Very long chapter today!

Chapter 44: Assimilation

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“The goal is simple. Survival through diversification. The more diverse your powers, the more types of magic you could use, the greater your ability to respond to more situations, situations that may require a certain type of magic to fight. If you can only use fire magic, for example, the weaknesses fire magic may have, become your weaknesses too. As you can no longer respond to a situation that requires you to have magic other than fire. As such, the end goal of an assimilator like myself, is to erase the line between myself and everything - and everyone - else.”

 

 

Laurence, Driven Assimilator

Year Pre-Summoning

//

--POV: Malek Al Rashidun—

--Place: The Northern Military Base / Time: 07:21—

Sword in hand.

Stance in place.

Enemy in sight.

“Fehhhhhh” Breath in. “Phwehh….” And breath out.

“Not going to attack?” Lance looks at me calmly as he stands there, on the other side of the battlefield. Without any stance or defense visible.

He looks more like he is on a stroll. Did he forget there is an enemy on front of him?

“Why don’t you attack?” Let’s use his logic on him. Who said I have to attack to begin with?

“You seemed very eager to fight when you asked me for a sparring match. That’s all.”

Fucking running his smart mouth again……actually, you know what? Let’s convince the spectators of this spar that the commander is morally obligated to attack me first.

“Oh, come on man! You’re the commander. You should show an example of strength, diligence, and intelligence for our comrades, our troops to put their faith in you, no?”

And now we watch the crowd get riled up.

“Oh!”

“Yea!”

“Show us what the commander of this division is really capable of!”

Furrowed eyebrows.

He is just giving me a deadly stare, he seems to be thinking deeply.

But, why isn’t he moving though? His careless attitude just vanished and now it’s replaced with his dead-seriousness.

It’s like a fucking different person.

I want him to attack. We are about to invade Baharuth at his command. I want to see how he will attack me using his body, so I can then see how he would attack Baharuth using this division.

“Ok. Ok. You want me to attack you, right?” He lifts an eyebrow as he asks an incredibly stupid question.

“Yes, of course I do! I’ve been saying that for the last 10 minutes!”

“Ok, then.”

With sword in hand, he starts walking towards me calmly.

The pressure is colossal.

He is just walking towards me casually, no stance or technique in sight, yet it feels like he is extremely dangerous.

But why, though?

“Well, I’m coming for you.” He puts on a devilish grin as his stride doesn’t halt at all. “You can stop shaking, by the way.”

…….Shaking?

I look down to my right hand that’s wielding my sword, and sure enough, it’s shaking.

It’s trembling.

Why?

Why is it shaking? Why can’t it tell me why it’s shaking? WHY?

*CRUNCH*

The leaves and twigs on the ground are crushed as Lance dashes towards me, with sword in hand.

I will take this head on. And I will win.

To prove that he is unfit to be tasked with the lives of our comrade.

*CLANK*

Sword hits sword.

As we stay in a stalemate, Lance opens his mouth.

“Well…..” He says, as he looks at me, clearly displeased about something. “You’re weaker than expected.”

What……???

--Place: Unknown / Time: Unknown—

“But you do have noble intentions.”

A monster.

Everything changed.

The training camp isn’t here.

The spectators aren’t here.

Nothing is here.

What is here?

A black landscape.

A bright blue sky, with no sun, no stars, no clouds, no rain, no thunder, nothing at all.

And that’s what this supposed place is supposed to be.

It looks like a world. It tries to imitate how a normal world would look like by bringing in a blue sky.

It tries to appear that it’s inhabitants are allowed to traverse this land, by giving a huge and vast black landscape that pretends to allow you to walk on it.

But no matter how much I look around.

No matter how vast the black landscape looks.

“There is no way out.”

“Correct.”

I’m still holding my sword, and that sword is still in a deadlock with another sword.

This thing is what’s holding the other sword.

A figure that is as black as the fucking ground he is standing on.

With blue eyes I have already seen before.

And not to mention a huge grin displaying white teeth.

Those eyes. Are the eyes of only one person.

“Lance Lightbringer.”

“What is it?” A fierce growling voice, not even on the same dimension as that previous carefree voice he had back at the training camp.

But more importantly, he responded with a question. He did not deny or show confusion when I talked to him and told him his name. It’s definitely him. He is this thing. And he is probably the reason I’m in this cursed realm.

“Where am I?”

“Purgatory.”

Purgatory? What is that?

“And why had you brought me here?”

“To show you.” He speaks calmly. “How weak you truly are.”

Weak?

Is this a show of force?

This dimension is so unsettling.

It’s nothing I have ever felt before.

I can’t feel anything.

I feel numb, but my senses are still there.

I feel frozen, but I can still move.

My senses has been jumbled around and fucked with.

This unnerving feeling is frightening.

Why?

Why do such a thing?

Why bring me to somewhere so accursed and inhumane?

“Purgatory is the place between life and death. It is a gap, an opening. An unorthodox place that should never have existed.”

Should never have existed? Then why does it exist then?

“Now, as you probably know. You can either be alive or dead. There is no third option on your world, right? Even if you are on the brink of dying, you are still alive. You aren’t dead, until you seize to stop living, right?”

“Uhhh….yes?”

“That isn’t the case. There is a third option that could be used. If the first option is, to live. The second option is, to die. The third option is, to relinquish.”

Why is he telling me this?

What the fuck does any of this mean?

Why am I here?

I didn’t ask for this.

I didn’t want this.

“This is a place for those who relinquish. For the relinquished to dwell in. A void that isn’t in the universe. But it also isn’t out of the universe.”

“So, then. Then. How the hell am I here?”

“Because I have assimilated your existence into mine.”

What?

Assimilated?

What the fuck does that mean?

This person is insane!

This thing. This disgusting thing.

“You’re lying! You’re speak nonsense. It isn’t possible.”

“Am I, now?”

“I won’t let you do this, I will stop you. I won’t allow this!”

Never.

My friends.

My comrades.

All of those men whom I have fought alongside my entire life.

I won’t allow them to be near this monster.

This alien.

This monster should not be near them.

Forget the war.

Forget Baharuth and Adion.

Forget RawPower.

This monster is the real enemy.

He needs to be stopped.

My comrades will not suffer for the sake of this monster, they will not be commanded.

I withdraw my sword from the stalemate, and with both hands on the hilt, I execute a diagonal strike with intention to cut off his left arm. “Die, you monster! You inhumane alien!”

*TICK*

As soon as my sword hits his upper left arm, a ticking sound envelopes this accursed plain.

It’s frozen.

My sword froze as soon as it touched him.

I can feel it, that no matter how much strength I had.

No matter if I have the strength of a god.

It won’t move.

This plain, this accursed world, is stopping me from reaching him, from harming him.

 However, just because this world freezes my sword when it touches him, doesn’t mean I can’t withdraw the sword.

“AHHHHH!!!!” After withdrawing the sword. I make another slash with as much might as I can muster, this time directed at his head.

*TICK*

Frozen again.

As soon as the sword touches him, the momentum stops.

The sword doesn’t bounce off. It doesn’t get deflected at another direction, it just stays still as soon as it reaches him.

If slashing doesn’t work, I will stab.

Withdrawing my sword for a third time, I aim it right at his heart.

And then I plunge in with as much force as humanly possible.

“HAAAAA!” A voice escapes my mouth as every muscle in my body is used to the maximum, as I focus every part of my body in this attack.

*TICK*

FROZEN AGAIN!

“WHY??!!”

I attack, with everything I got. But it doesn’t matter?

Is my effort worthless? Is my desperation worthless?

Why do I suffer? And suffer? And suffer?

For what?

For my friends of course!

For their sake.

For their future.

It doesn’t matter if I have to sacrifice myself, my body, my soul, my very existence.

I will stop this monster.

This fiend.

This atrocious monstrosity.

“Give it up, you will be assimilated.” A calm voice. A matter-of-factly tone. A tone completely indifferent to what is happening.

He is stating it like it has already happened. Like there is no chance in it ever being reversed.

That isn’t true!

There is hope!

There is a will!

There is a desire to stop him!

So there will be a chance to stop him, no matter how small.

There is a chance!

Withdrawing my sword, I thrust it towards his neck in a fast motion.

*TICK*

Another one of those ticking sounds happen across the plain.

However, I do not distract myself with such sounds as I withdraw my frozen sword and aim at the stomach.

“OHHHHH” A battle cry escapes my mouth as I lunge my sword towards his stomach.

Frozen again. But no matter, I will find a weak spot!

*TICK*

Another tick happens as I contemplate where to attack to next.

With enough speed, I should be able to attack his legs before he is able to react.

“HOOOOOO!” With a slashing motion aimed at cutting off his right leg, I execute my attack with minimal movement.

Frozen again.

It seems this world reacts quickly!

But that’s ok!

I still have a chance.

 Ah, that’s right!

How could I forget!

The world must be protecting all the parts of his body that’s as black as the landscape.

That’s why his figure is as black as the ground of this world!

But that also means that his eyes and mouth aren’t protected by the world as they are a different colour!

*TICK*

Those must be his weak spots!

Focusing every bit of my strength on attacking my enemy’s weak spots, I thrust it in.

It’s ok. I’m doing it for the sake of my friends. Even if I get taken out by him in the process. As long as I can kill him. As long as I can finish him.

I can stop my friends from suffering even a little less danger.

“EAAAHHHH!!!”

…..

It reached his eye.

And froze.

The sword froze.

I immediately withdraw the sword.

But…..Why?

Did I not try hard enough?

Did I not think everything through?

There has to be a weakness.

A blind spot. A vulnerable point. Something I can take advantage of. Anything I could do-

*DING*

That wasn’t the ticking noise.

What was that sound?

It was different.

*DING*

Is this an attack?

Is this some kind of spell he is preparing?

What is he going to do?

*DING*

There it goes again.

Is something going to happen to me?

*DING*

He is just looking at me with his eyes, eyes that don’t have any pupils at all.

*DING*

I take up a defensive stance, in case he tries anything funny while I’m distracte-

*DING* *DING* *DING*

“Assimilation has been completed.” He smiles at me, clearly happy.

“Congratulations.”

He’s gone?!

Where did he go? He just disappeared?

“UGH!!” A groan leaks out, as I feel huge pressure on my throat.

It’s obvious why, the reason is that he is clutching my neck with his hand, as I realize my feet are no longer touching the ground.

“I won’t give in!” I shout with my remaining breath. “I don’t fear death!”

“Death? You aren’t going to die. You are going to become a part of me. You will be integrated into my existence. I will become you. As I have assimilated you.”

“Your memories. Your emotions. Your experiences. Everything that has ever happened to you, everything that your experience has ever felt, will become mine. Even the physical host of your existence, which is your body, will also become mine. I have integrated your existence completely.”

In…sane….

Crazy….

What kind of a power is that?

I will be integrated into his existence?

What kind of insanity is this?

Assimilation, my ass.

I will no longer be me…….instead I will be a part of him?

He will become me?

FUCK THAT!!!

No!

My friends.

I need to see them, I need to find them immediately to warn them about what he is doing.

I can’t be stuck here!

“Stop struggling, it is over.”

There is still a chance! There is still time!

[Integration has finished]

[You have been successfully assimilated.]

Two transparent screens pop up in front of me.

And that’s when I knew it.

It was…..

The end of me.

--POV: Laurence—

I am finally Malek.

I was really sceptical about using purgatory to integrate other beings, but it looks like it worked out quite fine.

Oh?

These are some interesting memories.

It seems I was good friends with Khaled.

I have been on numerous adventures with Khaled before he retired, huh?

*THUMP*

I toss the body of my other self (Malek’s body) on to the floor of purgatory.

It will fade in a bit, anyway.

I will now have full control over another body of my mine, as well as emotions, thought process, and everything.

I’ll be able to operate this other self, identically to how Malek was before integration.

Quite easily.

To plan my next steps, I will have Malek’s body defeat me back in the training camp, thus giving Malek full control over the division as I will leave in shame.

Then Malek’s army will march according to my battle plan.

My main draconic body will start killing the commanders and generals of the Baharuth army, this will make the Baharuth army go berserk and start acting like a headless body without any intelligence.

So despite the Baharuth army outnumbering us several times, we should be able to win.

I will make sure we win, as I will operate the 3^rd division through my other self (Malek).

I have come to realize that the most efficient way to move through human society without getting caught as being a dragon, is to become a human.

Now that I have a human body that is also mine, I can deal with all matters regarding other humans through my new human self.

Truly an ingenious idea. An idea only someone as great as I, could come up with.

Integration through purgatory.

By making Malek one of the relinquished, I could integrate him into my existence.

But wouldn’t that make him gain a certain control over my existence as he is now a part of it?

Well…..technically yes.

If we were to assume that my existence was 100 existence points, and that Malek’s existence was 1.

Then my new total existence after integration would be 101.

He would have a whopping 0.9900990099%

Of course, this is just an example. In reality, he would have much, much less than 0.99% control over my existence because he is so much more weaker than me.

In reality, the percentage of control is so small it’s completely negligible.

It's like he basically doesn't exist at all.

Compared to my existence, his existence is basically nonexistent.

But I still don’t like it, despite the control being nearly nothing.

That’s why I’m not a fan of integration.

I didn’t want to integrate Khaled because he is much stronger than Malek, and I never tried integration before.

I didn’t wanna fuck it up.

So there is no one better than Malek.

I am planning making RawPower exclusively belong to Chamberlayne, but I don’t want RawPower to be seen as Chamberlayne’s dog.

I want RawPower to appear legitimate, so I should probably give it to someone who has been in RawPower for a very long time.

Like Malek.

If I get control over the largest mercenary company known as RawPower, through Malek. I will have control over the largest military in Avalon, even though it won’t be seen that way as RawPower would be technically independent from any noble as RawPower would be under Malek.

This would be an addition to my influence in the country.

I have control over Avalon media through The Avalon Times.

I have control over the economy after we buy up as much properties as we can for dirt cheap prices thanks to the fear of Avalon’s rich people.

And I would have control over the military through the greatest mercenary company in Avalon, RawPower.

Control over media, control over economy, control over military.

All of this, without even using my draconic powers.

Without exposing myself to the general public.

Without raising any suspicion towards myself.

I will become the elite of the elite in human society.

Avalon will basically be under my boot before long.

And that is great, considering Avalon will be stronger than ever after winning this war.

This is too easy.

--Place: The Northern Military Base / Time: 07:29—

As I come back from purgatory and resume time, I am greeted with shouts and chants.

“You can do it Malek!”

“We believe in you!”

“Go show him!”

The spectators cheer, wanting their beloved Malek to beat this stuck up butler.

Too bad they don’t know that Malek and that stuck up butler are now the same person.

They don’t need to know, though.

I need my other self to win this fight, even if this fight is completely bogus to begin with.

*CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK*

My sword hits the sword of my other self, as I pretend to fight against myself in order to put a show for the gullible spectators.

“Ohhhh!!!!”

“You got this! Kick his ass!”

Here is the climax.

I’m going to swing my sword, and have my other half evade it.

*SWOOSH*

The sound of my slash going through indicates that my other self evaded the attack.

I will now have the other half hit me with the hilt of the sword against my cheek.

*BAM*

I allow the momentum to happen.

*THUMP*

The sound of me hitting the grassy ground sounds out to the audience as they stare with full concentration.

My other half runs towards me who is laying on the ground, before putting the sword against my neck.

“Give it up.” My other half says. “You are finished.”

Silence.

Then…..

“WOW!”

“Did you see the way Malek dodged the other guy’s slash?!”

“And that efficient strike with the hilt?!”

“He showed the dog of the rich who is boss!!!”

Dog of the rich?

That’s a new one.

“I guess you really are qualified.” I compliment my other half as he pretends to help me off the ground.

“Thanks, you were great too.” My other half responds.

I need to show to everybody here that their dear leader Malek is willing to help the person he was just fighting.

To instil a sense of respect towards Malek.

“I will report to Chamberlayne immediately about how you are taking command.” This is bullshit, I’m going to go kill some Baharuth generals and commanders, and get rid of the pirates. But I need an excuse to leave, and this is a good one.

“Would they really be okay with that?”

Using Clairvoyance, I can see everybody in the general vicinity is listening in.

“I will convince the Master that you are more than qualified.”

“I see!” My other half offers a handshake. “Good luck, then!” I take the hand, and give a firm manly handshake.

Turning around I start walking out of the camp and in the opposite direction from the northern border.

I’m walking southward basically, until I can find a place that has nobody around, so I can teleport to Baharuth and start slaughtering.

Those 50 spectators or so, who watched the fight between me and my other self, are going to go and start gossiping to everybody about how great their leader Malek is.

The entire division will know about it, and so their morale will be boosted.

Plus, these mercenaries have been working for rich guys for a long time.

They are mostly aware that the rich guys who employ mercenaries, don’t care about their lives.

However, Malek on the other hand, is a good leader and friend towards them, someone who cares for them, and they have known him for a long time.

They would obviously trust Malek more than someone like me, who is considered the dog of the rich.

In their eyes, I would obviously act in the interest of my master, which would be to use the mercenaries as much as possible.

However, now that Malek has assumed control over the division, they are willing to trust Malek’s orders way more than mine. Even if it’s the same order given.

So now, by having my other self defeat me, their morale will have been boosted by the fight and they will believe that the commander cares about them and has their interests at heart.

Plus, I can get closer to Khaled and assume control over RawPower faster through my other self.

This is a very successful turn of events.

The execution of every part of the plan was great. I am great.

My intelligence is too frightening.

With a happy heart at the successful events that progressed, I think about Clarissa, and how things are going along with her.