THE INTEGER BARRACKS IMMEDIATELY!"My one eyebrow twitched as the same tin can from weeks ago bellowed out his orders. The nerve of this guy. Couldn't even keep his voice down despite him being a mere handful of meters away from my face.I stashed a short blade that I made in my spare time to the back of my thigh. It was the only thing qualified as my 'personal belongings' anyway."Big sis..."
The Least Common Denominator III.IV Remainder
"It'll be my pleasure to grind you into the ground, Dirt Eater."I weaved to the right as tin can immediately went for the offensive.*CRASH!*His halberd's blade crashed on my left side as I immediately capitalized on his weapon's apparent weakness.*CLANG! CLANG!*I slashed at his left leg, his armor pinging at my attacks."Tch."I clicked my tongue as I glanced at the spot of my attacks. Not even a scratch.Not enough power?"Nice try, Dirt Eater.""WHOOSH!"Tin can swung his halberd sideways towards me. I was on his side, so I used his slow maneuverability against him by circling towards his back.*CLANG! C
The Least Common Denominator III.V Remainder
I sighed in relief as tied my dagger to the back of my thigh once more. It's over. We're getting out of this hell hole."B-Big sis?" I turned my head towards a reluctant Olivia, her blue eyes filled with... regret?. "I-I'm sorry.""What for?""Fo-For not trusting you." Huh?That's it?"It's fine, 'Livia." I ruffled her hair as I gave her the brightest smile I could possibly give. "I'll make sure you're safe, okay?"I felt the soothing, familiar grip of her hand on my own as she replied with her sweetest tone."O-okay."My mental faculties shuddered at such a weapon. It was more than enough to give me the strength to tolerate potentially living with the person that killed my father.With mind reso
The Least Common Denominator Interlude II: Olivia
The young brunette pretended to fall asleep as her acute hearing picked up on her big sister's frenetic pacing and mumbling. It was always like this when concerning Big Sis. On most nights, the older girl would be the sweetest older sister that Olivia could ever wish for, on some nights, however..."I can make a change..."Olivia was scared.The young girl thanked the gods that Crimson was her big sister; someone willing to protect her and be there for her. But sometimes, Olivia wondered just when did her adopted big sister turn into a monster."Heh."
The Least Common Denominator IV.I Product
*CLANG*"Crimson, sweetie~ Can you make me a new rapier?" a muffled voice echoed from beyond the wooden door."Of course, Ma'am!"*Drip*Beads of sweat trickled down my cheek before I returned my attention to my work. The fires from this forge weren't as blistering as the ones down at the Furnace, but it was still dangerous if left unattended. My mind, however, was still the same old wandering dog that keeps getting distracted at the slightest hint of new stuff. Or was it not like that back then? Either way...How long has it been?*CLANG*I honestly forgot after the umpteenth time that Arya requested that I make another weapon for her. I think I've been at this for just shy of a year, what with Olivia actually starting to grow a bit bigger for her old
The Least Common Denominator IV.II Product
When I came to, it was to the excruciating sounds of my little sister crying on top of me."Hey," I reached to her face, trying to wipe a tear off her cheek. "Don't cry over me.""B-But-""No buts, dear." I groaned as I made my back leave the cold, hard ground. "I'm supposed to be the big sister in this relationship."I tilted my head as I observed my surroundings. I guess I'm still in the smithing room judging by the fact that I'm still beside the anvil that we were working on. Speaking of which..."How's the rapier?""The rapier?"Huh? "The...rapier? The one that we're supposed to make for Madam Arya?" I found myself lilting at the mere mention of our patron's name. Arya... Oh beautiful Arya... Gotta have to finish building that 'special' thing for he
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- The Least Common Denominator
CV.V Cotangent
I don't even know what's happening anymore..."Huh... That looks far too complex even for you, Crimson," Phillipe snarked at my work. Technically Anne's as well, to be honest. "A square rune with that many parts? I don't think that'll work out in the long run.""You and me both," I rolled my eyes with the sarcasm of an overflowing dam. "Seriously, why are you here?""You're being annoying."I raised an eyebrow at the blunt delivery of his oh-so-important announcement. Giving him the best sarcastic inquisitive eyes I could muster, I let out a scoff as I began whatever this talk was going to end up as.'Right behind you there.'You always are, Ica. "And?"Phillipe smirked at me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, "You're wasting
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.IV Cotangent
"Let's go crazy..."With a borderline manic whisper, I let my imagination cut loose as my hand moved on its own. Traps within traps, earthen sigils meant to sprout at a moment's notice, the world was my oyster as the goodies slowly accumulated with each stroke of my charcoal.'Don't get too carried away, Master.'I know. I'm not dumb enough to overload the thing before it even came to fruition.And that was the biggest risk to such a massive array as well. With so many moving parts, any wrong line or overlapping rune will pretty much make the whole thing explode. I couldn't stress it enough, even to myself. Do not make this thing more complicated than it already is.'And yet here you are having fun with it.'Don't test me, Ica. Or maybe I'll just assert me being
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.III Cotangent
Fiiiineee... You win, my precious Ica.The stuttering that ensued at the back of my head was like a soothing tune as I looked over my work. The communication arrays were gonna stay, as would the Essence storage runes at strategic parts of the palace grounds. Hmmm.... Wouldn't the communication arrays be two-way anyway? So why even bother with surveillance runes like last time?My hand moved to remove the minor additions I added on the dirt parts of the grounds, leaving me with more space to work with in terms of... well... anything, really. What kind of runes would even work on shaky ground? Dirt couldn't hold anything beyond the basic types of runic arrays. Anything more complex than a three-layered circuit would blow up instantly from the strain. I could maybe run- wait... why not just do that?The charcoal streaked across the outskirts of the pa
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.II Cotangent
*ruummbbllee...*The sound of a sputtering engine echoed from behind me as I drew up yet another set of circles on the board. While I kind of put the general purpose of the massive multi-circuit array at the back of my head, I really should try and solidify that stuff properly before making the main control array, shouldn't I...'Good thing you remembered that, Master.'I grumbled through the dull pain I was feeling at my knees as I focused myself back on the doodle that was supposed to be a defense system for the palace grounds. It was far too small of a circle, now that I thought about it. The size of the drawing did little to help me ascertain the types of circuits that I drew on it in the first place. Squinting even further, it felt as if I was reading my own handwriting from how jumbled and nonsensical it all looked with hindsight.
- The Least Common Denominator
CV.I Cotangent
Plans upon plans upon plans. I feel like I'm repeating myself whenever I say that I'm obsessed about things going right, and if not, to have plans to be able to properly react to the failure. Fool-proofing something small was easy. Doing it again for something on the scale of a war, however, was a completely different beast. The number of variables at play, hundreds to even thousands of moving parts to look over and take into account. The time, the weather, morale, even individuals that might have other ideas and could stray from the plans put into place... It was so much to think about that hours or even days of pouring over the relevant information wouldn't be enough to take everything into account into one's plans. And even if you think you somehow managed to achieve this impossibility, there will always be something so monumentally out of left field that could just absolutely destroy any and all plans along with its sub plans and
- The Least Common Denominator
Interlude XXXIX: Grigori
GRIGORI⬛⬛⬛*RRRRRUUUMMBBLLEEEE!!!! RRRRUUMMBBLEEEE!!!*"What's wrong, Lord Stone?! Finally getting tired in your old age?!"Grigori grumbled in annoyance as he found himself standing his ground in his self-made fortress. Truth be told, the former Prime expected his fight to be over over ten minutes ago. However, he severely underestimated his enemies' hidden tenacity and downright stubbornness."I'm just getting started, kid!" he boisterously replied. "I'm far from being done!"Still, even as he said those words, Grigori was beginning to feel more tired than he initially expected. His reserves were starting to run dry from the constant back and forth that the combined forces of Lords Breeze and Inferno were throwing at him. And that's not to mention the current
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.IV Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛"So Lord Iron truly took care of the problem?"Olivia held her breath as she found herself taking in the state that the young Num was just found in. Broken, battered, and bleeding all over, Tesla had clearly taken a beating of a lifetime as her head lolled in her unconscious state, her face marred with cuts and bruises as her white hair was stained brown with dried blood."Damn... I guess the ranking in the Prime Thirteen's not a joke, huh...""Lord Iron's the Sixth, after all. Lady Static's the Thirteenth...""Fuck..." Olivia swore under her breath, her teeth gnashing as she watched the Imperials gawk at her fallen friend. "How the hell do I get her out of there safely..."The warrior Den tuned everything out as she focused on the unenviabl
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.III Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛*c..crackle....*The faint sound of electricity seemed to crackle from the distance as Olivia stood in the middle of her self-made carnage. The lack of common sense that she was witnessing honestly made her feel more irritated than amused as she slowly walked towards the panicking commander. Olivia had places to be, and possibly someone to save depending on whether or not Tesla could somehow relay to her that she was okay."No matter," she sighed. "You idiots wouldn't understand, I guess.""No!-"*SLASH!*With a quick step, the commander didn't even stand a chance. His sword fell with an unceremonious clang onto the ground as his head rolled off his neck like a piece of meat. Olivia didn't flinch as the idiot's terrified fa
- The Least Common Denominator
CIV.II Transistor
OLIVIA⬛⬛⬛*CRACKLE! CRACKLE! KRAKATHOOM!*Olivia ran through the streets of Mathema like a woman possessed. Wreaking havoc across every Imperial contingent she came across, lightning followed her path as she relied on Tesla's ever-encompassing presence to deal massive damage on the enemy while despite being outnumbered by at least a hundred to one. She knew that Her Sister would no doubt disapprove of her current tactics, but if it worked, then why bother changing it?"If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?"*KRAKATHOOM!*"AAHHH!!!!""IT BURNS!"With a smile on her face and blood on her blade, Olivia uttered her Sister's own words out loud as a reminder. Lightning crackled behind her, screams of her fallen enemies saturat
