Chapter 312: Involuntary Manslaughter

"Ok, so first of all, regarding your safety, I've been keeping an eye on how you progressed with the twisted from up here via divine sense. I didn't have to do anything special, I could chase you all the way down there without restriction because of my bloodline. It resists basically any and all types of pressure, and pressure at the bottom of the ocean is unsurprisingly no different, which is pretty handy."

Aejaz squinted at his brother who was talking as if he'd always known this but there was a very different truth behind this discovery! Rather than come up with a comprehensive plan, Ares had experimented on the spot while Aejaz was in danger! "You only just found out you can resist ocean pressure a few seconds ago, didn't you?!"

"Yes, but don't tell Aejaz that."

"I am Aejaz."

"How unfortunate. Anyway..." Ares blatantly ignored the dissatisfied expression on Aejaz' face and resumed his explanation. "Those dolphins are called twisted and they possess spatial magic that allows them to ambush people from below the Federation. That you already know and have experienced first hand so I won't go into anymore detail regarding that. How they came to be, and what their intentions are, however, is actually kinda sad. See normal dolphins are playful creatures and have a habit of breaching the surface of the water and jumping out of it to say hello to humans. They would leap up into the air and wag their fins at fishermen and other such maritime travellers. It amused the humans and they had fun doing it so, for a while, this particular route was filled with happy dolphins always greeting their new and old friends.

It's not quite understood exactly why but, according to various rumours that are completely unsubstantiated, meaning they're more like folk tales, the space-time pillar took great joy in watching these dolphins leap and so it gave their entire race an affiliation for the spatial aspect. This way they could swim through the air a little longer and get a fair bit more hang time on every single jump. In some cases they could even launch themselves in an arc directly over the ships they were playing around with. All was well for the most part but then a major issue arose. It didn't seem like a problem at the time but this particular development would come to be the root of the issue known as the twisted because dolphins are extremely clever. They're one of the most clever animals in the animal kingdom, actually, and so they learnt how to manipulate their spatial magic quite well. They desired to get even closer to humans and so they devised a means with which to jump through their ships by phasing through the bottom of them, basically throwing themselves at the sailors in a bid to hug them or give them a high five with their tail on the way past. This was all well and good for a short while but, eventually, it was discovered that these dolphins possessing the ability to cultivate and absorb mana spelled serious trouble.

Going back a bit, the space-time pillar really very well may have found the dolphins cute and given them an affiliation for no other reason than its own personal satisfaction. Pillars, mostly, are driven by instinct but not particularly smart or capable of understanding the consequences of their actions. In fact, the dolphins may even be smarter than most of the pillars as a whole; that's just the rough level of intelligence we're dealing with. Had the pillar been any smarter, and been able to think through rationally what it was doing, it would have realised it made a terrible mistake as the twisted began cropping up left, right, and centre.

Zombie dolphins existed before but now ones with spatial magic appeared and that was a serious problem because they were now actually harmful and couldn't just be ignored. See, the twisted don't actually want to kill you, they're still as friendly as they were back when they were alive. Their goal is actually quite selfless. They have fun when they come up so they figure humans might have fun if they were to go down. Regular dolphins are smart enough to understand what will happen to anyone not acclimated with the depths being dragged down to such a low point. The twisted won't ever intentionally drown anyone but the twisted's minds are long gone and they too, like the space-time pillar, are driven solely by instinct. They want to have fun and share that fun with as many people as possible so they hug humans and take them down to the bottom of the ocean for a scenic trip. Killing you is an accident and they actually feel incredibly sad about it after it happens. Research has been done and we know now that the twisted will whine, cry, and mourn you after killing you. They'll stay by your corpse for a while before giving up on trying to save you and then go look for more friends because they don't understand what they're doing is the cause of death. They're dead and incapable of learning or using their non-functional brains. This leads to a cycle in which the longer a twisted lives, the more sad its soul becomes when it keeps killing innocent people.

Personally I feel sorry for them and think they're kinda cute in their own way... Obviously much cuter when they were alive but let's not get pedantic with dead animals now, they can't exactly help it. Unfortunately, they can't be taught the error of their ways and trying to keep them as a pet fails every time as well because they are naughty enough to use their spatial magic, escape, and try dragging you to water in your sleep all the time. It's a shame, really, but your best option is to kill them. Unless you can find some kind of purifying magic, that might work, but for the most part sympathising with them is a sure fire way to get yourself killed the following night after they've gotten attached to you and want to play with you down in the ocean.

As for how they're viewed by the Federation... Well it's a mixed bag. They can be either the most or least dangerous of all the enemies they encounter on a somewhat regular basis. Really it all comes down to how quickly a twisted is spotted because once people are aware of it the rescue operations are basically guaranteed to succeed. Once you know how to deal with the twisted you'll never need to fall prey to them again because they're a rather one-note monster. They do one thing, and that one thing will never change, so any solution the Federation comes up with will be applicable forever. Point in case..." Ares pointed around at the scuba-gear present on the rescue squads' bodies. "... They just put that stuff on and they're good to go. Once the bells are rung and the alarms are sounded, these squads fling themselves into the ocean and then fight off the twisted with ease. Hell the twisted think they're a bunch of new friends and so they swim right towards them, not knowing the fate that's in store for them when they get attacked. According to various scuba divers, they looked betrayed in their final moment and will even occasionally cry if they feel sad enough... You really need a heart of steel to be able to that job, I think...

Again, kinda sad, but what can you do? Anyway, in the case of what's happening here tonight, thanks to the warning I gave them earlier, not a single person will lose their life which is pretty damn good. Usually at least a dozen people or so go missing first and that's when reports start to come in. On a good night, only twenty or so people across the whole of the Federation will die to twisted. On a bad night... The current record, back when the scuba gear and the squads that used them were still in training, more than four thousand people were taken straight down to their graves. A couple hundred twisted all gathered to 'jump up into the big boat and make many people happy'. Based on various data collected by marine biologists, the twisted had been planning this surprise party for a while, ever since the invention of the Federation, and so when they hit the boats they hit them hard. Nowadays such a thing happening without the Federation being made aware in advance is extremely low so if they run into the twisted give or take three to four times a year, losing an average of thirty five or so people each time, then that's pretty solid. It might sound like a lot, roughly a hundred deaths per year, but this is still a massive country at the end of the day and plenty more people die to things like hydra deer, orcs, and buzzbladers on average on land than the twisted. If the twisted were more frequent than they already are then that would be a cause for concern but, as that's not the case, people aren't too worried about them overall.

So that's about all I have to say on the matter... Other than the reward which I've been promised, I suppose. For alerting them, the Federation handed me over two hundred high grade without batting an eye... Supposedly this is less than the cost of the grievance pay they offer the families of the deceased whenever a twisted takes them. It's roughly ten high grade per family so the average stardust spent on aiding all the survivors can be between 100 and 1000 high grade total after any given twisted attack. I was technically short-changed quite a bit here but I'm also not going to complain about two hundred high grades. I think the reason it's so low is because A, the twisted are no longer really a massive threat like they once were and B, apparently some guy aboard the Federation came up with an anti twisted measure some time back and it's been looking promising. The person in question ought to be here soon to give it a test and, if it works, the twisted may never be a problem ever again after his work spreads. In short, the intel was good for them but not invaluable and I might even be the last ever person to receive such a reward, for alerting them to the incoming twisted, after this guy's gadgetry is installed across the country. Quite frankly, I'll take what I can get even if it's still basically nothing in the eyes of the major players aboard these boats. Gotta amass that wealth somehow... It seems the aforementioned person with the new gadget is here..."

Ares looked on over to the next boat along from the one he and Aejaz were currently standing on. There was a person there who stood tall amongst the various officials surrounding him but it was too dark to make out any specific details about the person. All that was readily apparent was a sort of irreducible pride this man took in every step of his as he worked. His confidence was overflowing but it wasn't an arrogant aura he possessed, just a chill and laid back one. He gave off the vibe that nothing was ever a problem for him, no matter how difficult the task, and he was just here to take a late night stroll. He was fiddling with something in his hand, repeatedly chucking it a small distance into the air and catching it while he waited for permission to activate it. Ares could make an educated guess who this man was; Hunter! He was supposedly a gadgetry expert so as soon as Ares heard about the gadget-related solution to the twisted this was the first person that came to mind. Plus if the officials were being somewhat timid around him then, given his status, but also given his 'feud' with his father, it made sense they wouldn't really know how to interact with him properly.

If the officials offended him, the Federation would lose out on so many useful gadgets that made life infinitely easier. Also he did a good amount of work in fending off various monsters that assaulted the Federation regularly so his existence was of utmost importance. On the other hand, if they were cordial with him then they would offend his father who wanted this 'runt' off the ship for good. The officials worked directly under either Hunter's father, or someone else close in terms of hierarchical stature to him, so this whole mess was incredibly uncomfortable for them and they didn't know where to rest their eyes. They had to do this, though, and follow him around. When word came in that Hunter had maybe come up with a permanent solution for the twisted even his own father couldn't help but accept that his usefulness was proving itself ten times over. It irked his father to no end to give permission for one of Hunter's antics but, at the end of the day, good business was hard to pass up on. His image would practically disintegrate if he refused to allow his son to deal with the twisted because people's lives were at stake here. This wasn't a personal matter and so he had to be a half-decent human being for once and look at things objectively even if only for entirely selfish reasons.

Over on the other boat things were finally progressing now that it had been fully evacuated by the officials, allowing Hunter to install his gadget and get it up and running. He tinkered with the device before shoving it into the centre of the boat, standing up, and kicking down on it with multiple stomps. This was an incredibly lax way of doing things, and some of the officials were visibly worried he was going to damage his own creation, but the man in question wasn't bothered by their worry. For the most part, the stuff he invented would never break so easily. Yes this was a test product but it was only the functionality he was testing, not the durability. He always made high quality and basically indestructible goods, even if they were throwaway grade stuff, so that wasn't his main priority right now and he was assured that no amount of kicking would break the thing. Also, more often than not, whenever any of his gadgets had a fault of some kind, it could be fixed by kicking some sense into it. Honestly, even Hunter didn't understand why kicking his gadgets was so unusually effective but he chose not to question it and just keep relying on his boots to do the talking when his knowledge and expertise fell short. Now, was he kicking the gadget to bury it deeper into the boat or was he kicking it because it failed to start? Nobody could really be sure but, either way, after one final heavy stamp, the thing turned on and an electric current ran through the hull of the entire boat. This current split off in many different intersections and created a criss cross of bright sparks as a check pattern formed with Hunter stood directly in the middle. It was particularly convenient that a twisted happened to show up and give a live demonstration for everyone watching about how effective the gadget was at doing its job. The twisted probably saw a bunch of pretty lights and thought somebody was throwing it a welcome party but, unfortunately for he fishy friend, it leapt through the boat but got stuck on the electric net before getting zapped into dolphin dust.

RIP twisted, have fun in the animal section of heaven.

Anyway, the testing was going to continue on for a while but it was looking to be a pretty massive success. The net would only activate whenever something appeared literally inside the ship so the net wasn't going to be active at all times, only when a twisted tried jumping through it, saving energy which meant it didn't need to be fuelled with mana all the time. As for when it was active, it functioned more like an additional layer of carpet on the boat so people could safely walk across it without being caught and zapped. Even if a drunkard fell flat on his face while it was active it wouldn't so much as harm a hair on their head because it was the underside of it that really hurt. Of course the officials wanted to do a safety test regardless but the gadget would go on to pass with flying colours and see plenty of use after being manufactured en masse. Every boat would have this gadget installed and the twisted would no longer cause any mayhem. It was almost a little tragic as now the twisted wouldn't get to come by and say hello anymore but, overall, that was still for the best. They were going to be lonely but that was better than being fried to a crisp and dying a second painful death. This way, they couldn't hurt anyone they didn't want to anymore! 

Now that everything was sorted and explained, Ares turned to Aejaz again. "So yeah, show's over. The twisted are still attacking various parts of the Federation but this area ought to be safe now. You can go back to sleep and you shouldn't be dragged under again unless you're extremely unlucky."

"Hell no!" Aejaz wasn't having it! Screw going back to sleep! Not after that! He would rather just stay awake forever while he was on this damn floating country!

Ares rolled his eyes and gave Aejaz some advice that should have made him feel better about this whole debacle. "The twisted are only active at night so if you stay awake until the sun comes out then you can rest freely. If you're really still bothered by it, though, I can set up a layer of disintegration on the floor and then they'll never get in. If you think that net was effective you should see what happens to them when they bang their heads against the disintegration. I've already experimented with it myself when a twisted attempted to take me down below and the poor thing just flat out disappeared before I could even see head or tail of it. Long story short, just go back to sleep already! Besides, you already have the means to deal with them! They can't harm you anymore so they're nothing more than an inconvenience to you!"

"No! Never!" Aejaz was truly being stubborn now so Ares pulled off a manoeuvre that he'd already done once today and knocked the guy unconscious again. He couldn't keep running away from his problems forever! At least not while Ares was around! Plus he was serious about the disintegration layer on the floor, Aejaz would be completely safe with it up so he needed to be ok with that and go to sleep at night otherwise, by the end of the journey, he'd be seriously tired and not in any condition to explore Xasca! Hell he wouldn't even really be in any condition to fight off anything else that invaded the Federation of which there were bound to be some such entities. The Scylla and the Krakyrn, if Ares' guesses were accurate, especially were something he would need to be on full alert for because they were even more dangerous than fully fledged mecha dryads. Of course Aejaz wouldn't be the sole deciding factor in dealing with those threats but him being a burden because he was sleepy was just non-sensical.

Ares knew Aejaz well enough to know that if Ares knocked him out here and made him sleep then, so long as nothing untoward happened, he would be willing to do it again in the future. There was always an initial hurdle with this muppet but once you finally cleared it it was smooth sailing from thereon out... Also whacking Aejaz was oddly satisfying... Ares wouldn't do it again, he promised! Twice was enough! If he did it anymore then Allie would sneakily hide stink pills in his room for days on end while Trixie planted bombs on him to keep him on his toes when he returned... They weren't necessarily fierce women but they were definitely just as loyal to Aejaz as he was to them and finding out he'd been beaten unconscious not once, but twice, would set them off even if they were usually docile and harmless. To smooth things over, and make sure he didn't have to deal with their antics, Ares would treat Aejaz to some good food later. Not even just his own cooking but, with his new stardust gains, Ares could maybe take the guy to a nice restaurant as congratulations for a job well done. He'd been a little harsh earlier, and not doled out praise, but Aejaz had really done quite well for a first time experience with something like this. Did he get full marks? Not even close, hell no, but he'd gotten at least 80-85% of them! Ares was wary about lavishing him with praise though because Aejaz did have a complacent streak in him. One day, if Aejaz ever actually achieved his own paradise and built it to his own preferences down to the last detail, then he might even try and quit being a cultivator for good!

Ares needed to keep this errant daydreamer brother of his on track for his own good so Ares dragged the knocked out fool back to the shack and set up the disintegration layer as promised. Once that was done, Ares himself hopped into his own bed and went to sleep in preparation for tomorrow as he was planning on checking out more of the Federation, meeting Hunter properly this time and not just from spying on him from afar, dealing with a few more threats assaulting the Federation at large, and maybe looking into the Firestarters who'd yet to make any noise. Busy busy busy! Busy but fun though as it was good to be on an adventure again and see in person all the monsters and places he read about in his books. There were a lot of great experiences to be had here so Ares was happy to treat this like an extended vacation and just relax while killing some monsters here and there and raking in the cultivation goods!

But while Ares was relaxing, his clone in the pagoda was about to be put to work and there were some rather complicated customers coming his way! From now until Ares returned to Red Sun, during that rough time period, numerous pagoda challengers of note were going pop in to to pay the clone a visit and give his strength a whirl. The first brave soul willing to pit themselves against Ares would be a person who's name he'd heard about recently but had yet to come across him in any way. Thankfully Dominus would have an explanation at the ready for pagoda Ares because the man known simply as 'Armageddon' was about to make an entrance and, boy, was he very good a doing that. This was a man who wanted to get vengeance on heaven and punched it from above so hard with his immeasurable strength that the impact bust a hole through heaven, broke down into reality, and then broke down even further, piercing hell as well accidentally. A blow intended to cause havoc in one plane of existence simultaneously wreaked mayhem in three and, to this day, there was still an empty pillar of nothingness where his punch had drilled a massive hole through reality.

This man was no joke and he was ultimately the pinnacle of raw power in this world, it was not even remotely in question. What was he after? Why did he swear allegiance to Mako? Why was he interested in meeting Ares? And why was such a burly and solemn man wearing a bright white church hat tailor made for women? There was a complicated, but entirely justifiable, reason for all of the above as he was an interesting man with a real sense of urgency and meaning in his gait. He had purpose, that was for sure.

In short, the pagoda was open for business and everyone was welcome!... Well, not quite... Kaleido Lingo was en route to place the pagoda down currently but, as always, there were a bunch of troublemakers heading his way who were looking to steal away the treasure and make bank off it by either selling it or running it much like Transmit did. For what it was worth, though, this was a common occurrence and Kaleido was very capable of defending himself. Such a rare treasure like the Pressurised Pagoda wasn't allowed to reside in the hands of just anyone otherwise it would have change hands numerous times by now. Transmit knew what they were doing and Kaleido was no slouch in combat so thieves beware! A colourful and linguistic fate, similar in nature to Eagerton's magic but with a slight twist, was in store for those who opposed the walking, talking, one-man tower of Babel!