Page 3554

Ah, wait a tick.

Feldeaths! Of course. He was recalling now. How could he have forgotten?

That was why he’d decided to head for Karugetti’s workshop.

Because there was a feldeath there. Guarding it. And that was also why he’d never gotten around to putting a new fusion forge in there. Because that particular feldath was a real son of a bitch, even when compared against others of its kind.

His long study of feldeaths might not have been nearly as fruitful as he would’ve preferred, but one thing he’d been able to learn quite clearly was that not all feldeaths were created equal. Far from it, in fact. He’d even begun work on a rigorous classification system for them.

It was far from exhaustive, though. The bastards never made it easy to measure their strength. And the true depths of their power might’ve simply been impossible to discover without first giving oneself over to certain death.

Mad as he supposedly was, even Morgunov was only willing to go so far for his work.

The naming scheme had taken him a while to nail down. On the one hand, he didn’t want it to be all generic and boring, like with hurricanes, for example. But on the other hand, a good classification system needed to be largely intuitive to understand. So naming one of them Category Pickle Sandwich or Tier Snot Bubble was out of the question, unfortunately.

In the end, he’d decided that animals would be the best of both worlds. They could be both non-generic and also intuitive, as long as he picked the right animals for each tier.

Thus far, he’d created five categories, though he hoped to one day codify a sixth or even seventh. That would just depend on whether or not he could ever find any more distinguishing characteristics that corresponded with their varying degrees of power.

From least to most dangerous, they were Mouse, Rabbit, Swan, Hippo, and Moth.

That last one, admittedly, had been a bit of a rule break. He had to do it. Even if moths were supposed to be harmless, there was just something about them that he didn’t trust. And besides, that tier was still a work-in-progress. He’d only ever encountered a single Category Moth, anyway, and he’d pretty much just run away from it the whole time. So it hardly mattered, right now. He could always rename it later, if he thought of something better.

Page 3553

How curious they were. He’d seen them many times before. In his clashes with the other emperors, most commonly.

He knew the theories, of course. The lights were vestiges of soul power that were escaping during the extreme exertion of an emperor’s strength. Similar to beads of sweat escaping the body, perhaps. Or sparks flying away from a tempering metal. They certainly looked similar enough.

He never bought into that explanation, though, because this was a phenomenon that only ever seemed to occur when two or more very powerful servants clashed. If it were merely about the exertion of great power, then a single servant should have theoretically been capable of producing these mysterious lights, and yet Morgunov had never been able to do so.

No, he’d come to believe that they were not vestiges at all. Not little sparks of power being chipped away. Instead, he'd started to think they might be just the opposite.

They were entirely new energies. Being created from the clash of two great souls.

From the collision.

That theory had sparked all sorts of new queries in Morgunov’s mind for many years, but unfortunately, these lights were all but impossible to study. The problem, of course, was that they vanished upon the cessation of hostilities between the two great souls, so the only opportunity to learn more about them directly was in the midst of the battle. At the peak of the battle, even. When the most danger was posed.

But perhaps here and now, he might finally have a window? While Gohvis was buying him time.

Oh dear. The temptation was so very strong.

He needed to not give in. He needed to remember the danger. He needed to keep going. Stay on task. The workshop. That was what mattered now.

Even if he might never get a better opportunity than this one...

No! Foolish thoughts!

And not even true, besides. Because he remembered now. There was actually another instance in which this same phenomenon could occur.

Feldeaths. They could produce this effect, too. It was rarer for them, but Morgunov had most definitely observed it a couple of times during his tumultuous research of those stubborn buggers.

Not all feldeaths seemed capable of pulling it off, though. That was the trouble with them. Their unpredictability. With two clashing emperors, it was much more consistent.

But perhaps there was some other, still-mysterious environmental condition that needed to be met with feldeaths.

Page 3552

It was a waste of perfectly good subjects for future experimentation, but they were the ones trying to push him into a corner here. This was what happened when you refused the Mad Demon’s mercy.

When the Vannies noticed the Roberts, their ranks distorted instantly. Ehehe. Perhaps his little metal boys had left them with a bit of trauma? Funny, considering how old and powerful these uppity generals were supposed to be.

One, two, three captured piggies. Easy as pie. The projections really did work wonders, didn’t they? Ah, Iceheart set about trying to free his companions immediately. Surprisingly warm of him, considering his reputation. Must’ve thought they were important.

Wasn’t going well for the icy boy, though. Lad wasn’t at his best, at the moment. Morgunov had made sure to infest him with plenty of little saboteurs, just as he’d done for Jackson. Didn’t want Iceheart feeling left out, if he managed to survive all this.

Impressively, though, Iceheart was still managing to avoid capture himself. Hmm. Not being deceived by the Mk. IIIs’ projections, huh? Interesting. Why might that be? Had that fellow developed aura sight while Morgunov wasn’t looking? Finally seeing a bit more of the world, perhaps? Not letting that closed-mindedness of his continue to win out?

Eh. Doubtful.

Oop. Dog was back. Barreling toward him with that huge body like a torpedo. Ah, but Gohvis was intercepting again, allowing Morgunov to retain some of his breathing room.

Morgunov still wasn’t buying it, though. Rather than moving to assist Gohvis, he kept running and devoted some thoughts to why the Monster might be pretending to go against his own mutant cronies, right now.

The main reason why Morgunov had not been able to deal with the enigmatic problem of Germal years ago was because the Liar had the protection of not only Koh but also Gohvis. So had the Liar lost Gohvis’ favor?

Maybe, but Morgunov could see Gohvis pulling his punches here, too. If Germal had truly angered the Monster, then this scenario would be playing out quite differently, right now. That wouldn’t just be a psychic projection over there. That would be the real Monster.

So what was the goal here, then?

Well.

To trick the Mad Demon, obviously.

But it wouldn’t work.

Morgunov could sense. Morgunov could see.

The mayhem of the fight was increasing to a feverous pitch. Those familiar packets of floating light were beginning to appear. Whispers of freed energy.