Debauchery BioTech 6

Debauchery BioTech

Chapter 6

-VB-

The Fourth Succession War sped towards its end, but Archon Katrina Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth was not willing to let the war end until she kept her promise to the Karcist Croy. 

Because when he first came to her and cured her of her cancer and solved many of House Steiner’s health problems, he asked for a very simple reward. 

To be allowed to wage war against the people who wronged him and his people. 

Thankfully, those people were not Lyrans. 

Conveniently, the Draconis Combine had tried to wipe out the Priesthood for not worshiping the Coordinator. 

Wonderfully, Karcist Croy wanted his revenge to be bombastic.

And so when he made his plans…

To be honest, she didn’t believe the supernatural man at first, especially since he himself looked rather sick on their first meeting. He claimed it was due to a metamorphosis that he was undertaking, but, well, there were talks within the LIC that it was very possible that Karcist Croy might not be able to heal himself. The mutation of his body over the course of these past years only supported that notion. 

So she had given him her blessing to take the fight to his enemies in the future. 

She thought that it wouldn’t amount to much in the end. At most, she expected a few regiment’s worth of damage to her enemies. Maybe even an assassination or two.

Certainly not a growing cult with real power and converts within her own family. 

Or that she would become a convert herself.

Because it was real.

The supernatural was real.

She glanced at her own hand again.

She knew intellectually - and even instinctually - that a touch alone could not heal someone. But that had been how she was healed. Healed to be able to see Melissa live beyond her childhood. 

And maybe it was exactly that which prevented her from ordering the LIC to more extensively scrutinize the Priesthood. 

It wasn’t that she was compromised by them. 

If she was, then she expected Heimdall to end her life.

No, she suspected that it was something far more mundane than a supernatural mind control or something. 

She felt indebted.

Perhaps even loyal, though definitely not as much as she felt for the Lyran Commonwealth and the House of Steiners. 

So what did she feel when she looked down at the latest report from one of their LIC agents within the Priesthood, the said LIC agent in front of her with another report, and Zend Karstein right next to her. 

“It’s been a long while, Karstein,” she said, omitting the title for now. 

After all, she was the archon, and though she may be a “convert” in the sense that she acknowledged the existence of supernaturals, she wasn’t a member of the Priesthood in full. An honorary member, yes. A full member, no. 

Not yet, at least. Maybe once Melissa took over as the Archon, Katrina might delve into the occult. God, she couldn’t believe that she was thinking that seriously about the occult. Or that God was real.

“So what brings you to the Triad?” she continued before glancing at the LIC agent. “With one of my agents in tow?”

“This one was going a little crazy spying on us, so I thought to stop her from going fully insane,” the hooded “middle aged” woman replied casually, making the LIC agent and the guards to stiffen with indignation on her behalf. 

Katrina knew better than to believe that appearance. LIC already had a file on Zend Mirabelle Karstein nee Tomtondottor. A third generation immigrant from Draconis Combine’s Raselhague district, she was supposed to be one-hundred-and-nine this year. 

The woman in front of her looked nothing like her age, and she suspected that she didn’t keep that look if she didn’t need to.

What woman wanted to look old?

“Why bring her here?”

The zend smiled. 

“A message from the karcist,” she replied before her smile dropped. “He has ascended.”

Katrina froze.

“He… ascended?”

“Yes. Though he continues to walk among us, he has ascended beyond reality.”

And then … the woman whose intelligence file noted as being a cold, emotionless, and utterly rational person, who developed that personality due to her experience, looked up -.

-and Katrina saw her crying.

Tears slid down the cultist’s face.

“Our lord has achieved godhood,” she said without a sniffle but the tears continued to fall. “We are blessed to have been in his presence.”

“... Please explain. What do you mean godhood?” Katrina strained herself in both disbelief and apprehension.

“He is no longer bound by flesh.” And the adulation and exaltation changed to a malicious grin. “And the hour of his revenge is at hand. The Void Dragons will soon hatch, and he will ride them across the stars to the Draconis Combine. Praise be!” 

Katrina stared at the zend. And then her eyes slowly looked up as a dimly glowing blood red halo appeared around her head. 

The woman didn’t seem to realize it herself. 

But as soon as her fervent proclamation ended, so did the halo.

Zend Karstein stopped and looked around. “Is something the matter?”

Everyone was looking at the zend with open mouths, including the LIC agent.

… Oh dear. It looked like the zends … could be the cult’s saint equivalents.

Wait, what was that about “void dragons”?

“Before we talk about his ascension… what are void dragons?” 

Zend Karstein paused before looking around and then back to her. “Are they all…?”

“Yes. I trust them. They have the necessary security clearance, and they’ll keep to themselves whatever you say,” she told the zend. 

Karstein smiled again. “They are His Divinity’s answer to spaceships. It was not possible before to create flesh capable of jumping across the vast distances of stars in a reasonable timeframe, but now that he has ascended, he can.”

… Jump … capable … flesh?

“The dragons have been hibernating up to this point. All nineteen of them. Now that His Divinity has begun their work on them, they will soon surface from Zdice and march to Rasalhague. I am here on behalf of the karicst. He wishes to partake in the conquest of Rasalhague worlds for the sake of creating a duchy for our people.”

… Well, she was right about the cult hurting her enemies.

It just wasn’t a few regiment’s worth, though.

It was going to be a lot … a lot more than that. 

And Katrina…

Instead of fearing about the cult, she chose to stop herself. She thought about it. 

And then…

“I’ll need to know about the specifications of these ‘void dragons,’ Zend Karstein,” she said. 

The zend stared at her and lightly tilted her head. “Whatever for?”

“What for? How else am I going to direct you to where you are most needed?” she replied authoritatively. “The Fourth Succession War still rages on, and I do have a need for a new unit to strike at the Rasalhague District. But did the karcist have any particular target in mind?”

Zend Karstein’s smile grew. 

This woman might not have been with the karcist since the start, unlike Volutaar Orianna, but the hatred of the Draconis Combine was something that festered inside the heart of many priesthood’s members. 

It was, in some ways, even a requirement to advance its ranks.

“Have you heard of a world called Radstadt?”

-VB-

Orianna glanced at the massive hulking bodies of the creatures that her love had been growing underground since they arrived on Zdice. 

“How soon will they be ready?” she asked him.

Karcist Croy glanced over his shoulder before looking back to the creatures.

“Within the month.”

“And then we will fly back to the Combine.”

He nodded. “We will make them pay for what they did to Andrew, Melina, Wu, Norn, Akan, and Mary.”

“... What about Drew?”

Croy clicked his tongue. “The bastard’s still alive and kicking. I’ll talk to him eventually.”

She nodded. 

Things were progressing and they were progressing well.