Last Updated:
2021-10-21 17:00:49
MokouFriedChickenNever thought I'd even get this high on the Roman Numerals. Care to give me Gems? It helps my motivation to do better. To those wishing to contact me, kindly do so in my Discord. I accept private messages. My server's a bit dead at the moment, but feel free to join anyway: discord.gg/NZA6Jun Conversely, follow me on Twitter @FriedMokou.
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The Least Common Denominator XC.II Steam Power
My nerves were tingling as I reached the floor where the fighting was happening. Not that I could see it happening as soon as I reached it, but the amount of steam that greeted me almost made me cough as the smell of iron permeated the air. The heat and the humidity combined to make the halls feel like I was in back in the tropic as I got off the stairwell, sweat gathering on the unburnt parts of my body as I pressed on. The sounds of battle were as clear as day now, although the thuds and the hisses now bounced in between the walls of the corridors as they constantly changed locations."Ar-"I stopped myself, knowing full well that attracting attention was the worst thing I could ever do right now. Instead, I silently stalked the halls as I drew the Firebrand at the ready. The sound of my footsteps was thankfully masked by the ensuing fight, but it didn't stop me from noticin
The Least Common Denominator XC.III Steam Power
Right... Options!Time seemed to slow to a crawl as fighting instincts took over my senses. It didn't happen often, but I guess being in an enclosed space with two other combatants kicked something in my head to high gear as I watched the Prime whirl his axe over his head. I felt Arya tense in my periphery. If she was telling the truth, then she was gonna be greatly diminished in this fight... which meant she probably won't be able to defend this next attack!"Please die."*WHOOSH!*With a surprisingly polite request, a whirlwind of flame erupted from the man's whirling axe. Sweeping through the hallway, the heat quickly scorched what was left of the blood in the vicinity as it hurtled towards us in an arc. Looking at my partner, she only had a smirk as she raised her rapier for some reason. I was torn.
The Least Common Denominator Interlude XXXVI: Olivia XI
Olivia had thought that things were going far too smoothly.Yes, while they were besieged on all sides without so much as a wink of sleep for the past forty-eight hours, the Denominator barely counted her kills even as her Resolve continued to rake in kill after kill. Each floor they passed was bereft of any sort of enemy resistance after her and Lady Frost went through them. Even the occasional Num was no match to her speed, the poor fools barely even registering her presence before they found their heads rolling on the ground beneath them. In truth, most of her time was better spent worrying if her Big Sister was doing fine with Isaac as her partner.The boy had been training well under Grigori and occasionally, herself even if only a short amount of time has passed. He was progressing leaps and bounds, perhaps even better than she anticipated. Still, Olivia could not help b
The Least Common Denominator XCI.I Refractive Index
Through the looking glass... In retrospect, I probably should be more introspective these days. I haven't really been taking the time to just stop and think. Then again, where the hell do I even get the time for that when we're busy overthrowing an empire spanning across a small continent? Do I just drop everything and focus on the little things? A psychologist would probably say yes. And as a doctor, I'd probably agree. Health always comes first, after all.Unless, of course, if what you're dropping would mean that your life would be ruined or something comparable happens.*rruuumble...*The ground faintly shook beneath us. Arya and I were practically sprinting to the ground floor after our previous debacle. Our noses had probably fallen off at this point if they weren't glued to our faces with how bad we smelled, but I suppose I should thank huma
The Least Common Denominator XCI.II Refractive Index
*CLANG!*With zero regards for strategy, I rushed towards my opponent like a raging bull. The Firebrand clashed with the woman's halberd with a resounding clang, her face still colored by anger and confusion as I kept up the pressure.*CLANG! CLANG!*Two more strikes. Twice blocked, but it didn't deter me from pressing the attack. The Prime was clearly getting annoyed now, if the look on her face was any indication."Enough!"*SLAM! CRACK!*I quickly jumped back as she managed to slam her halberd down on the ground. Spikes made of gemstones immediately followed her movement, skewering the air that I was once at before more erupted towards me.Sprinting around the Prime, I felt Livia assume her stance from my mind's eye as I outran the
The Least Common Denominator XCI.III Refractive Index
Come on, Crimson. Think about this!*CLANG! CLANG!*Letting my instincts take over for a while, I felt myself detach from the fight before me as my brain ran in hyper mode. Well, as fast as it could possibly go with the lack of sleep and constant pain, that is.*SLAM! CRACK!*Okay... I'm still able to dodge the sudden spikes, at least. Garnet's halberd and fighting style still felt familiar enough that I can run on auto-pilot, but her strength had clearly been taken up a notch despite my own strength not being that weak anymore....*CLANG! CLANG!*My two-handed style can't cut through. She seemed to be reading my movements fairly well. Her halberd's reach prevents me from fighting at mid-range, and her control of her element makes it dangerous to stay at close ra
The Least Common Denominator XCI.IV Refractive Index
For a brief moment, I saw stars and lights light up in my eyes. A burning sensation in my sides only exacerbated the situation, my ribs creaking with each breath that I took.That, and the numerous shards piercing my body was starting to register in my head as I came to."Had enough, Crimson?"With a groan, I blinked the confusion out of my eyes, the pain searing through my very being ignored by the pressing concern of actually losing. I found myself looking up to my adversary, her halberd dangerously pointed at me as she stood at attention.Well, that wouldn't do, now did it?Forcing my body to move, I vaulted on top of my staff once more, my entire upper body straining at the effort that I think I actually screamed in pain a little bit."Oh no, you don't!"
The Least Common Denominator Interlude XXXVIII: Arya V
As soon as the dome made of solid gems rose from the ground, Arya knew that something bad was going to happen.Already, despite their best efforts, the onslaught of enemies never seemed to abate as more and more Numerators began flooding from the front gate. Slowly but surely, the weak and puny Decimals were replaced with semi-competent Addends and Subtrahends that actually knew what they were doing. From coordinated attacks to passable sneak hits, the former Prime was hard-pressed to keep her composure even as her arsenal grew with each body that she and Olivia felled."You doing okay there, Olivia?~""I'm... doing fine!" the young woman panted at her, her blade stained with dripping crimson despite her obvious disadvantage. "Just get my sister... out of that thing!"Arya almost clicked her tongue in annoyance. The fac
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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
