Ch 146

  Matt found himself reduced to just one-eighth of his maximum HP, with two out of the four birdmen who had attacked him still in fighting condition. The other two were preoccupied with healing their severe injuries. Had the battle persisted for another minute, Matt might have been compelled to call out for assistance from Rudan, regardless of the circumstances. However, as the situation stood, he felt confident that he would manage just fine. Especially when Rudan returned with a new individuals captured, causing all the birdmen attacking Matt to momentarily freeze, giving him the opportunity to land crippling blows on both of them. Nevertheless, he refrained from delivering the fatal strike and instead disengaged, pulling out six collars that Rudan had prepared for him and began to speak.

  "All six of you have two options. First, put on these collars and willingly swear an oath to serve me, or we can continue this struggle, and I can gain some experience from it."

  "Go ahead and kill me," shouted the owl-man Rudan was holding. "Seeing his level drop from helping you would be worth it."

  "No, you will be held until the moment the penalty period ends and then killed," declared Rudan, his voice steady. "Matt isn’t a fool, even if it seems like it sometimes."

  "Thanks," retorted Matt, acknowledging the backhanded compliment with a hint of sarcasm. "Still, you all have three seconds to agree, as I am not interested in giving you time to find a way out. One, two—"

  "Fine," one of the birdmen called out, and it only took a moment for everyone but the owl-man in Rudan’s custody to add their agreement.

  "You’re all idiots!" shouted the owl-man, his voice filled with disdain. "The moment the penalty period is over, all of you will be killed no matter what happens here!"

  "At least we will live that long," commented the birdman who had spoken first, his tone resigned but pragmatic. "Now, what exactly will the oaths on these collars entail?"

  "Put them on and repeat after me," replied Matt, as he handed each captive their collars, his voice firm and authoritative.

  The fact that these collars existed and Rudan had a few thousand of them made Matt wonder just how common what he was about to do was. While at first, Matt had thought they were for enslaving others, Rudan had laughed at that before explaining that fear worked for that thanks to the level gaps. Besides, while slavery did exist, Godfrey Enterprises never enslaved anyone officially, as slaves had long since been proven less productive than desperate people with a tiny chance to rise.

  The only place where slaves were even slightly common was in breeding facilities, where capturing a talented enemy and restraining them while forcing them to impregnate thousands of women was standard practice. There were a few simple reasons for this. One, it robbed the enemy of much of their potential in the system's eyes, as for whatever reason, the stronger one was when their first born was conceived, the farther they could rise. Second, even the millionth child of an S-rank individual born to a D-rank mother would likely have more potential than a first-born of two B-ranked individuals, and almost as much as a first-born between an A-ranked and B-ranked pairing. Thus, the practice was as efficient as it was cruel.

  Matt found himself determined to ensure that, wherever he chose to settle down, he would never be forced into becoming a breeding slave, especially after Rudan made this known to him. To make matters worse, Rudan had made it abundantly clear that such a fate was a very likely possibility if Matt were ever captured, as killing him was likely already considered rather inconvenient. Instead, he would probably be compelled to impregnate the daughters of powerful members of whichever force apprehended him. Yet, Matt had to chuckle to himself, knowing he could easily render himself infertile or fertile at will using his abilities.

  However, all of that was a concern for another day as he turned his attention to the five men standing before him, each wearing the binding oath collars. These collars enforced a single oath of 50 words or fewer and couldn't contradict any existing binding oaths. This complexity made their use more than just a tool for compelling others to act according to one's wishes; it also served as a clever way to determine if the individual was already under any oaths that might contradict the new one. This was why Matt intended to keep the oath simple yet revealing as he spoke with a calm authority.

  "I swear to work towards the benefit of Scattered Stars and no other organization, so long as Scattered Stars continues to exist. I will divulge all information that I may have about those who wish harm to members of Scattered Stars and never betray Matthew Pierce’s mercy."

  Matt observed as the five men hesitated slightly before repeating his words. Once he was satisfied that none of them had deviated from what he had said, he nodded to Rudan. A second later, Rudan activated each collar with a drop of his blood, thereby tying their oaths to him rather than to Matt. While this also meant that if Rudan were to die, they would all be freed from their oaths, it served as a way for Matt to reassure Rudan that he wished him to live. After all, if events unfolded as they expected, not many of the collars would remain by the time Matt was sent back to Earth.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "So now what?" spat the owl-man who hadn't accepted the collar. "These five know next to nothing, and I'm not going to—"

  "Now, I recover, and you shut up unless you want to be used as a breeding slave until you die," stated Matt firmly. "Really, why would I expect any of them to know anything when they could recite that oath? No, I already know that I will need to learn what I need from you."

  "What about us?" asked the birdman who seemed to have become his group's spokesman. "He's not wrong, as we don't even know this man's face. We thought this was all being done on the order of an S-rank owl-man."

  "Wislis," commented Rudan. "This fool can shift his appearance and was impersonating him."

  "I see, then it was all a lie, and this fool is likely at the center of many things," observed Matt. "I think we are done here. We can take him with us as we leave and deal with him at our next stop."

  Rudan simply nodded before hoisting the owl-man over one shoulder, and he and Matt began to run. This situation was less than ideal, as Matt was considerably slower than Rudan, even when Rudan was burdened with carrying another person. Nonetheless, it was preferable to letting the owl-man attempt anything while they were speeding at hundreds of miles per hour. For Matt, it also felt refreshing to just run, using the physical exertion as a means to alleviate the stress of the day and the reality that they had just left behind five men who had attempted to kill him, trusting only in a simple oath.

  This was, in fact, all part of a larger scheme. Once word spread, it would encourage their enemies to become careless. After all, the only consequence those five men faced was an oath compelling them to act in a manner they would have to anyway if Matt's plans succeeded; if the plans failed, they would face no repercussions. While this strategy was likely to increase the number of attempts on Matt’s life, it would hopefully also create opportunities to expose those truly orchestrating the attacks. Both Matt and Rudan were well aware that the captured owl-man was merely a pawn, probably four or five steps removed from their actual target. Yet, as they paused in a deserted area between their previous and next destination, the moment had arrived to see what information they could extract from him.

  "I see, so is this the part where you threaten me to talk, or else?" spat the owl-man as Rudan roughly tossed him to the ground. The dim light of under the trees cast eerie shadows on his feathered face. "Go ahead, you'll get nothing—" he began, but his words abruptly stopped.

  In a swift, unsettling motion, Matt liquefied his hand and shot it forward into the owl-man's mouth. A moment later, Matt's expression softened into one of pity as he spoke, his voice calm yet menacing.

  "Part of me has just entered your body, and you are likely finding it hard to feel your limbs right now. That is because I have it monitoring the signals from your brain. Even if our bodies aren’t truly where our minds reside, yours still needs signals from your head to function. Thus, I am having it spread up and down your spinal cord, and with a single thought, you will be like a puppet whose strings have been cut. Eventually, I believe I will be able to use this technique to completely take control of others, but for now, disabling is the best I can do."

  With that, Matt pulled his hand back. The owl-man's feathers bristled with fury before he spat at Matt's feet and spoke. "That is an attack, so you better—"

  "No HP has been lost, and as of now I've done nothing to harm you," retorted Matt, wiping the spittle from his boot. "You may be right, but it is one of the many gray zones that exist in the system, so consider that when deciding your next move."

  "It's not like I would be able to succeed right now either way," muttered the owl-man, his talons flexing nervously against the dirt. "So, now what?"

  "Now we let you go," stated Rudan, crossing his arms. "All that beating answers out of you would get us is lies, and holding you would be too much effort. Just know that I plan to find and kill you if I live past the point where Matt returns to his world."

  "This is a trap," retorted the owl-man, his yellow eyes narrowing suspiciously. "There is no way that it is that easy—"

  "Easy?" chuckled Matt. "You get to live the rest of your life knowing that I can cripple you with a thought. So, yes, that is very easy, and I doubt the system will hold Rudan responsible once you leave."

  The owl-man still seemed to think that he was missing something as Rudan released him from his bindings. He stood, appearing to debate whether attacking Matt was a good or bad idea before ultimately deciding against it and turning to leave. Matt and Rudan watched him as he walked away, and once they were certain he wasn't going to return and was out of the range of even enhanced hearing, the two of them began talking.

  "Can you actually see through him?" Rudan asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

  "No," Matt replied, "but I can locate him and hear everything, it seems. Best of all, I think I can create more puppets by converting part of his body into the needed mass without him knowing it. If he returns to those in charge, I should be able to make them all puppets, though with each puppet I create, I will be less focused on each. Sadly, I am still unable to focus on more than one body at a time, and the puppets I will create for this mission will be very limited to avoid detection."

  Rudan frowned as he picked Matt up and continued towards their next stop while Matt focused on his new puppet. While he had told Rudan that all he could do was hear with and locate his new puppet, the truth was that was all he could do for now. If Emily and Greg were right, by focusing on integrating his puppet into someone's brain, he could learn everything they knew. There were more than a few concerns with this as it was a very obscure and untested theory to Matt, but one he didn't mind playing with as he focused on having his puppet adapt to its new environment, spreading microscopic tendrils through the owl-man's cerebral cortex.

  If Greg's wildest assertion was correct, Matt could even hijack their host bodies and make them a passenger in their own flesh. It was something that he was sure would result in rather horrible consequences if abused, and he didn't even want anyone to think it was possible. If it was possible, well, Matt didn't plan on using it. The only exception he could think of was if he was fighting someone he intended to kill regardless of anything else. The owl-man who had just left fit perfectly into this category and, if Matt could still control him after returning to Earth, would likely find himself being killed exactly like that—his own talons tearing into his throat while his consciousness screamed helplessly inside.