Chapter 82: The Conference Of Shock And Poison (Part 2)

Bronzer: "To start off, how many of you know what Psychic Potential is?"

As he is asked to explain the reasons for his absurd seeming orders, the strategist asks everyone in the room that one question.

Aquarius: "Well, I don't know everything about it but I do know that it is something very vital for Psychics and that without it, no one would be able to use any Psychic abilities."

Bronzer: "Well, when you say 'without it', what do you exactly mean? Do you mean that it's a physical part of the body that if not present, Psychics would lose their abilities, or do you mean that it's similar in nature to talents, tendencies, and alike?"

Aquarius: "I don't know the answer but from the word 'Potential', I think it would probably be the latter."

Bronzer smiles affirmatively, not to say that Aquarius is right but to say that his reasoning makes sense.

Bronzer: "Well, the correct answer is neither and both."

Ignis: "What does that even mean? Stop the riddles and explain it already!"

Even though time has calmed him a little and the queen ordering him to back off is also preventing him from exploding, he still can't really keep his anger at Bronzer completely in control.

That, is obviously something Bronzer enjoys watching though.

Bronzer: "Patience, my dear idiot, patience!"

He says teasingly as Ignis clicks his tongue.

Bronzer: "Psychic Potential is like an ability to do something, and is henceforth present in a few people in large quantities and in some in very negligible quantities. But, while it's similar to ability, it's not the same thing as it. Unlike abilities, it has manifested itself in a physical form inside the brains of those we call Psychics. It is now as much of a part of their brain as their ego, their superego or their id."

Hearing his explanation,

Valdis: "I don't really get all the terms but what it basically means is that the Psychic Potential is a part of their brain that gives them these psychic abilities, right?"

Bronzer nods, and continues,

Bronzer: "Now, this means two things in the current context. First, Psychic Potential is permanent and so a Psychic can never be robbed of their ability to use these powers."

For those listening, all belonging to the Vampire Kingdom, this is a grim reality. However, in contrast,

Bronzer: "Second, it also means that the Potential can be harmed, it can be weakened."

This is something to feel joy over.

Aquarius: "If you mean what I think you mean, we can weaken Psychics like the Phoenix to a level where we can defeat him. This could change the war itself."

Aquarius says as he ponders on Bronzer's words, simultaneously improving everyone else's mood too.

And yet,

Bronzer: "Hmm, did you get smarter or did I get stupider?"

The point Bronzer chooses to focus on is that Aquarius could get what Bronzer meant. It wasn't a surprise that he got it but the way Aquarius worded it is what made Bronzer strive for more mockery.

Reid: "Probably the latter, since there's no way one of these idiots would get smarter."

And Reid, of course, joins in.

Bronzer: "Good point."

Aquarius, having lost some of his enthusiasm because of that banter, says after purposefully coughing,

Aquarius: "Getting back on topic, how is it that we would actually weaken them though?"

Bronzer: "We have to damage a particular part of the brain of Psychics. There's only one possible way to do that."

For people who have many defensive abilities as well as abilities like teleportation that allow them to escape battle against others, there's only one way to precisely damage one specified part of their brain.

Valdis: "A virus?"

Bronzer: "Bingo!"

What other possible way would something like that be done? It obviously needs to be done by a microorganism. And the microorganisms best at damaging the body are viruses.

Aquarius: "But, even so, we would need a virus that specifically goes to their Psychic Potential and then damages it all while being powerful enough that it's not killed by the various defense mechanisms of the body as well as being hard to create a vaccine against."

To be able to find a virus like that is probably impossible considering that Psychics have existed for more than 1000 years and no cases of such a virus have ever come to light.

To create a virus like that is no easy task either.

First things first, one would need a Psychic to experiment the virus on. And even then, just because the virus worked on them wouldn't mean that it would work on stronger Psychics than that person.

So, they would need some really powerful Psychics as test subjects.

Bronzer: "Well, how many of you know where the dead bodies of Gin Hanks and Julius Rome are?"

He asks with a smirk.

And then it dawns on all the listeners that didn't know about it already, the reason why Bronzer had asked for such a large force just to get his hands on Julius' body that was buried under the rubble.

He hadn't asked for such a large force before but he had definitely gotten his hands on Gin's body as well.

Bronzer: "Since you people feast on humans, you have a fair amount of equipment that helps preserve the bodies of the dead. I think you can add up the rest."

Dead bodies of two Hellfires were taken, preserved and experimented on to create a virus that could possibly weaken Psychics and turn the tables in the war.

That was the gist of the explanation.

Darcy: "In case you all are too slow to get it still, that attack on those three Hellfires served the purpose of infecting them with the virus. While we lost some soldiers, we succeeded in infecting all of them, so it was a rather proud success."

She says in an arrogant and prickly voice, but her words could only lead to even more enthusiasm.

Gaiz: "You mean the virus is already completed?!"

Not being able to hold his enthusiasm back, Gaiz says.

Reid: "No, she's talking about the fever virus."

Not being able to hold his sarcasm back, Reid says.

Gaiz clicks his tongue in response but quickly turns his attention back to Bronzer and Darcy. So do the other three Great Generals, as well as Valdis.

Aquarius: "I didn't know our scientists were good enough to create a virus like that."

Bronzer: "Hahahaha!!!"

Suddenly breaking into a grim and mocking laugh, Bronzer looks at Aquarius with a demeaning look.

Bronzer: "YOUR scientists are NOT EVEN CLOSE to being good enough to create a virus like that."

For this once, it isn't mockery with the purpose of trolling but mockery with the purpose of derision, something Bronzer very rarely does, and so something that means just that much more when he does it.

Bronzer: "For years, Barry had worked on this virus and created multiple formulae without even having a Psychic to experiment it on, because obviously he couldn't experiment on himself. All his work needed to be completed was to have a powerful Psychic like a Hellfire to experiment things on."

Aquarius: "B-but, Barry was gone before you got to either of their bodies, wasn't he?"

Surprised and slightly cautious, Aquarius questions.

Bronzer: "Yeah, he was, but he had found someone good enough to complete his research."

As he says so, the Four Great Generals look at each other, trying to figure out who he is talking about. As if Bronzer's grim expression ignited something in him, Reid tells them the answer in a silent yet sardonic tone,

Reid: "Ro Garland."

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