2020-12-24 17:00:18
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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
The Least Common Denominator XXI.VI Vertex
I shook my head at the thought of getting defeated. Being negative now would just make it come true even harder. I had to focus! I couldn't afford to lose here! Especially if Livia was watching, and most assuredly, she was probably already by the sidelines cheering me on. Nope! I had to win this! It didn't matter that he was holding back! It just meant that he was underestimating me by a significant margin.And I could use that.Steeling my resolve even further, I crouched low on the ground before flying straight at the waiting Prime. If he wasn't taking me seriously, then I should take him down now before he even begins to wisen up.*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*"Such ferocity in your attacks, Miss Crimson," the Prime commented with a finesse that he had no right in having while blocking my attacks. "Now, this is something th
The Least Common Denominator Interlude VII: Olivia IV
"Let me go! She needs help! Can't you see?!"Previously content with watching from the sidelines, Olivia struggled against her comrades' grasp as she tried to throw herself to her sister's aid. While she managed to contain herself when her sister still had some semblance of a chance against the Prime, all sense of control went out of the window as soon as she saw her precious Crimson eat a solid blow straight to the face.The amount of time it took for her sister to stand back up almost made her heart stop."We can't interfere, Olivia," the green traitor whispered for the umpteenth time as she held her bound on her right arm. "You know that. She'll be fine. Master can get through this.""She's outclassed!" the younger sister yelled out, her voice coming out more pleading than she would've hoped. "You don't know what tha
The Least Common Denominator Checkpoint II
Waking up sore and groggy was the last thing on my bucket list as I forced my eyes to open for another grueling day of this accursed life. I felt like absolute shit, and my body ached in places that I never thought even existed despite my firm knowledge pertaining to the human anatomy."On your feet, Dirt Eater."My ears rang at the commanding tone. That's the sound of the alarm, Crimson. Best get moving...My knees threatened to collapse from under me as I struggled to get up from my piss-poor accommodations. I haven't got a clue as to where I was, how I got here, or even why the fuck I was being kept alive for this long in the first place. This was torture, most likely; a penance for all of the shit that I ever did to these fucks.What those were? I hadn't got a single clue."Am I gonna ge
The Least Common Denominator In the Eyes of Management II
The Empire of Numenor was, at its core, a dictatorial monarchy. While it was established as a democracy if one were to dig deep enough into its origins, the people simply elected whoever was the next Babbage available into leadership. Have that happen a few more generations, and the voting process was scrapped entirely and the Royal family was established to avoid the hassle of holding an election in the first place.Of course, to those that know their history, an escape clause was always within the Empire's constitution that should the leader be deemed unfit by the people, then a revolution will be considered just and legal. Why that existed in the constitution? Who knows? But perhaps the country's founders knew that such a day would come; that there will be someone that lacked the brains to know that leading like a spoiled brat will doom the country.And while Charlie wasn't
The Least Common Denominator XXII.I Square Root
I opened my eyes to day number.... I don't know... eighty? a hundred and five?Hmm... Yeah... Probably the latter...Okay. Day number a hundred and five since I was put in this prison. It was kind of daunting to think about Like, holy shit. It's been well over three months ever since I tasted the air of freedom? Even my time at the Furnace wasn't as long as this one."Wake up."Heeding my alarm, my stomach grumbled as I got a whiff of the once in a blue moon ration being held out to me. At first, it was bland as shit in my mouth. I was pretty sure that the damn thing didn't have any nutritional value whatsoever beyond sawdust and burnt scraps. But with time, I came to appreciate the dry and ashy texture of edible food as opposed to the constant hunger rocking my body.Hunger truly was the mo
The Least Common Denominator XXII.II Square Root
I'm almost at my breaking point."On your feet, Dirt Eater."Hearing this shit call me Dirt Eater for like the hundredth time each fucking morning was running a train of annoyance through my nerves. Each day, of each week, of each fucking month, I always hear this shit heel call for me. The last of my patience had already evaporated just over a week ago, and I could only stifle a glare as forced myself off of my cot. I hope this fuck dies a gruesome death.Getting up on my feet due to this fuck yanking on my chain, my mind raced with pure hatred and malice as the fuck led me to my most hated place in existence. There was probably a time when I liked making stuff with my hands and at least get some exercise while I'm at it, but the monotony of it all simply eroded at my patience until all that was left was utter contempt and emptiness at the act of
The Least Common Denominator XXIII.I Factorial
Has it been a year? It didn't feel like a year has passed.My hair had visibly lost its luster as I managed to get a glimpse of my reflection from the scant amount of water that the guard gave me. I keep saying that all hope within me has gone and evaporated into nothingness, but only now did I truly realize what true despair was. The gnawing feeling of emptiness and lack of future coalescing into a writhing void of black tar settled inside my chest like a cancer devouring what little happiness I could derive from my situation. I was back to where I started; the day when I died during my first life. I hadn't even noticed when my cell door opened; my dutiful alarm looking at me with the same old scowl and disdain that he showed me since the first day I ever set foot in this place."You have a visitor."I raised an eyebrow at the statement. A v
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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
