2020-12-20 17:00:59Doing surgery without the necessary tools, without the necessary sterilization procedures, without the technology that made the whole thing possible in the first place. Hoo boy... We're going full-on medieval style. How appropriate for the time and technological advances available.
"A blocked intestine?"I turned to Lace as she asked her innocent question. Intestines were already common knowledge in this era, right? She should already know about that part of the body. So instead..."The patient said that he ate some fruit off of a tree yesterday and nothing else ever since. Seeing as the guy was probably hungry, he possibly wolfed it down, seeds included."I suppressed the cringe bubbling up from my spine as I professionally relayed my diagnosis. There was no denying that the whole situation was borne from the stupidity and impatience of one man, but that wasn't a reason to crucify or make fun of him for it. I'd worse examples of stupidity
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The Least Common Denominator XX.VI Body Mass Index
And there it was... At the back of my mind, I was honestly just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And here it was in all of its glory...The man that ate a fruit whole was back with a vengeance."He was starting to turn really pale, and his medic said that you'd do surgery on him," Emerald rapid-fired in her panic, still carrying the man on her back like his life depended on it. "He was really noisy at one moment, then the next he became completely silent."My humor and sarcasm dropped."What?""He turned paler by the second too, and his stomach's getting bloated."My eyes widened at the symptoms being relayed to me. Didn't this guy just have a bowel obstruction of some kind? How the hell did his condition deteriorate this quickly?"Put him on the table face up."Dammit. This was looking to be more complicated than I thought. I mean, dealing with the human body was always needlessly complicated
The Least Common Denominator XX.VII Body Mass Index
I forcefully blanked my mind out as I pulled up all of the relevant information that I could manage. With a hand still hovering dangerously close to the patient's body, I shook my head furiously as I steeled myself for the inevitable scream that was going to come out of my patient's mouth as soon as my crooked scalpel made contact with his tender flesh."Get ready..." I whispered more to myself than towards my assistants as I let the scalpel's edge rest on the pale skin. "I'm going to start the incision."Like a poorly-practiced butcher, I forced myself through the hesitation that was threatening to swallow me whole as I let the blade glide across the abdomen like it was nothing. The edge might not be as smooth as I was used to, but it did the job well enough as I made a vertical incision down at the center of the abdomen; coming from just level with underneath the last bone of the rib, all the way down to just above the bladder-"UUURGGHHH!!!"
The Least Common Denominator The State of Affairs II
Death was always a concept that I have been strangely intimate with.Yeah. Ironic. Seeing as I killed myself in the first life without even looking back.But now that I think about it, death was always a specter of life that I somehow manage to find myself embroiled in for some reason. Whether it was the death of my grandparents wherein I first felt the call of death for the first time in my life, to becoming a doctor which were always associated with death if you really think about it, my life was, for all intents and purposes, pretty fucking morbid. And as I sit in solemn silence in front of the graves of my fallen comrades, I find it quite surprising that I honestly don't feel anything beyond exhaustion and existential dread."Sis?"Death was always eternal; never stopping, never waiting for anyone. A natural conclusion to the passage of time; nothing is able to escape its firm grasp on the conceptual being of every man, object, or natu
The Least Common Denominator XXI.I Vertex
"Where do you want it, Sis!?"It's been... two weeks? Since the attack? And life has kind of petered back to the same old shit of trying to improve our pitiful human lives. The settlement had been mostly rebuilt; houses and buildings that were once piles of wood and rubble now standing tall once more. Rock and cobble were also starting to appear in most of our designs, as the mines were starting to truly pick up some steam in terms of production. The previously wooden walls were now made of stone, and watchtowers now dotted throughout the settlement complete with an alarm system and some rudimentary sentries. And speaking of which..."Just place it by the gate!" I shouted out towards my sister who was currently straddling the newly built walls, carrying a huge ballista of our own make. "We'll add a ladder to it later!"Yeah... Ballistas. Or ballistae... I don't really fucking remember what the plural term for the thing was, were a thing now.
The Least Common Denominator XXI.II Vertex
I honestly didn't know what I expected. On one hand, I saw this coming a mile away, but on the other, I had hoped that they weren't going to ever come back.Now that was just wishful thinking, no?"Livia!""On it!"Moving quickly, we both sprinted out of the pantry and towards our respective room. Having our old abode destroyed by the first attack, I elected to simply have a room in the town hall for ease of access and overall convenience. It wasn't like I was going to be lazing around in my own house, anyway. And wherever I go, my sister would follow.*boom... boom...*The telltale sounds of explosions echoed from the distance as I hurriedly fumbled to unlock the door separating us from our weapons. Inserting the key, I grimaced as the damn thing refused to open
The Least Common Denominator XXI.III Vertex
Like last time.I didn't even have to ask for me to know just what Lace meant when she said it."I'm sorry..."Her last statement echoed inside my head as my grip on the straps wrapped around me tightened with each passing second.One-on-one... Alone... With a monster that I couldn't even scratch...Was I even supposed to live through this?Livia was seething, though there was a tinge of conflict in her tone as she tried to debate the older woman, "B-But... I can't possibly allow that to happen!""I know that! But it'd the best for us all if we didn't need to fight..."My mind was whirring with possibilities as my two apprentices debated right in front of me. If I wanted to avoid unnecessary casualties, I
The Least Common Denominator XXI.IV Vertex
As a weapons master herself, Mom taught me that I should never hesitate to switch weapons if the situation called for it. We had an inherent advantage over others in a sense that we were far more adaptable than the common warrior; that there was always a suitable weapon for any kind of scenario. Of course, I already knew that, but hearing this come from my Mom was still a treat for someone that was deprived of parental love for almost all of her first life. I drank in everything she taught me, learning the basics of every weapon imaginable as she drilled me nonstop in my earlier teen years.'No hesitation' she said. Let the body flow, do what you think is natural, switch to a more suitable weapon, if possible. That was the natural flow diagram of an accomplished weapons master. Never did she ever say that I should use weapons that I had no mastery with over something that I was very comfortable at. It was
The Least Common Denominator XXI.V Vertex
Okay... Relax... This isn't your first life and death fight by a longshot, Crimson... Ignore the massive urge on the back of your mind to run away screaming like the coward that you are... You can do this... Position your feet to balance... Reassess and recalculate the win condition...With a minor quake every few seconds, balance was going to be the major problem in even trying to get in and do some damage. The terrain has changed to be more dangerous than ever before; with the earth feeling more like mud than solid ground as I felt my feet partially sink into the dirt. Fissures and cracks as well were now scattered across the battlefield making careless navigation a problem. And now that I've seen it, I guess Lace was mistaken about the fact that the Prime had only the gauntlet to use to reshape the earth. That right leg of his glowed with the blue hum of Runic Essence; the greaves lined with runes mean
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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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
