Reever shrugged. “Don’t be rude. He’s just curious. It’s in our nature. You can’t expect an aberration to join you if you don’t answer his questions first. That’s simple diplomacy.”
“Their reapers can still sense us,” said Arnold.
Reever waved his hand again. “And now they can’t.”
At first, Ibai didn’t realize that anything had changed, but then he noticed the faint glow around everything. And it became gradually more prominent, until the hallway around them was all but burning, as if an ethereal fire had descended upon the entire world, excepting only the four of them. Reever, Arnold, and the unnamed reaper all looked just as they did before.
However, when Ibai looked around another time, he saw that there were actually several more servants and reapers in the room than Reever had previously allowed him to see.
Ibai gave them all a wide grin. “Hello!”
The many new faces stared at him. But only briefly. Then they broke into smiles of their own.
“Heya, big man!”
“How the heck are ya, pal?!”
“You gotta tell us! How’d you end up here all by yourself?!”
“Didn’t you hear? He was born into one of the families.”
“What?! That can’t be right, can it?!”
“Dunno, let’s ask him.”
Reever stepped next to Ibai and put up his hands. “Alright, alright. Don’t smother the poor guy.” He turned to Ibai. “We have been wondering, though. If you wouldn’t mind answering. Were the Rainlords studying you?”
Ibai pursed his lips. “Pretty much, yeah. But speaking of burning questions. You never really answered me. What are you all doing here? Because--and correct me if I’m wrong--but it seems like you’re planning some kind of attack.” Reever’s brief mention of Hahl Saqqaf had not escaped his notice.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
What they don't know is that his parents didn't screw up and he actually /does/ care about them. Tricky tricky Ibai, even when he isn't trying
ReplyDeleteI don't know you guys, Ibai sounds legit.
ReplyDeleteTrick them again and again and again. Then trick them some more . Nice going Ibai
ReplyDeleteIts surprising how natural it all sounds
ReplyDeleteits as if their all a bunch of kids
And they keep moving along and don't even doubt Ibai
Fuuuu I love Ibai so damn much! He's at least in my Top Five favorite characters!
ReplyDeleteDamn... It was getting super good. I chose the wrong time to read this...
ReplyDeleteIbai is definitely my favorite character right now, and I think I'm only going to like him even more. (I have thing for Aberrations) After him probably Emiliana.
ReplyDeleteI say Top Five cause there's just too many characters I love. I mean, shit, can I cheat and count reaper and servant as one? That'd free up a lot of space!
ReplyDeleteWell, technically... he's not tricking them. Every statement he's made is 100% applicable, in context and true.
ReplyDeleteThey're just not connecting the dots correctly due to their own preconceptions. Which is hardly his fault. Amirite? xD
Ten in the top five. Everyone is happy, lol =)
ReplyDeleteTypos:
ReplyDelete"until the hallway around them was all but burning, as if an ethereal [fire? missing word] had descended upon the entire world,"
"he saw that [there] were actually several more servants and reapers in the room"
There's no right time to run out of pages, it always sucks. ^^
ReplyDeleteAnd it became gradually more prominent, until the hallway around them was all but burning, as if an [ethereal had] descended upon the entire world, excepting only the four of them.
ReplyDeleteQuite sure something is missing there.
Aberrations being naturally curious would fit with Steve's theory of their psychology being shaped by their immunity to injury, since during their formative years their curiosity never gets them hurt.
ReplyDeleteShhhhh you guys are reminding me that some day, there won't ever be another update, and that makes me sad.
ReplyDeleteIbai is in a dangerous situation, considering how abberations grow with power when they kill someone and absorb their skills Ibai is pretty much a baby. He was never allowed to kill people so pretty much everyone in that hallway is stronger than he is.
ReplyDeleteWhere was it said that aberrations absorb skills? I don't remember that...
ReplyDeleteAnd while Ibai has never killed a person, he was able to an undisclosed amount of animals for around 30 years. Compare that with other aberrations who can't kill people too much or they'll attract the attention of the Vanguard (mind you, this detail is stated in-universe), and Ibai might come out more powerful than other aberrations (and that's not even factoring in his hax ability).
So, have the updates actually slowed down, or is it just so good that it feels slower? It kinda feels like there are fewer pages than the last time I read up.
ReplyDeleteNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH
ReplyDeleteBADBADBADBADBADBADBAD
The release of the chapter slowed down since the last week of the 2nd month of this year.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have fixed the first typo, but the second typo is still there.
ReplyDelete"he saw that [there] were actually several more servants and reapers in the room"
Fixed now, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWell aberrations in some way do remain very childlike their entire lives. Also, these ones are likely quite naive because they are used to being if not the cleverest at least the trickiest people in the room. They have probably also gotten used to being told that everyone is either an Abolisher who wants to be their friend or a Vanguardian who wants to kill them immediately, so Ibai's indecision probably seems like friendliness to them. Besides, he is an aberration and nobody except the people who had already met him has ever heard of a good aberration.
ReplyDeleteThey don't exactly get skills, but they do get memories, which I'm not sure but might come with skills as a side bonus from the memory of learning them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think Frosty has some idea of how the conclusion will run, and I bet its gonna be awesome.
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't been confirmed if that's a power available to all aberrations, or just exclusive to Geoffrey's Domination. In fact, we've not heard anything about that since Geoffrey died...
ReplyDeleteIt's implied that switching bodies is exclusive to Domination, or maybe to a couple other powers, but I'm pretty sure getting the memories is an aspect of the soul-eating itself.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you sure of that...?
ReplyDeleteGood point. I guess it would make sense that if he gets real estate in their head it would come with the old decor.
ReplyDeleteOoh, didn't think of that. I'd forgotten that his power not only consumes his victims's souls but also controls their brains. If that's accurate, Domination seems to have a lot of perks to make up for its inability to directly damage servants.
ReplyDeleteI think high level Dominators can make their puppets super gnarly and probably something similar to soul-empowered.
ReplyDeleteDirectly damage I said, like how I'm sure Lynn can already set servants on fire.
ReplyDeleteYou made me rethink your idea. While it's unclear whether all aberrations have the power, at least one with Domination can. Now, the question is, can a Dominator control another aberration and in doing so, have remote access to their ability (I doubt it can happen with servants)? If that's possible, then we must take the idea to its logical conclusion... Can they take over the aberration's body and wield the ability themselves?
ReplyDeleteIf THAT'S true, that makes Domination possibly the most game-breaking ability revealed so far, especially if the transfer is permanent and the Dominator can then take the stolen abilities with them to new bodies. It'd completely explain why the ability would be appealing to Damian. I'd always had a question why Domination would interest someone of his level. It didn't seem like all that great a power compared to Incineration, Teleportation, and Invisibility (let's not even mention Singularities). However, with Domination, provided the theory is correct, it's possible to have ALL those abilities.
Is this what you had meant at first?
It's been shown that she's been able to break her training and let her emotions, her "elation," flow in battle? What page was that? Last I remember Lynn, Hector was talking to her over the phone.
ReplyDeleteI just meant that I think a Dominator can turn a boring human into a terrifying super-soldier that can take hits like its soul-strengthened and hurt reapers. My guess is that if they consume other aberrations, the other shadow is simply added to theirs and the other ability is lost, and I'm pretty darn sure that consuming a bonded reaper just kills it and turns the servant into a zombie, not even yielding a thrall from either.
ReplyDeleteShe hasn't, but when Haqq explained it on page 794, it sounded to me like Incineration can set any object on fire, and that only the soul-eating part doesn't work on servants.
ReplyDeleteThen what did you mean by "I'm sure Lynn can already set servants on fire"? You made it seem like she had already learned how to control it...
ReplyDelete"already can" as in "already has the capability at her power level." Geoffrey couldn't use Domination to hurt a servant because it starts by consuming the soul, but when she masters the use of it, Lynn can because her power starts by dealing physical damage.
ReplyDeleteAs for breaking her training, we haven't seen her actually use it yet, but we also haven't seen her fail to after learning how it works.
Your wording was a bit off, then.
ReplyDelete