38 No Joy In Victory

Entry 34:

Linus Ozias POV:

I may have gone a bit crazy with the lightsabers, and I have one for every color, but hey, I am a collector, and I want to add them all to my new collection.

So, I place all of my sabers in my personal armory for later use at any conventions I go to.

Imagine going to a Star Wars convention with an actual lightsaber in a lore-accurate Vader suit or Jedi robes.

But enough wasting time. Even though waving a lightsaber is so much fun, it's adulting time now, sadly.

(The MC totally did not use the dummy room to create Vader and duel him. You can prove nothing.)

Right now, that repulsor lift tech is calling my name as this stuff will revolutionize interstellar travel along with the hologram tech.

"I wonder if Piggot would be interested in carbonite freezing for the Birdcage. I should call her." I think to myself as I dial her number.

After a couple of dials, she picks up and says, " Mr. Ozias, how may I help you?"

"Oh, actually, Director Piggot, I have an offer on a new means of criminal containment that can even work to hold parahumans indefinitely," I say as I can almost see her perk up.

"Now you have my attention, Mr. Ozias. What have you cooked up today?"

"Actually, it's called carbonite freezing. I am sending the details to your email right now." I send the data to her computer and give her a couple of minutes to look it over.

Before I could even think of my next invention, she came over the phone and said in a hurried tone. "Mr. Ozias, how soon would you be able to get this into a working model?"

I look to Dread, who gives me a date, and say to Piggot, " I can have a working prototype in under a few days."

"Good, and by the way, have you seen any notice of an armored man around any of your R&D centers?" She asks, most likely looking for Contingency.

"No, I have not seen this guy, but that is some good tech. Think he's a tinker?" I asked, trying to give her false data.

"From what we have seen, he definitely has a high tinker rating, and from what Dragon has been able to analyze, he is using tech that is more advanced than yours by hundreds of years," Piggot says almost questioningly.

"Well, I can say nothing comes to mind on how he built it as the parts I am seeing are completely foreign to me," I say, playing dumb.

Luckily, even if they can put anything together, I have an alibi for every appearance, known or unknown. (LMD's are OP)

"Regardless, if you can find anything on him, it would be appreciated, and the sooner you can get me that prototype, the better, as with containment foam and carbonite, the Birdcage will be even more secure," Piggot says while drinking what I hope is coffee.

"I will get right on that, Director, and I hope that's coffee you are drinking, right?" I ask tentatively.

Silence

"Coffee....riiiiiight. Have a good day, Mr. Ozias," She then hangs up, and I simply sigh and hope that woman gets help for her blatant PTSD.

I will leave Dread to develop the carbonite weaponry as I have to focus on how I'm going to send humanity to space and further develop my anti-entity weaponry and a star forge.

For now, Marcus is trying to contact me. As I pull out my omnitool and answer, I hear something I hoped never to see.

"Helllllloooooo, is anyone there? I found this metal thing sneaking around my town and had to deal with him."

No.

No,no,no,no,no,non,no,no,no,no.

How did he find him?

"It's rather rude not to answer me. I am king here, and I deserve that respect." Nilibog says in a raspy voice.

" I found this hollow man snooping around without paying his tithe. This hollow man was not talkative, not fun, so I hope his owner could answer why he showed up."

I then look at the monitor that shows each android's status, and Marcus's line goes dead.

"I hope whoever sent this hollow man is more fun. I am waiting for you. Please entertain me."

I cut the call off and slam my hands on the desk.

What went wrong? Marcus would only need to approach that place unless Nilibog baited him in with his real body.

I immediately tell Dread to self-destruct the tech so Nilibog can't use it, and Dread can do so, which is a load off my chest.

But now, this means war, and if Nilibog wants to play games, I will play games, and he will love it.

I almost tear up at the fact I lost Marcus, but then I remember that I have backup drives made of their memory every hour.

But that does not change the fact that Nilibog has taken first blood, so I must respond in kind and what is the best way to deal with your enemies.

Burn them in Holy Fire!

And I am going the Firefly route, as that psycho knows every way to set things on fire. Since Nilibog only has organic material manipulation, he is essentially sitting on a log stack.

Time to light the match.

I say in a low voice, "Dread activate Project: Breakdown."

[Breakdown Has Been Deployed, Please Head To The Armory]

Before heading to the armory, Dread says one more thing.

[Break Him Sir]

As I leave the room, I nod, and my armor folds around me. I put the Breakdown weapon on my back.

Essentially, the weapon releases tiny nanites that disintegrate any material they touch and will continue until I mentally tell it to stop.

Nilibog wants to play, let's play.

I then teleport a couple of miles outside Ellisburg and fly over the city.

As I hover over the city, I aim my weapon downwards and fire several nanite shots across different areas that will silently converge toward the center and Nilibog himself.

Jamie Rinke, or Nilbog, has created quite the menagerie here as each of his "citizens" is amalgamated from different parts, from mud to skin to bone.

Examples include Myriad monsters, glorious goblins, cherished children

Tall Ones: long-limbed Hunters using bone spears

Big Head Girl: Explosive

Lizard Boy: Venom Spitter

Rhino-like siege form

I land at the city's main gate and call out to Nilbog as a distraction to allow my nanites to spread out across the town.

"Nilbog, I answer your challenge! Face me! Unless you are a coward like the rest of your children!"

The gate then opens, and I walk through.

As I pass through the gate, it shuts behind me, and all I see around me is a city reminiscent of Doom: Eternal with flesh and bone grafted to everything and groans seemingly coming from everywhere.

But before I can begin my search, I hear the PA system chime, and Nilbog's voice comes over the speakers. "Welcome, metal man, to my carnival of carnage, my ode to perfection itself!"

I need to keep him talking so that I can find him.

"This place is a dump, which makes sense since usually the house represents the owner," I say to the empty town.

Silence

"You know Jaime, can I call you Jaime-?" I say, but I am then interrupted.

"THAT IS NOT MY NAME!" Nilbog yells.

"Jaime got it. You know I was willing to save you for last as you are unimportant in the grand scheme."

"I am the ruler here, and you will be silent!" Nilbog says furiously.

"You are the ruler of nothing, leader of none but your monstrosities, and all you are doing here is hiding," I say to the man turned tyrant.

"I am king here. I am afraid of nothing!"

As he says this, multiple monsters appear before me, and I prepare myself for a fight.

"Yet here you are, sending mobs to fight your challenger. What other definition is there for you but a coward," I say as I dodge the tendrils of the wanna-be hentai monsters.

One attempts to grab me, but I hold the tendril, pulling it toward me and lasering it into oblivion as another grabs me from behind and tries to inject me but fails as my skin and armor protect me.

I then grab the beast and tear it apart while throwing its remains at the others, and after slicing and dicing for over ten minutes, the waves cease, and Nilbog's voice returns.

(If you guys need an image for the monsters, look up any necromorphs from Dead Space.)

"I see you survived, and I am so happy about that. Now proceed to the park for your next challenge."

I fly to the park, avoiding the other beasts, and as I land, I look to the "boss fight."

I was deadpanning as it was a giant necromorph brute, and before I could begin fighting it, Nilbog gave his speech.

"Well, I did not expect you to fly, but we adapt, so the challenge is simple: to defeat my child. Who I named Tiny, and you may proceed."

I find the monster's brain using my x-ray vision, and then later, it and the beast falls onto the ground, and I keep walking.

I whisper to myself, "Dread status on the Breakdown nanite swarm."

[45% Sir, Nilbog still not identified]

Damn need more time, and before I can plan my next move, more beasts attack me, and as I fight my way through them, I finally see one of Nilbog's fake puppets.

He raises his hands, and monsters cease their attacks, as lacking as they are.

"Welcome, metal man. As we have come to a bit of a pause in our festivities, please enjoy yourself."

He then gestures to the slop made of various animal carcasses, and as I glare at him, he throws me Marcus's head.

I look at the head and see it mangled beyond belief.

I then disintegrate it using my armor, adding the metal to my nanite count.

"Your hollow man had so little fun. He was so boring so please tell me your story. We get so few visitors here." Nilbog says as he sits on his throne.

"I have no story to tell you because you don't deserve to hear it, Jaime, but I do know yours," As I say this, his grip hardens on the chair.

"A man who lost everything, his job, his friends, his family, and so sought to build his little kingdom, a place where he may feel no pain," I then dodge as one of his children attacks me, and I tear him in half.

"You are pathetic, Jaime, a lost man who could not cut it in the real world. So you delved into a dream and lost yourself in it."

"BE SILENT! JAIME IS DEAD; ONLY NILBOG REMAINS," As he says this, the various appetizers on the tables combine into multiple giant brutes and attempt to grab me, and I simply hold their hands and rip their arms off.

The puppet then tries to run away, and I grab him by the neck, and all he says is, "Nilbog is forever."

I run him through with my arm, injustice Superman style.

As if to make my day, Dread finally found the real Nilbog, and I proceeded to rip and tear my way through the town and find myself at the town hall.

I open the door like Talion entering an overlord's throne room, and I see the real Nilbog on a throne of bodies.

"Do you truly believe you can kill me? Many have tried. I cannot die; I am Nilbog! My kingdom is eternal!"

He tries to send wave after wave of monsters, and I slaughter them all; as I grab Nilbog, I break his legs and place him on his knees.

He tries to call for more of his children, but the nanites have already destroyed all organic material in the area, so I begin my final speech.

"You know Jaime, I could have been just like you, as when I first arrived in this world, I had nothing but some knowledge and cash. I had no friends or family to speak of, yet I still made my way on what little I had."

I paused as Nilbog groaned in pain. "Your whole kingdom here was not going to last. Nothing does not you or me; at some point, we all need to wake up from the dream."

"NO, NO, PLEASE! I JUST WANTED TO BE HAPPY! I DID NOT WANT TO BE A FAILURE! I just wanted to live..."

I then grab him by the head, and as he begs for forgiveness and cries in agony, a broken man, I whisper one thing.

"Game Over." A head flies, and all there is is silence and the smell of burning flesh.

I leave the town hall as I see Elisburg in ruins and PRT helicopters approaching the town, and I teleport away.

Mission accomplished. I should tell Chloe to get the construction company ready to move in.

Now, I need to rebuild a friend and kick myself for this lack of foresight.

So I left Elisburg disappointed as I did not kill a criminal; I killed a broken man.

.