Ch 153

  "Why are you allowing Radoznaormr to corrupt you?" asked the owl-man, his voice tinged with desperation. "My group is attempting to kill you because it is never beneficial when those at the top notice those at the bottom. Every time this occurs, trillions perish as wars erupt, and those whom the powerful observe rise to the top of the heaps of corpses."

  "What reason do I have to believe you?" Matt retorted, feeling defensive about his actions. "Who says I am allowing Radoznaormr to do anything? Perhaps I am simply choosing the path I believe must be taken for my survival and for the survival of the rest of those on this world as well."

  "If you leave me alive, I hope that I’ll be able to make you eat those words one day as everything around you burns," spat the owl-man with a venomous glare. "Is your life truly worth more than trillions of lives?"

  Matt frowned as he sensed that the owl-man genuinely believed what he was saying. While Matt dismissed it, considering it as the owl-man being influenced by the circumstances of living under the control of Godfrey Enterprises, he couldn’t entirely reject the notion. Especially with the unsettling smile on Radoznaormr’s face as he observed the events unfolding before him.

  “Do you think he is right, and that by living, I will bring about the death of trillions?” Matt asked, his voice edged with uncertainty.

  “Anyone who reaches the higher levels of S rank can be said to require an uncountable amount of death to achieve that status,” Radoznaormr explained, his tone matter-of-fact. “Simply climbing four levels could demand more than that if we were talking about myself. If it weren’t for dungeons providing monsters to level against, the universe would likely be devoid of life from my rise alone. So yes, the path before you will require far more than a few trillion deaths before you reach the point where you can kill me.”

  “How many would live that would otherwise die if I died here?” Matt inquired, searching for some sense of morality in this grim calculus.

  “A handful, maybe a thousand, as the vast majority of those who have died to fuel the rise I foresee for you have already perished,” Radoznaormr responded, his gaze steady. “After all, you will constantly face those ten or more levels above you. I would even argue that your rise will result in a net positive in lives saved, as you will eliminate those who would be killing the weaker ones to rise.”

  “How many planets have been integrated?” Matt asked, feeling as if the numbers he was dealing with defied understanding. “I thought that only one world was integrated at a time?”

  “It would be more accurate to say that only one star is integrated at a time, but nothing dictates that the integration needs to be more than a few days apart,” Radoznaormr replied with a knowing smile. “Still, your star had rather little in the way of complex life outside your planet. However, what you may not realize is that many stars have no planets with life on them as they have all been integrated and colonized. After all, A and B ranked worlds can be rather inhospitable to most, yet they offer the greatest chance for growth.”

  Matt was at a loss as he realized that such planets would be how most forces built up their power bases, and he would never have the opportunity to simply claim such a world for himself. No, he would be forever behind others who were just lucky enough to be around longer. Even if he had no desire to rule over a vast galactic empire, Matt knew that his situation was rather tenuous even with Radoznaormr's aid, especially considering how conditional that aid truly was.

  "How many S ranks are there?" asked Matt, his voice tight with tension, not really wanting to know, but knowing he needed to.

  "How many stars are there in the universe?" replied Radoznaormr, his lips curling into a smirk. "Counting the number of ants in an anthill would be just as pointless to you as keeping track of any below level 450 is to me. Now, if you are ready to make your decision, I would either completely consume this fool or force him back into the recesses of his mind if I were you."

  "But you're not me," stated Matt, crossing his arms defensively. "Besides, there is one fatal flaw with either of those options. If I don't consume his brain and make it mine, it will be difficult to keep his body alive in the void of space. If I do consume it, I need to worry about whether that would effectively merge him with me or kill him, and both of those outcomes are terrible for me."

  "See, you do understand what it is that I want to see," Radoznaormr replied with a knowing nod, "especially as you just admitted that you only have one option."

  Matt wanted to scream as he saw the trap before him. Radoznaormr didn't care one bit about what happened to him as long as it was entertaining. He really was just another curiosity, and once he died, it would be nothing more than a footnote to the dragon. This only served to anger Matt even more as he watched his consciousness that inhabited the owl-man's body take control again. The owl-man's beak opened, emitting a distorted voice through newly created vocal cords and a modified mouth. Both modifications had been necessary for Matt to speak through this form, as he still didn't understand how the owl-man naturally created speech patterns.

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  "What should I do?" the owl-bodied Matt asked, his voice crackling with uncertainty.

  "I don't know," replied the Matt in his real body, fingers clenching into fists. "I don't think either option is a good one."

  "You truly split yourself," commented Radoznaormr, his golden eyes gleaming with interest. "Fascinating. You continue to surprise me with what you are capable of at such a low level. Tell me, are you permanently separated, or do you rejoin the whole?"

  "Why ask what you already know?" stated Matt, rolling his eyes.

  "Yes, don't act like you can't talk with each of my bodies mentally," added the Matt in the owl-man's body, the feathers around his neck bristling. "The problem is that because we continuously recombine, combining with another's mind is far too dangerous."

  "Exactly," agreed the Matt in his main body. "What is the point of surviving if it isn't me anymore?"

  "The point is I want to see what will happen," replied Radoznaormr, his lips curling into a smile that revealed teeth like polished daggers. "That should be enough."

  "Then kill me," stated the Matt in his own body, standing his ground. "If you expect me to do what you want because it's what you want, then I only see things going one way, and that is me being nothing more than your trained monkey."

  Radoznaormr simply smiled as he walked away, pausing before speaking while facing away from the three bodies under Matt's control. “Good, now don’t forget to place my anchor on your planet, and I’ll leave you be as I observe what you do. All I will do is open five portals for you to step through a single time. I will not disclose where they will lead, and I will not warn those on the other side that you are coming.”

  “Are you talking about opening them on my home planet?” Matt asked, curiosity tinged with concern.

  “Yes, that is one thing I can do with my anchor, though how you find your way back there after is a problem for you to work out,” Radoznaormr replied with a hint of amusement.

  Before Matt could respond, Radoznaormr leaped high into the sky. The next thing Matt knew, the entire planet trembled as the enormous form of a yellow eastern dragon filled the sky. One glance was all Matt needed to realize that Radoznaormr’s body was long enough to wrap around the world below. This revelation caused Matt’s mind to go blank for a second as he struggled to comprehend how something could be that massive, only to miss Radoznaormr swimming through the sky and into a gigantic portal. However, the familiar sight of the same lights in the sky as when he first arrived was enough to inform Matt that Radoznaormr had left the same way he came, as the ground around him settled down.

  Looking at his puppet and the owl-man and knowing that both contained their own independently thinking versions of himself made Matt shudder slightly. The past ten days had been so intense that he was simply focused on the task at hand, ignoring just about everything else, and he had crossed more than one line he normally wouldn’t have. Even now, he was worried about the long-term effects of his actions, as there were more consequences to them than he would like to admit. First was the fact that in replacing all the cells in the owl-man’s body with his own, he had learned how to create cells that were not normal for a human to have.

  This single fact made Matt feel as if he could be on track for freely changing his own appearance to that of any race he wanted to. While this wasn’t something he felt was in his interest to share with anyone, he knew that it could prove invaluable in the future. Still, the future was the future, and he still had many issues to deal with in the present as he turned his attention to his self in the owl-man’s body and spoke.

  “Let him come to the surface again.”

  "What is it now?" gasped the owl-men, their feathers ruffled with anxiety. "Are you going to kill me now that you no longer need me?"

  "No, I am going to let you live your life," stated Matt coldly, his eyes piercing into theirs. "You will always have a part of me keeping an eye on you, but as long as you never return to those who wish to kill me and stay celibate, you will have no worries."

  "Why must I never have sex?" asked the owl-man, clearly confused, his voice tinged with bewilderment and frustration.

  "Because your body isn’t your own now," Matt replied, his tone firm and unyielding. "And I’ll not risk you— you know what, never mind. I'll just sterilize that part and make it so that you couldn't even if you wanted to."

  "That—" began the owl-man, only to be interrupted as Matt held up a hand.

  "Your body is now composed mostly of my cells, and I don't know how to revert them back to yours. I'm sorry, but that's the reality. If you choose not to live, I can end your life and observe what happens to a puppet made from you. However, if I were in your position, I would concentrate on the positives of your situation. You possess all of my skills in addition to your own, which means you are effectively walking two paths at once in certain aspects."

  "You realize that I will become a target, and those I've worked with will assume I've betrayed them."

  "If that occurs, then fight," Matt stated firmly. "If I decide to take over and fight on your behalf, feel free to use your skills to assist in the battle. I'm allowing you to walk free because I believe your mere existence will be valuable to me, as it will enable me to learn things I couldn't otherwise. Indeed, you'll never be allowed to reach the pinnacle of anything, and romantic relationships are off-limits, but there are many other ways to find meaning in life, and I trust that you'll discover one that suits you."

  "What if I don't want to be of use to you?" inquired the owl-man.

  "Then enjoy living trapped in your own body with no hope of ever being free," Matt replied. "Even if I don't like it, I've invested too much in you to simply discard you, and I assume you'd rather have a chance to live your life than not."

  The owl-man offered no response as he turned and began walking away. Matt could only shake his head, trusting that his consciousness within the owl-man would keep tabs on the situation. Meanwhile, Matt shifted his focus to the puppets he controlled in others who ranked above the owl-man. With Radoznaormr's departure, it was evident they would soon be on the move again. The larger question, however, was the situation with Rudan and how much time remained before they were all returned to Earth, and whether all his puppets would accompany him.