The Least Common Denominator

L.IV Equilibrium

I paced around the small hill, knowing that going up there with no plan at all would be tantamount to suicide. The Prime had the high ground, but that didn't mean that it was impossible to beat him despite his overwhelming advantage against me in speed, strength, and experience...

Okay. Maybe it was impossible, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a way for me to get through this.

"C'mon, Little Eul!" Lord Stone called out to me with his arms spread out. "You're mother would've swung at me already!"

I snorted, "I'm not my mother, Sir!"

There was no need to rush when I knew that Livia was just stuck inside her dome. She was safe in the meantime. Meanwhile, I was burning daylight trying to think up a way to approach the guy without eating shit in five seconds. Let me take my sweet ass time, dammit.

 

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• The Least Common Denominator   L.V Equilibrium

  I tilted my head in confusion, my victory utterly shoved to the back of my mind as more pressing matters threatened to swarm my thoughts. Congratulations? Pass? What the hell did I pass? A test? An exam?"I see that you're confused," the Prime nodded to himself as he stood over me. "Well, ask your questions and I shall explain them!"How forthcoming... But that didn't mean I didn't forget the reason I fought so hard in the first place, "Before anything, let my sister go.""Your sister? Oh! Olivia, was it?"Without any more prompting, the muscle-bound man sauntered his way to his war hammer. Removing it from the earth, the dome trapping Livia finally lifted revealing a wholly scared, yet utterly mad young girl. The grip on her blades was bleeding, and her eyes held a manic glint in them that I had only seen in a mirror o

• The Least Common Denominator   L.VI Equilibrium

  "First up, stop calling me Lady," I pointedly demanded. "I'm not one of your Primes just yet."Grigori snickered in his seat, "Oh, of course, Little Eul. I suppose the same will go for Littlest Eul over there?"I rolled my eyes at the Prime's designated nickname for Livia, "Yeah, sure. Whatever."I felt my fingers tremble from the anxious energy that I was feeling. I was getting rather impatient and I knew it. I gotta focus and get all the info I could get out of this man before running for the hills.I guess I should put the train back on track, "So, my earlier question?"Last I recalled, Love pointedly said to us that the Emperor was more than capable of holding a mean grudge. And while I might have been able to slip under the radar during the first few months of my then-rebellion, the amo

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.I Number Line

  Purpose: something that I never had in my previous life that resulted in my eventual demise by my own hand. While most were easily content with just staying alive and calling it a day, I was stupid enough to go higher and tried to find something that I was decent enough to do for the rest of my life without killing myself. Of course, we all know how that turned out, but I guess I just didn't try hard enough, in my opinion. Perhaps I was meant to be a doctor despite my hatred of responsibility? Or maybe I was actually supposed to be that one perpetually tired doctor that's somehow good with her job despite not really wanting to do anything with it? Either way, it was too late to speculate such things now that it had already come and passed.Besides, I had a better purpose of living leading me in the front right now."We're almost, Sis. Just stick close."

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.II Number Line

  Okay, Crimson... Think... Let's survey the area and see what the hell were our options in this fucked up situation...Peeking out of the foliage, our current position was one of relative safety at the very least. Foliage all around, albeit kind of dry in terms of temperature and humidity. The camps were firmly in the center of a clearing surrounded by dry forest, counting to at least ten to fifteen campfires interspersed throughout the area. The surrounding forest connected to our current hiding spot; forming a circle of treeline around the proverbial death zone, while our apparent end target according to Livia was on the opposite side of the clearing which I could actually see was a real path complete with a trail...Okay? Now what?"Can't we just follow the tree line and avoid all of this entirely?" I whispered out."

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.III Number Line

  Like a wasp hive that got unceremoniously disturbed, the soldiers quickly came out of their revelry as I heard them immediately swarm our position. While I couldn't tell how many or how far they were in virtue of the tent's remains blocking our vision, I could still tell from the sound of boots on the ground that it was not just a substantial amount."Identifiez-vous!" What sounded like a stereotypical French dude shouted at us from outside the tent. I could already tell from the tone that he was far from happy with our current arrangements. "Sortez et rendez-vous!""What're they saying, Sis?" Livia whispered behind me."I have no idea."I could probably infer what the hell they were saying through what few loan words I knew, but other than that and their tone, I had absolutely no clue on whatever the fuck they were say

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.IV Number Line

  "Sis?!""Just stick close and watch our backs!"Running into yet another dead end with Not-French soldiers following in our wake, I swung the Firebrand at some of the soldiers that got too close for comfort while Livia covered for me. The cacophony of noise and activity around us was at an all-time high; our enemies constantly shouting 'ecume imperiale' at us like it was gonna stop us from running away."Arrêter!" a soldier screamed at us as as soon as we saw him at the end of a corner. "Vous ne vous éloignerez jamais de nous!""Fucking shit..." I cursed under my breath as I immediately backpedaled. "Livia?!""We can't!" my sister shouted from behind me, our backs against each other as we methodically got sandwiched between two enemy detachments. "They're behind us as well!"

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.V Number Line

  "How about no, Madame?!"Turning the fuck around, I pulled Livia by the arm as we sprinted the hell away from whatever it was that this chick could do. If she was an earth Num, then surely she'd need to use that saber of hers to do something as large as that gigantic hole she just made. It'll take time for her to catch us so long as-*RUMBLE!*"What the fuck!?""Sis?!- Ooof!"Livia collided against my back as I stopped in my tracks. My eyes felt like they were about to come out of their sockets as I stared at the thing blocking our path. It was impossible, right? This shouldn't be possible...A wall of leaves and flowers utterly blocked us from retreating further."W-what is that..." Livia whispered behind me as I let go of her hand.

• The Least Common Denominator   LI.VI Number Line

  C-Cinq surccuu- what? Third Branch? What the hell did that all even mean?!"Speechless? You savages are usually so full of themselves whenever I do this," the newly-named Jospehine de Tourniquet hung her head in false exasperation as she seemingly shook her head at us. "Surely you have heard of the... Five Branches... if I'm translating this to your inferior language correctly..."While all of this was going on to her own fucking convenience, the wicked branches never stopped being heat-seeking missiles for us as they continued their warpath for our blood. The first few rays of the sun revealed the branches' light brownish color and red-tinged tips, but that didn't change the fact that Livia and I were still fighting for our fucking lives here!"Five... Branches?!" I panted out just as I deflected yet another rock-hard branch with my blade. "What t

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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