A new Power is Rising (1/13)

[DAY ??]

Neo doesn't know how much time has passed since the Orbital Bombardment took place, but it was obvious that nevertheless the World had changed.

Before the apocalypse took place, the metropolis was bustling with life and human sounds. After the apocalypse, however, the devastated city was filled with horrifying scenes between humans and the undead, and shots, screams, and explosions could be heard everywhere.

Anyway, if you had to describe the impression of the metropolis after the bombing, you would describe it with four letters: DEAD.

In the city everything was completely silent, only the rubble could be heard as it fell deeper and landed. There were fewer than a million beings still undead and a few alive scattered throughout the rubble of their once proud city.

Abeus, the city once known for its entertainment and quick luck, is no more.

The sky has changed from the usual blue to the dense Darkness and from that very Darkness, white ash rained down on the dead Metropolis.

Where the attack hit hardest, a huge crater formed, representing all that is left of the city center. Not far from the huge crater rose a Tall, Unnatural and Demonic Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower that pierced the sky had dark spikes everywhere, all pointing upwards, giving the Dark Tower its demonic form. In addition, the Dark Tower was in a strange state. It looked solid, but at the same time the material of the Tower moved like a river and a dark and slightly purple mist scattered everywhere. The Tower soared across the sky, creating the dark clouds that block out the light and spoil the ground.

Furthermore, everywhere spread Dark Arms out from the Tower which seems to call all beings who exists in the area towards the Dark Tower. Thousands of beings could be seen walking one after the other towards the Dark Tower.

Everything else, the buildings, bodies, streets were buried under yards of debris which were once part of the great metropolis, Abeus.

But now, only the Dark Tower remains, that and a being with gigantic wings that was currently on top of the Dark Tower and looked down to the thousand of beings underneath it.

This figure is none other than Neo who was currently looking at the Soulless beings created by the Tower made out of his Miasma.

"I feel a connection to all of them. But unlike my Legion. These Soulless beings have no thread connecting them to my Soul Core." discovered Neo.

"Instead, they appear to carry a Little Shard of my Soul within them. My Miasma was able to place that Shard in them once I absorbed their Soul... absorbed their Soul?I absorbed the souls of these beings and thereby strengthen my own!" realized Neo as he talked to himself.

"I can now empower my Soul by absorbing others... it's pretty useful." said Neo.

"Back to the soulless. There are undead and humans among them. So I can turn any being that has a soul into a soulless I guess? With that power alone I could create a huge army of soldiers, but I also have my options for the undead and can create a legion of undead with the help of the undead virus." analysed Neo.

"However, I can control the Soulless better and I think I have no range limit when doing so, like I do have with my Legion. Much more, these Soulless are also more intelligent on their own. Although they have no consciousness of their own, I sense an intelligence which make them able to think and act for themselves and also learn." Neo discovered as he probed the connection to the Soulless from the Tower, meanwhile more and more Soulless were still arriving on the horizon.

Neo decided to experiment with the Soulless a little bit more and therefore he ordered them to find weapons with which he wants to examine their capabilities in battle.

After the Command was given, the Soulless rose from their kneeling positions all at once and carried out the order and searched for weapons.

After a few minutes, most of the Soulless returned while holding different weapons.

Neo then mentally ordered two of his Soulless to attack each other, but not kill.

He started by seeing if they could fight hand-to-hand with a knife. The Soulless followed Neo's command and charged at each other, cutting at each other with quick and accurate attacks. They cut each other's legs, arms and groins and the blood poured out of their bodies.

Afterwards he ended their fight and then ordered two others to fight each other using a shield and a sword. The two then started the fight. They used their swords to attack and their shields to protect themselves. But the most interesting thing was how the fight ended.

One of the two, pinned in a corner by the other, lost his sword while the other raised his sword to finish him off, but then the Soulless without a sword suddenly threw his shield at the other and afterwards used the wall behind him as a springboard to jump over three meter in the air and land behind the Soulless who still had his sword and shield and was then disarmed from behind by the other afterwards the Soulless with the stolen sword then cut the other's chest open and won the battle.

The fated loser, won in the end by showing subtlety and tactics. He recognized and used the environment and all his possibilities to his advantage, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Neo has been completely awed by all the fighting so far and couldn't believe his eyes.

"How can something without consciousness learn and perform such complex actions? Even machines need an AI simulating an artificial consciousness to calculate and execute complex commands. Then why can these Soulless Subjects act without consciousness?" Neo wondered as he looked at his Soulless.

"Can these Soulless ones also use firearms?" Neo wondered when he saw some Soulless with guns in their hands.

Neo ordered a Soulless with a gun to shoot in the air.

"Bang"

The soulless followed Neo's command and shot once in the air.

Afterwards, Neo commanded him to shoot at some cans that were about 40 meters away from the Soulless.

The Soulless followed the command again and shot all the cans accuratly, but before he could shoot the last can, the magazine was empty.

When Neo then wanted to command the Soulless to reload, the Soulless already did so quickly and afterwards shot the last can.

"What potential. With the Soulless as my Officers and thinking Part of the Legion, and the Undead wiht their powers as the battling Part, my Legion will become incredibly stronger. They will be almost unstoppable. " Neo concluded as he looked down at his Soulless with a smile.

"Sigh, wait a minute, I shouldn't get excited too soon and get cocky like I made the mistake before. I have to build up my legion first and equip it with better technology and weapons." Neo explained when he calmed down a bit.

"However, my new Trait is pretty strong, isn't it? I wonder how much stronger I've gotten after it awakened. Emily, can you show me my Status?" Asked Neo, Emily whom he hasn't heard in a while.

But Emily didn't answer him.

"Emily?" Neo asked upon noticing that the Inter-Chip Contact Lens containing Emily's AI is no longer with him. It was destroyed in the blast.

But before Neo started to despair, he remembered something.

"The Tank, I have a backup of Emily's system and UMI there, the only question is whether the tank escaped the explosion." Neo wondered as he looked around the area.

When he couldn't see the tank anywhere, he ordered his Soulless forces to go in search of the tank.

Neo tried to summon his Legion to him, but so far nobody has been able to reach him.

This can either mean that none of Neo's Legion undead survived the attack, or that Neo's Legion has scattered to the winds and that they are too far away from Neo.

Although, Neo wants to know if his Legion still exists and what the true abilities of his new Trait are and also what the Miasma Tower is all about, which can still exist without Neo being connected to it.

But Emily is more important to him than anything else right now. She has been a faithful and loyal support to Neo over time and Neo has started to trust her more and more. Furthermore, she has all the Data of UMI, which includes not only all of Neo's strengths, but also his insights into the undead and his Legion.

In the wrong hands, UMI could be used against Neo and that must not happen under any circumstances.

Neo decided to go in search of the tank himself in the debris of the city and at his command his wings stretched out onto his back and Neo started flapping them up and down and began to fly.

Neo found the feel of the wings on his back odd at first, but when he commanded them, they followed his instructions like a second pair of arms.

Neo noticed that the more he tried, the easier it became to control his flight.

In the end, it didn't take long for Neo to be flying high in the air, searching the ground for traces of the tank.

...

After some time passed, Neo found two tanks next to each other. One of the tanks had a huge hole and was completely burned down.

The other tank, on the other hand, was Neo's modified tank, which was closed and was in a better condition.

After Neo gained access, he looked around the tank. The hard drivers and processor units where the AI was saved on, were completely burned out and nothing was functional anymore.

Luckily, Neo is a paranoid and cautious... something and has taken precautions and backed up Emily and UMI, which he saved to a Datapad. He stowed the Datapad, then safely in a Military Briefcase that had a special casing around it that was earthquake and sound proof.

Neo quickly found the case where it was hidden in the tank and took out the undamaged Datapad, which he then quickly activated.

"Host?" a voice said suddenly after the Datapad booted up.

"Emily, are you all right?" Neo asked hearing Emily's voice with a smile.

"HOST! Emily is so glad Host is still alive! Everything went dark at once when Emily was fighting a Stage 2 Mutant Undead and after that Emily heard Host's order to retreat and then, then everything went dark for Emily." said Emily.

"Emily everything is fine. The Earth Defense Force has decided to attack the city and launched an orbital bombardment. Most of the Legion seems to have died, but believe me, they will pay dearly for their actions in the future!" promised Neo.

"YES! They, dared to attack Emily's Host and will pay for it with their lifes! Although Emily is unable to directly assist Host in combat, Emily will do whatever it takes to assist Host otherwise." Emily promised loyally.

"Well Emily, with vengeance in both our hearts, we will rebuild our Army. The attack was not only detrimental to me, as my Soul and Body seem to advanced and become stronger." afterwards, Neo told Emily everything he knew about his new Abilities and the Dark Tower.

"Host, if I got the data right, Host's body should have changed, maybe Host shouldn't just be an undead anymore, but something else. But without more data, Emily can't give an exact analysis." replied Emily.

"But as far as Host Soul Stage goes, Emily can't be of any use, especially since Emily can't analyze or rate a Soul. Emily apologizes for Emily's incompetence," Emily explained with a saddened voice.

"You don't need to analyze my Soul. I feel the current strength of my Soul very well. I own a LOW STAGE 2 SOUL, my whole being already embodies it and I'm sure of it." explained Neo.

"As for my Body. I ask you to analyze it more closely over the next few days and show me my new status as far as possible." asked Neo.

"Of course my Host, but what will your next steps be?" asked Emily.

"The entire city of Abeus was hit by the orbital attack. I'm sure the military outpost with any survivors there has already been evacuated to the nearest security zone. They used Camp Luma to keep the Horde busy while they escaped the annihilation beam. But I'm not sure if my theory is correct, so I've already sent some of the Soulless to the North District to confirm my claim." explained Neo.

"Until I get my answers from them, I need to examine my Abilities and my new Trait more closely. I can already feel the Tower of Miasma calling to me the entire time. I've been ignoring the call for too long and it's time to heed it ." explained Neo.

Neo also asked Emily how much Days passed since the Orbital Attack and she answered with 24 Days. Neo recovered for a total of 24 Days after the Orbital Attack.

[DAY 73]

He then flew back to his Miasma Tower and found there the massive crowd of Soulless, all kneeling as Neo approached them.

Neo, on the other hand, only saw the Dark Tower in front of him and felt the call getting stronger the closer he got to it.

The Tower wanted a Shard of Neo's Soul, just like the Soulless possess it.

Neo decided to comply and touched the Dark Tower with his hand and closed his eyes.

Neo then entered the World of Darkness and commanded a tiny little bit of his darkness to pass into the tower through his hand.

The Shard followed Neo's wish and in reality, Neo's palm briefly glowed purple and the purple light was then absorbed by the Dark Tower.

The little purple light then got bigger and bigger and flew higher and higher in the outer skin of the Dark Tower.

The purple soul shard only stopped when it reached the top of the Dark Tower several hundred meters high.

There then a giant Purple Eye formed at two peaks of the tower, which shone in dark Miasma. The entire tower suddenly seemed to come alive and just like his Soulless subordinates, Neo could completely perceive and control the Dark Tower, just like another body.

However it seems that Neos Miasma which was still in his body, got stronger the nearer he was to his Dark Tower. The Dark Tower seems to amplify his Soul Traits and Abilities.

Neo then switched his vision to that of the Purple Eye and saw the world in front of him in a purple outline from the giant Eye's view.

He could see everything within a range of about 200 km as he looked around the ruined city of Abeus with his Purple Eye.

Suddenly, his Soulless began to scream when they saw the sight of the Dark Tower and the Purple Eye staring over them impor.

"ALL HAIL THE DARK MONARCH!!!"

They all cried out at the sight of their Lord and Master.

Neo, on the other hand, who now oversaw an Myriad of Soulless subjects in the millions, feeled the urge to speak towards his subjects.

'From today on, you, my subjects who are part of me, will serve as the Soulless Myriad. You will supplement my Legion in the Points it lacks.'

'Where you know intelligence and tactics, your comrades in the Legion will match you in strength and talents.'

'Both armies. The Legion and the Myriad will henceforth act united in my WILL, and our first goal is to take this city and make it OUR.'

'I will thus become known as *The Dark Monarch of Abeus* and will rebuild this destroyed City into a Fortress of my New Force: *The Purple Eye*'

'Move out, my Soldiers, and take the City! Turn everyone who is alive into Undead and bring every Undead to one of the numerous Miasma Arms to turn them into Soulless ones so that they all join you and submit to my WILL!'

Neo commanded in his mind as the Purple Eye looked down on his LEGION and MYRIAD.

"ALL HAIL THE DARK MONARCH!!!"

"ALL HAIL THE DARK MONARCH!!!"

"ALL HAIL THE DARK MONARCH!!!"

His Soulless answered him and began to follow his Will and set out in large groups to conquer the entire City and serve their Lords Will...

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Change of Neo's Status:

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NEW SOUL TRAIT: SOUL SUBJUGATION

NEW: MIASMA ACTIVE ABILITY: TOWER OF MIASMA (Explanation: ?)

NEW: SOUL SUBJUGATION ACTIVE ABILITIEY: SOUL ABSORPTION (Explanation: ?)

NEW: SOUL SUBJUGATION ACTIVE ABILITIEY: CREATE SOULLESS (Explanation: ?)

SOUL PATH:

Soul: LOW STAGE 2 SOUL

TRAITS: MIASMA & SOUL SUBJUGATION

MIASMA: ACTIVE ABILITIES: BASIC MIASMA CONTROL, DARK BROADSWORD SUMMONING, DARK DISK, INFECTIOUS LIQUID, DARK TRIANGLES, TOWER OF MIASMA

MIASMA: PASSIVE ABILITIES: WILL OF THE BROADSWORD

SOUL SUBJUGATION: ACTIVE ABILITIES: SOUL ABSORPTION, CREATE SOULLESS

NEW PATH: SOULLESS MYRIAD PATH (Explanation: From now on, Neo divides the Soulless he creates via the SOUL SUBJUGATION TRAIT, into the Soulless Myriad which will serve as Neo's fourth Path. The Soulless possess intelligence and share their knowledge from before their death. But instead of having a Consciousness and Soul of their own, they contain a Small Soul Shard of Neo that makes the Soulless completely subservient to Neo. Neo can sense their presence from any distance, and he can command Soulless like Undead by thought, as well as share their perception with them. Every being with a Soul can be made into the Soulless, even undead. However, the being will no longer be able to advance its Body)

NEW TITLE: DARK MONARCH (Explanation: A Title giftet to Neo by his Soulless Myriad, to describe the GREATNESS of Neo and Hail him!)

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UNDEAD LEGION STRENGTH:

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LEGION COUNT: ?

ELITE OF THE LEGION: ?

PREFECT: ?

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SOULLESS MYRIAD STRENGTH:

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SOULLESS COUNT: 1,042,049