Hector saw the other man standing there on the second floor, watching them from over the hefty guardrail. “Hello, Seadevil. And company.”
“I see you have decided not to ambush us,” said Xuan. “That is appreciated.”
“I figured you would want to talk,” said Melchor.
Xuan chortled. “I’m surprised that you would.”
“I am in no hurry.”
Dimas took a step forward. “Only to tell us more lies, I imagine.”
Melchor made no response.
Xuan picked up the slack. “How’s about we stop all this nonsense, eh? Return the Elroy kids to us, and we’ll leave you alone.”
“I doubt that,” said Melchor. “I’m sure you have pressing questions now that would keep you here, regardless. Not that it makes a difference. I cannot give you the children.”
“Why not?” asked Xuan.
“I cannot tell you.”
Xuan pursed his lips. “Are you sure? Because I really hate having to fight scary guys like you.”
“Same old Xuan. I always did enjoy your ability to speak plainly. I would prefer to avoid this as well, if I am honest.”
“Then why are we doing this?”
“Because your loved ones wish to hurt my loved ones,” said Melchor.
Xuan frowned. “I don’t think that’s quite right.”
“Unfortunately, it is.”
‘Why can’t you tell us?’ asked Duvoss. ‘There must be a reason.’
“Of course there is. And I cannot tell that to you, either.”
Several more people entered the foyer from the second and third floors. Hector recognized some of the faces from the photographs Lady Amaya had shown everyone.
‘Nine new souls,’ Garovel told him privately. ‘Melchor makes ten. I also sense the woman from the other day.’
Hector remembered her. The cesium materializer, Silvia Blackburn. Already, Hector was wondering how much use he would be in this fight. He felt Asad touch his left pauldron and realized the man had soul-strengthened his armor for him again. He gave the Sandlord a grateful nod.
Lord Xuan pulled off his small coat and began rolling up his sleeves. “Well, then, if that’s how it’s going to be, then I hope--”
A gunshot cut him off, and Hector saw Xuan’s head twitch and heard the ping of the bullet’s ricochet. Xuan looked up to their right, but rather than looking up as well, Hector noticed the tiny bruise on the Seadevil’s temple where the bullet had struck him.
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Owwwww.... you came like, two tenths of the way toward concussing me! Now I gotta regenerate!
ReplyDeleteAlso, what happens if you perform neurosurgery on a servant, disabling, for example, their ability to move their right finger, through mundane means?
"Xuan turned to looked up to their right" should be look up?
ReplyDeleteFixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHmm. So my prediction. Parson Miles is an Abolish double agent who created the Blackburn abomination secretly. Knowing that they would likely ignore his advice to kill their own son, he then proceeded to blackmail them with the information and attempted to eliminate an entire family allied with the vanguard.
ReplyDeleteNah: I'd put money on the dear, mercurial and curiously regularly absent cousin. Who is being trusted perhaps a bit much. <_<
ReplyDeleteHey, which floor are our guys on?
ReplyDeletePossibly. I also find it suspicious that general Lamont has no direct contact with any of the shadow sect. I wouldn't be surprised if he has no idea about the attempt to start a coup in his name.
ReplyDeleteIt counts as damage. The next time the regenerate, it gets fixed.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think that Parson is a decent guy who has become willing to use very unethical means to get what he wants. I doubt that he has anything but good intentions, but he thinks that Sermung is unqualified to lead, and that it is acceptable to use any means necessary to remove him. Recall the thing about how much his work has helped the Vanguard.
ReplyDeleteActually I just saw all that stuff as him having inside information on abolish that helps in his speedy promotions. Mostly though, his personality is extremely similar to Desmond's.
ReplyDeleteHow does destroying the Elroy family (before this thing with finding their eldest daughter) help vanguard? That was a pretty big blow to a large vanguard supporter.
Now, what happens if you disable their ability to speak? They can speak while dead, but not while alive and with disabled speech centres?
ReplyDeleteI think any brain damage boots them out of the body, aside from mutation mistakes (which change the ground state) or damage taken during pan-forma (when the brain isn't a weak point).
ReplyDeleteAny at all, huh? That's kind of weird - it means that, technically, it's easier to put down a servant with a headshot than a normal, disregarding soul defence, abilities, etc. I wonder if concussions count for that?
ReplyDeleteWell, almost any. I imagine that relatively minor things like concussions could be shrugged off, especially when there's very little actual movement of tissues so the regen wouldn't have much to do.
ReplyDeleteRemember, in combat the reaper is blocking all sorts of signals than normally prompt a brain to shut down, like blood-pressure shock or excessive pain.
That's probably also why brain-freezing works. The brain is technically intact, so it still works to anchor the servant's soul. but it doesn't actually function. Which probably means that the servant's mind is in stasis, not in sensory deprivation. I wonder if the souls continue to synchronize in that state?
ReplyDeleteExcept that his work never even got recognized. He achieved his rank by age and power, nothing else; in fact, almost all of the higher-ups think he is a buffoon.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that as long as the servant and reaper are both alive and connected, the syncing continues. It involves the soul, which has been shown to be related to but distinct from the mind.
ReplyDeleteHow rude!!! Shooting an old man in the head when he is in the middle of a talk... Yougsters...
ReplyDelete