Vicarius Imperialis

"Huh! Where am.... "

He stopped short of finishing that thought, realising how many instances he found himself asking that question, "where am I?", he started to flip through his memories and thought, since I came to this place I have been powerless, unable to ditermine my fate, causality mocks me,

"I AM AN IMPERIAL VANGAURD, A QUASI LVL 8 TRANSENDENT, HOW CAN CAUSALITY DECIDE MY FATE, HOW CAN ANYONE EXCEPT THE EMPEROR DECIDE MY FATE"

002 yelled into the distant dark void in which he was now emcompased, despite the lofty height from which he fell, he still managed to land on his feet, the moment the opening from which he fell from closed, a switch seem to flip within him, and what was suppressing his emotions gave way, a primal pride seem to emerge from it's dormant state, as he flipped through his memories corresponding to when he first arrived to Locke to this moment, he had experienced multiple instances of what he deemed to be disrespect from "non entities",

"First it was that damned old Locke, then a mere trace of consciousness, then that insufferable Locken girl, now this"

David, mumbled with a raging fury slowly rising from within him, the years of meticulous hardwork 002 put to erect a barrier to limit and suppress his emotions seem to collapse in but a moment.

An evil grin appeared on his aged face, as he thinks of ways to punish those who disrespected him, David could no longer hide his unstable heart, as he continuous to grin and scheme, he hears a voice or rather an urge, his grinning turns to a serious expression and his mind clears, he stared into the endless void as these words repeated in his mind,

"Power comands, David"

"Embrace it, accumulate it, and comand it"

David felt the urges, and agreed, despite his deranged state he calmly seats crossed legged on the seemingly inexistent floor and began to repair his damaged neural paths, he appeared to levitate in the void deprived of any form of light, even his armour no longer shown with the occasional streaks of red light, he appeared calm but within him was a boundless chaos, he restlessly recited these words like a mantra,

"Absolute Power is my birthright, I will command it"

The mysterious figure responsible for David's imprisonment can be seen, sitting on his lofty throne which was connected to the figure by a cord, the cord flashed with streaks of pale blue light, and every second that passed more than a thousand of the flashes reached the figures head, the apparatus' seizeless flashing resembled that of the pulses of the heart sending blood through the body, but as to what these flashes of light contain remain a mystery.

"As expected of a Noble celestial, you can only live on your own terms"

The figure remarked in admiration, even though 002 was given the option to deduct his identity in exchange for freedom, he decided against it and instead resolved to free himself by his own abilities, it was commendable in his opinion.

Sonner than later what seemed like decades passed, yet David continued to deligently strive towards recovering his full strenght and beyond, his face now reflect his inner thoughts, calm and collected, the figure continued to observe him despite the fact that David hadn't moved all this while.

Finally there was movement, small sparks of electricity start to disturb the calm, despite the peculiar ability of the void to completely absorb light, the light of the sparks were clearly visible, the neural force surged in the form of bolts of lighting, David's face seems to slightly age backwards, causing him to appear much young, his short hair lengthen despite the void restricting the flow of body function, as he slowly opens his eyes, his presence and temperament appear to improve and his eyes conduct more vigor despite the disinterested look they gave off, this marked David's ascension to the 5th lvl and his sentinel type ability began to rise from it's dormant state crackling with much less intensity than the first time, yet it was formidabile nevertheless.

David, having broken through to a higher level still needed rest, he had more neural force now but his neural vigor had diminished and resting was required to enkindle it.

But resting was much easier said than done, even after reaching the 5th lvl, the void still appeared insormontabile, spanning for what seemed like an eternity, David only had himself and his thought in this endless haze, any transendent could go a long time without any kind of stimulus, wether it be light to the eyes, a feeling of somebody else's touch or even a foreign sound different from he or she could create, the higher one's lvl, the high one's tolerance will be, but you couldn't resist for an eternity.

Soon enough David's own mind started to play tricks on him, despite being in the void he found himself in the past where he stood before the Vicarius Imperialis, a younger, more handsome David stood before those who were believed to be the clones of the emperor, the protector of humanity under the sovereignty, their presence were intimidating, they all boasted the strength of a peak 9th lvl sentinel type transendents, they wore masks and had no names, only peculiar titles, David didn't dare raise his head in an attempt to appear as submissive as possible, although he could clearly see them, he vividly remembered the room was shrouded in darkness.

One of the nine who was referred to as Authority spoke with an authoritative tone,

"Commence"

Immediately after the order, another of the nine, refered to "Inquisition", inquired,

"Are you Vanguard cadet David? And do you know fault?"

Inquisition asked, clearly putting pressure on the young David with his vast neural force, the gap between them was abysmal, with every fraction of a second that passed he felt his knee bend, drawing closer to the ground.

Mustering every ounces of courage within his body, he answered,

"Yes I am and I am ignorant of my fault, please enlighten me"

Inquisition retracts his pressure, seemingly pleased by the answer,

"You went against the Codex preceptum by disobeying your superiors and caused the death of your squad captain"

Another of the nine spoke up, his eyes shimmered like a pair of stars, making his white mask appear to be of inferior shade of white, he was reffered to as Clairvoyance, it is said he was the closest or rather oldest clone of the emperor, his eyes could see every inch of the sovereignty's domain, and so project his power or the emperor's power across the sovereignty.

Clairvoyance continued to talk, his voice authoritative and oppressive,

"But your greatest fault is allowing the emperor's honour to be tarnished, by losing in front of civilians and lower transendents, even if they are dead, it is still an acceptable"

David wanted to retort that he was forcibly extracted but his words were stuck in his throat when he understood the words of Clairvoyance.

*Am I the only one who survived?

"My fault wasn't disobeying orders but tarnishing the emperor's reputation, and the only reason I survived was because I had awakened the primal fury, which allowed me to bloom"

A deranged grin appeared on his face as he understood, he was the only one here because the rest are unworthy, the emperor only needs a weapon, not a hero.

David suddenly laughed out loud, his laughter echoed through the silent room, despite his laughter , his eyes were blood shot and his experission was evil, what he was laughing about one can only guess.

From a third perspective, David seemed to mock the nine with his laughter, they didn't take it too well, Valor didn't mind and Honour was neither bothered, but Punishment and Discipline didn't take it too lightly