What do I know of Chatterbox?
First off, according to the rapture signal reader, it is a Tyrant-class rapture. So it would be like facing either Gravedigger or Black Smith, in terms of power alone.
Secondly, it is outlandishly intelligent. Setting aside its ability to speak cohesively and understand human emotion, enough to convey and pick up sarcasm, it can set up ambushes and learn from mistakes. It also can somehow command rapture to do its bidding. Hence, any plan I make needs to be flexible enough to adapt to sudden changes caused by it, either by calling in reinforcement or by doing something out of my prediction.
After all, my objective is to capture it alive. As alive as rapture can be, anyway.
The question comes to mind. How should I capture a tyrant-class rapture like Chatterbox?
Destroying its core is off the table. Raptures can't repair their own parts without assistance from a type of Lord-class rapture called Doctor, so I need to disarm Chatterbox without killing it. That means cutting off its limbs, removing its weapon, and then keeping it restrained somehow.
Thankfully, the Wardress already lightened up this mission with their ability. Yuni's power should prevent Chatterbox from targeting us by sight, while Mihara's power should distract it from devising countermeasures.
Once their special powers hit Chatterbox, they can maintain it as long as they can concentrate. Because of that, they are vulnerable to surprise attacks from Chatterbox, so I told them to position themselves far enough from Chatterbox yet close enough to keep their power tethered to it. They decided to hide inside a building about a hundred meters from us.
Turning back to my squad, I feel confident we can do it.
Anis is laying down suppression bombardment while Rapi intercepts every missile coming out of Chatterbox's back attachment. All eight of them exploded loudly, shattering every glass on nearby buildings that had survived up to this point. Chatterbox is not looking good either. Its outer armor is littered with various cracks, revealing a gorilla's upper body made of metal fibers weaved tightly like muscle.
Chatterbox's wounds don't seem to impede it at all. It seems to only encourage it to jump around recklessly, approaching the source of bombardment, each step getting closer and closer to Anis.
With a final step, it jumps straight to Anis, fist first with unbelievable speed. However, as if anticipating this, she had deployed her defensive barrier to block Chatterbox's attack."How amusingly futile your effort is, impostor! You cannot see the truth before you even when it hits you right on your face!"Chatterbox taunted seconds before its attack hit.
With a grin as wide as her face could allow, she replied, "Counter argument: Fuck you!" With a yell, she blocked Chatterbox's fist with the gauntlet barrier. The barrier broke under Chatterbox's sheer force, but it had done its job. Rapi had appeared behind Anis to carry her as they dashed away with a burst of speed provided by the boots.
"Do it now, Neon!" Rapi said as the duo landed beside a grinning Neon, who had been holding a detonator all this time. While Rapi and Anis were busy distracting and damaging Chatterbox, I had tasked Neon to place several explosives on the support pillars in several buildings nearby. Now that Chatterbox is where I want it to be, the final step of this plan is about to come to fruition.
"EAT THIS! MAXIMUM FIRE~POWER~!" Neon's voice was filled with unrestrained glee as she slammed her thumb on the detonator.
"W-what is this!?"Chatterbox growled in surprise as the ground shook wildly. Explosions ripped through the air as the support pillars of nearby buildings collapsed in a chain reaction. Tons of concrete, steel, and shattered glass rained down on Chatterbox, burying the hulking rapture under a five-story avalanche of destruction. The dust cloud that followed blanketed the battlefield, blocking out the light and muffling the sounds around us.
We watch the wreckage burying it in silence, all weapons pointed at it just in case. By my mental calculation, the amount of ruins falling on Chatterbox should have damaged it badly enough that we could easily finish it off. However, I get this feeling in the back of my mind that an enemy like it shouldn't be this easy to defeat. It's not like Gravedigger, who was mindlessly chasing us without any consideration or self-preservation.
Raising my hand, I get in contact with the Wardress squad. "Mihara, do you feel anything different from your connection to Chatterbox?"
"I don't think so, Commander," She answered from the comms. "I think it is still working as normal."
As if waiting for Mihara's answer, Chatterbox lunged out of the debris like a predator springing from the underbrush. My hands clenched instinctively around the hilt of my gun sword. Not good. The layers of concrete and steel meant to immobilize it had barely scratched its body. Sure, the number of wounds had increased—cracks crawled across its armored skin, and electric sparks shot out from its shallow wounds—but its movements showed no loss in performance. It was still dangerous. Worse, it might be faking its injuries, baiting us into thinking it's less capable.
I can't afford to assume otherwise without tearing it apart to know for sure.
Alright, so dropping a building on it wasn't enough. Fine. I've got other ideas, but the time and resources to construct a containment unit are luxuries I don't have. Besides, I don't think Chatterbox would fall for the same trap twice.
I considered using [Technomancy] to control it, but can I actually do it? Maybe if I had preparation time and prod him a bit. But every instinct screamed at me not to. I didn't know how its systems would interact with my perk. In the worst case, I could invite something far worse into my head by hijacking Chatterbox, since [Technomancy] works by using user aura as a medium to form the connection. The chance of getting into contact with unknown factors is a risk I am not willing to take right now.
Then I should go with my original plan instead. Leveraging sneak attack, my speed, and power, I should be able to personallyrelieveChatterbox from all of its limbs.
I take a deep breath and observe Chatterbox from my hiding spot behind a crumbling wall. My grip on the gun sword tightens as I fight the urge to jump into the fray. I only have one chance to do this right, and I will be damned if I squander it!
Wordlessly, I pinged my squad with the comms signal, sending them an instruction to launch another suppression bombardment. Without hesitation, they answered. Neon's shotgun flared to life, shredding whatever armor chatterbox had left. Rapi moved with precision, her rifle targeting weak points in the Rapture's joints and bringing it down to its knees. At the same time, Anis fearlessly took the front, unleashing a relentless grenade bombardment. Their assault forced Chatterbox to divide its focus. And with Wardress's abilities amplifying the confusion, the hulking Tyrant was falling into disarray.
I took this chance to get closer to Chatterbox slowly, moving carefully so as not to alert it. However, I did not get as close as I liked before it acted out of my prediction.
"Is that all you got, Human Impostors!?"The tyrant roared menacingly, missiles propelling from its back like fireworks as it blocked flanking attacks from Rapi and Neon with its massive arms."Taking away my sight and distracting me with this new sensation will only prolong your meaningless resistance! Isn't it easier to just lie down and die? After all, no human would miss an impostor like you all!"It continued to mock while bloating the sky with even more missiles.
Dammit, the amount of guided missiles it fired far surpassed my most pessimistic estimation! It should not be possible for it to launch forty-eight missiles half as big as a normal human with only eight launch tubes! Did the Rapture have access to some kind of dimensional storage technology? That many missiles will blast everything around Chatterbox into smithereens.
I grit my teeth, realizing that Chatterbox had played me. By using all of its launch tubes one after another at the start, it had given me the impression that it had used all of its missile supplies and could not spam it at will. The Rapture I had faced up until now did not have the kind of technology that would allow something like what Chatterbox is doing.
I stepped into [Strategy Trance]. My mind begins shaping various plans to resolve this, discarding and refining every available path. The missiles would obliterate us and our surroundings if they landed close to us. I don't have time to consider the repercussions of revealing my perks to Chatterbox if I want us to survive. That is how pressed for time I am. I need something I can do now before it is too late to act.
Looking at Chatterbox with my Aura Sight, I notice how despite its sight being blocked by Yuni's detached aura, its aura had done some rearrangement. Some parts had suddenly grown as if it was always there, while other parts had shrunk to the point that if not because of my various perks, I would have dismissed them.
Upon closer look, I can see tendrils made of aura as thin as several strands of hair connecting the guided missiles to the sharp metallic-bone-like structures coming out of its back.
I know how to solve this.
Stepping out of the trance, I take a deep breath. I fill my lungs with air and infuse them with a twelfth of my mana reserves. Then I open my mouth, letting my voice laced with mana echo through the air.
"{Obey me},"I whispered full of intent.
The wind shimmered with intent as it cut the tendrils connecting the missiles to Chatterbox. Through [Technomancy, I seized control of the missiles' guidance systems, connecting the disconnected aura tendrils with my mana-infused aura. Their trajectories wavered, faltered, and then curved sharply as I will them. I directed more than half of them to discharge their payload far above the sky, while whatever left reversed course, flying back toward their owner.
Chatterbox may not be able to see them coming, but it realizes that something had gone wrong the moment its connection to the missiles had been cut. Its oversized jaw started to open, perhaps to issue another taunt or scream at us. However, the first missile slammed into its chest before it could utter a word, then blow up in fiery corrosive glory. It causes smoke to hide part of Chatterbox's body. The leftover missiles didn't have the decency to wait for their turn, as they relentlessly pierced through the smoke and exploded upon hitting its battered body. One of them even detonated on its shoulder, causing Chatterbox to lose an arm before smoke utterly swallowed it.
The amount of energy discharged at that moment was enough to light up the battlefield like a second sun. Shockwaves rippled through the air, sending atrocious sounds that would have deafened normal humans even from this distance, and that was after I had angled the worst damage away from Counters. Thankfully, they hide behind Anis's barrier, mitigating most of the damage they would have taken otherwise.
All of a sudden, my comms start pinging like crazy. Reflectively, I answered the call and was greeted by Yuni's frantic voice. "Commander! Mihara is-! Mihara is-!"
Her tone caused dozens of worst-case scenarios to cross my mind before I could reel back my thoughts from [Strategy Trance]. Taking a deep breath, I attempt to soothe her nerves with an instruction, "Take a deep breath, Yuni." I listen to her breath, waiting until it slows down. After it returns to normal, I say, "Tell me, what happened to Mihara? Is she conscious?"
In a voice that barely masks her worry, Yuni replies, "She isn't. I don't know what happened to her. We were grasping our hold on Chatterbox when suddenly Mihara started screaming and scratching her skin in pain!"
Before I could give her a reply, a sinister laugh interrupted. The grating laugh comes out of where Chatterbox once stood, deep under the smoke."HEH…EHEH…EHAHAHAHA!"
With a slash of its tail, the blanket of smoke parted ways as Chatterbox emerged from it casually. It looks like it had been dragged out of hell with how little of its body was not covered with burn marks. It had lost its front armor, revealing a battered body with various see-through holes on its chest.
I stepped into [Strategy Trance] without a second thought.
Chatterbox is still alive, which means whatever happens to Mihara is caused by her tethered connection to it. Looking at its aura, I notice another part of Chatterbox's aura responsible for its organs is linked to where the blue glow of Mihara's ability once was. I clearly remember that Chatterbox only has one connection to Mihara's aura, not two.
…I really want to smack myself upside down because of how obvious it was in hindsight. Mihara canswap senseswith her target, forcing it to feel pain if she injures herself. So if we hurt the target, the pain it feels should have been transmitted back to Mihara. Normally this would be a non-issue since normal Raptures did not have the receptor to feel it. Still, Chatterbox somehow grew itself an organ and modified parts of its aura solely to feel pain.
This means that Mihara had felt the agony of being blasted and burned with several missiles and was faced with sensory overload so bad that she instinctively cut off her connection to Chatterbox to escape it.
Stepping out of [Strategy Trance, I order Yuni to lie down Mihara comfortably and let her rest. I also told her that she could stop using her power and focus on taking care of Mihara instead.
"Don't underestimate me, Commander," Yuni replied, her voice wavering but reinforced with determination. "I can handle this. Just… kill the bastard responsible for this, please?" Gone is her whininess, replaced by a tone that desires retaliation. I can't fault her for feeling the need to exact grievous vengeance when she doesn't know who her target is.
Because I would do the same thing if I was in her position.
"Trust me, Yuni. I will make Chatterbox wish it never had been born." I reassured her, looking in the direction where Chatterbox was.
Using its left arm as a crutch, Chatterbox limply walks out of the smoke. Despite its battered body, the malice it radiates does not diminish in the slightest. It seems to be intensified, solidifying into black liquids that drip out of its wounds.
"I didn't expect the Ark to be capable of replicating Siren's ability, especially with how lacking they are at creating an impostor."It spat with a venomous voice,"But even with Ark's continuous decadence, someone must have figured out how to scrape together a working product or two. After all, the two Human Impostors responsible for my condition exist, yes? How….Amusing,"Chatterbox guffaws derisively, straightens its pose, and begins walking step by step like a bipedal gorilla.
However, with each step it takes, its wounds starthealingas if it was never there.
No… Calling it "healing" is wrong. The black liquid that oozes out of its wounds fills the holes in its body, only for the black liquid to suddenly transform into part of Chatterbox's body. The black liquid also leaks out of its right shoulder faster. Far faster as the liquid itself gains more cohesion and begins shaping itself like an arm. Then it stops being liquid and starts being Chatterbox's arm. I see it ignored most of its separated right arm lying down just a few steps away from itself.
"B-but that's impossible! Rapture shouldn't be able to do that!?" Anis unconsciously remarked loudly, drawing Chatterbox's attention with how fast it faced Anis's direction. Its maw's open widely as if readying to swallow her whole even if it is far from her position.
"According to whom, you third-rate impostor? Do you truly believe we did not make any preparations when we knew we were being 'hunted'?"Chatterbox said, actively ridiculing our effort to track it down. But that is a distraction."What a foolish assumption!"It scoffed, taking advantage of Anis's carelessness by lifting its repaired right arm and attempting to use its Heavy Particle Cannon toward Anis.
A single strike from that kind of weapon could obliterate her without leaving any sign of struggle. Even with the barrier made by the gauntlet, it's still a coin toss between survival and certain death.
However, the key word here is 'attempting'.
My body moved before my mind could be drowned by hesitation, dashing forward with all the speed I could muster. I closed the gap in a heartbeat, positioning myself beneath Chatterbox's arm. Gripping the gun sword tightly, I swung it towards its right arm with all my might plus enhanced strength from mimicking Nikke's muscle with [Technomancy]'s spell. My action severed half of the lower parts of its cannon, causing electrical sparks to jump around in a moment.
Stunned by my action, Chatterbox let out a frustrated howl."This-! What is this! Why do you feel like a human and an impostor at the same time?! How can this be?"It protested, moving erratically as it tried to hit me.
"It's fine to assume that a Commander's role is just to sit back and give orders, Chatterbox," I said, rolling away from its damaged arm. By sheer force alone, it caused craters to be formed wherever its knuckle landed. The dust it produced dispersed to the air, making it harder to breathe.
Yet that did not stop me from speaking back, "However, it's not a foregone conclusion. There are commanders like me, who can absolutely wreck your shiny ass!" I shouted, turning my sword to gun form and dumping my ammos at its injured arm as fast as I could. Then, I gave myself some distance from it, enough to take a breather.
Without looking away from it, I yell at the top of my lungs, "Counters, focus!" I reprimanded, causing Anis to snap out of her bewilderment. It helps that Neon is right beside her to shake Anis up. Meanwhile, Rapi is already pointing her weapon at Chatterbox. She would have started shooting if not because of me being too close to it while moving at high speed.
Aware of how persistent Chatterbox is, I continue to pressure it. The wind swept past me as I sidestepped its intact arm, causing it to smash the ground and send rocks flying everywhere. I feel my instinct whispering to my ears, causing me to tilt my head just in time for me to avoid getting hit by the rocks. My blood rushes faster as the desire to subjugate thismonstrous beastgrows within me.
I bite my tongue, trying to counteract this urge by remembering my true objective. What led me to agree to this mission in the first place.
I weave between its gigantic fists, slithering tail, and multi-function spikes on its back that spit out lasers and energy missiles. Approaching Chatterbox's left arm, I cast a [Technomancy] spell to overlay Nikke's synthetic muscle upon myself. With renewed vigor, I swung my sword at its left forearm, heavily damaging it to the point that the forearm was almost severed. The sound of wind rustling caused me to move sideways, dodging Chatterbox's serpentinous tail as it swept its surroundings like a broom.
It's not enough. I can hear the loud squelching sound of the black liquid doing its work, repairing the damage I had done in a matter of seconds. I was about to continue pressing it down when, out of the blue, I heard the rumble of debris falling and a building crumbling. It was soon followed by the sounds of gunfire and explosion, followed by metallic screeching.
The sound comes from behind us, about one hundred meters away. Even if I knew it was foolish to be distracted in a battle, I couldn't help but turn my back, freezing as I saw the tallest building behind us crumbling.
The building itself is nothing special. It used to be a 12-story apartment with a clear bird's eye view of the road where we fought against Chatterbox. But that building played an important role in our battle.
Because that is where Yuni and Mihara were hiding.
"As expected. My sight finally returns to me."Chatterbox claims as it stands arrogantly across us. Its grating voice caused me to snap back and refocus on it.
Chatterbox somehow found the Wardress's hiding spot and then did something to Yuni to break her hold over itself. Most likely, it uses several Raptures to search their whereabouts. But how can it communicate with the other raptures when it's busy fighting against us? More importantly, how can the Chatterbox find them in the first place?
No, that's jumping to conclusions. Chatterbox doesn't have to be the one to find their location. For all I know, the Raptures could be very persistent in their search and then stumble on the Wardress's spot.
"What have you done, Chatterbox!?" I screamed, demanding an answer from it. I was so tempted to use [Technomancy] to just take control of it and damn the possible consequences. Thankfully, I managed to restrain myself from doing so.
"Wouldn't youloveto know?"It sneered, voices filled only with mockeries.
Blood rushed into my head as anger slowly seeped into my thoughts. At this point, the only thing holding me back is my concern about Wardress's safety.
The grin on Chatterbox's face got wider as if it fed on my reaction. It opens its maw,"Nothing much. I just delegate severalunderlingsto do a mundane job, you see? Just a simplegroceryrun."
The blood that had been slowly boiling inside of me instantly froze as realization crashed through my mind. The way it emphasizes the words 'underlings' and 'grocery' sends my thoughts into a downward spiral. One that caused me to enter [Strategy Trance] without my prompting.
I need to fulfill two objectives: capture Chatterbox and ensure the Wardresses' safety. What can I do to achieve both?
Slowly, several plans started forming in my mind. One plan has the greatest possible outcome, but it also has the highest chance of failing. It is a reckless, crazy, over-the-top, insane, and super extra stupid plan. But it boasts the highest survival chance for everyoneexcept me.
It tells me more about myself when I don't hesitate to implement this plan.
Stepping out of [Strategy Trance, I faced it and declared, "Time out, Chatterbox." as I masked my expression in arrogance. Deference to it will easily be read as fake and only raise its caution, while confidence will not work since that is my state most of the time when I fight it. The only reason I masked myself with arrogance was because it expected me to fake my arrogance. It's a case of 'I know you know, but I know you know that-" situation. Playing within an expectation is more advantageous to me since at any time a perk could be sent by the Forge and upset the balance in my favor.
"You may have less than a minute."It granted, finding this situation more amusing to itself. Also, it hid the fact by not giving me an exact duration, only an implied limit. According to my simulation, it would strike when thirty seconds had passed, long enough for Chatterbox to repair and slowly charge up its particle cannons.
"Counters, quickly gather around me!" I ordered.
It took several moments before we all regrouped. Rapi is the first to arrive, as she has the advantage of higher mobility than all of us. Neon and Anis soon followed, one with an uncharacteristic frown while the other with a fake cocky smirk that hid the guilt underneath. 25 seconds left before Chatterbox's sneak attack.
"Listen carefully," I begin with a low voice, looking at everyone's eyes to convey the gravity of what I was about to say. "I want all of you to make sure the Wardresses are safe, then return here with them. I will keep Chatterbox busy-"
"Wait, what?!" Neon interrupted, her eyes bulging at me. "You can't be serious, Mentor. You'll be—"
"Dead," Anis finished, her fake grin replaced by pursed lips. Her eyes glared at me. "You'll be dead if you face it alone." She stated with more certainty.
"Didn't you see how fast it could repair itself?! If you didn't kill it in one shot then it will just keep getting up endlessly! You should not have to face it alone. If anything, we should have retreated by now!" Anis raised her voice, but her worried tone betrayed her true intention.
"...As long as Commander is not alone against Chatterbox, You wouldn't mind, would you, Anis?" Rapi's question threw me off the loop. Once again my simulation is triumphed by information I did not possess.
"Sure, but why on earth would you ask that, Rapi?" Anis said offhandedly.
Dismissing Anis's casual inquiry, Rapi turns her stare at me. "Commander, leave the retrieval of the Wardress squad to me. I can handle it alone." She asserted with confidence.
"Very well. I trust your judgment on your own capability, Rapi." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder firmly.
"Thank you, Commander." She said, looking down in embarrassment. I drew my hand back as she took a deep breath to ease her nerves. "Anis, Neon, please keep this a secret." She turned to look at Anis and Neon, who nodded back white looking at her confusedly.
Rapi closed her eyes and inhaled deeply again, this time with purpose. I felt her aura stir, flaring to life like a cape. When she opened her mouth, her voice carried a weight I hadn't expected. "Inputting Liberation Code. Operating level increased to the limit of the sub-generator. Secret body: Activate!"
A synthetic, feminine voice emerged from Rapi herself, almost as if her body were speaking independently."Recognition Complete. / Code Name: Red Hood / Status: Fully Active."
In an instant, her entire body seemed to ignite. A fiery glow enveloped her form, casting an almost otherworldly light around her. Her hair and eyes turned crimson, burning like embers.
"I'm going now, Commander," she said.
I gave her a small, reassuring smile. "Be careful," I mouthed, knowing she'd understand even if I didn't say it aloud.
She blinked, her cheeks darkening ever so slightly before she quickly averted her gaze. Shaking her head as if to refocus, she locked eyes with me again, her expression resolute. "I swear I won't let you down," she said, then turned and sprinted off, leaving a trail of heat and light in her wake.
I watched her disappear into the distance, feeling a strange mix of pride and dread settle in my chest. Then I turned back to Neon and Anis, my voice sharpening as I snapped them to attention.
"Anis, Neon, with me," I ordered, then facing Chatterbox, who was looking at where Rapi was heading in astonishment. "It's time for Round 2, Chatterbox!"
"..Not to rain on your parade, mentor, but doesn't it feel more like the third, or was it fourth, round?"
…dammit Neon.
Of course, that is when Celestial Forge activates and sends me three amazing perks that I did not have the time to process right now, as the fight against Chatterbox needs to be prioritized.
[ "Chapter 4" ]
[ "Tenth rolls" ]
24. -I Know What We're Going To Do Today (Phineas and Ferb) (400CP)
24 hours just doesn't seem like enough time to get stuff accomplished, but you'd be surprised what determination (and this perk) can get you. You can now complete days and even weeks worth of work in just a few hours, and this effect increases tremendously when you have a few helpers, to the point where a small team can work with you to complete years worth of work in a simple afternoon.
obligatory singing ensues
applied better when making something
Doesn't apply to research, which mean can only make things he fully know how to make instead of researching how it made.
30. -Researcher (Age of Mythology) (400CP)
You are far faster at designing and discovering new technologies. Inspiration and breakthroughs hit you far more often.
At the rate of at least one half to ten times as fast. Scaling with your knowledge base. The more you know about something, the higher the boost to that tech tree. For example, a literal divine knowledge about particular topic will boost it all the way to 10, and may even break it if you have more knowledge than literal divine inspiration.
Something completely new start at one and a half. Then a novice to 2.
42. -Seed of The Singularity (Generic Cyberpunk) (600CP)
They say that the future begins with an idea, but that's not true. It begins when you make an idea reality. You're not just someone that is content to fiddle the technology that's already there, you're one of the minds that could shatter everything we thought we knew. Your ability to innovate and invent is awe inspiring, doing the work of years in scant months. What you piece together in your lab to test a concept would count as a production model to anyone else, and your actual finalized designs are nothing short of pure brilliance. This applies just as well to actual discovery, burning through fields of testing and examination with incredible speed. Your work alone could build the entire future if you had the resources, and if you can survive the people who would kill for the things you can make.
The synergy with [change the world] is freaking insane, literally churning out superpowers in a span of months than years and decades. This doesn't include further boost from other time perks.
Unchosen Perks
[Tenth roll]
None