Nathaniel felt the energy from the Genesis Core begin to recede.Within the void the hand buried in his soul snapped free from his skull before dissolving into darkness.
Then everything faded.
The familiar smell of antiseptic filled his nose.
His eyes opened slowly.
White ceiling. Dim lights. The quiet hum of medical equipment.
A hospital room.
Across the room Ginah sat in a chair with one leg crossed over the other, a small novel resting in her hands. She glanced up the moment she noticed movement.
Her eyes sharpened.
"You're awake."
She closed the book with a soft tap against her palm.
"You've been out for a while. At this point you and the hospital are becoming regular acquaintances."
A faint smirk touched her lips.
"I thought you could regenerate or something like that."
Nathaniel blinked, his mind still echoing with the remnants of the void.
For a moment he could still feel the phantom pressure where the hand had been inside his head.
But the Genesis Core was silent.
Only the hospital remained.
He was exhausted.
The last thing he remembered was being smashed into the tower hard enough to black out. For some reason he had not been able to activate Arete's ability. His body still burned in several places and he had no idea why.
Fragments of the fight returned slowly.
He had been intercepted. Cornered by a girl and that purple haired bastard from before. Apparently stopping an arsonist a few months back had earned him some enemies.
If things kept going like that he was going to end up dead.
He had come far too close this time.
Nathaniel felt his Uratsu slowly replenishing as he reached down and pulled the IV from his arm. The needle slid free with a small sting.
"Sorry doc."
He activated Max Regen.
The interface flickered to life in his vision.
White sparks danced across his skin as the cuts and bruises faded. Torn flesh sealed itself and the deep ache in his body slowly receded until only smooth skin remained.
New information appeared.
Nathaniel frowned.
Somehow he had acquired Karthanon's core.
Both versions.
The first entry showed the giant beast in its original form. The massive creature that moved like a spinning jet engine, its body rotating with violent force as it tore through space.
The second entry showed what it had become afterward.
A dense, slime based mass with corrosive properties. Slow looking but packed with overwhelming pressure and destructive potential.
The data appeared in layers like a highlighted MRI scan.
Nathaniel scrolled through it.
The latter traits enhanced his compatibility with resin constructs, increasing density and corrosive output.
The former traits improved Hellcharge efficiency, mimicking the reactor like internal motion that allowed the creature to accelerate and maintain insane rotational speed.
Then a new entry appeared.
Augment Acquired
Armament.
Nathaniel blinked.
The description unfolded.
Using his own energy and biological matter, his body could temporarily harden and expand into a living armor. Bladed extensions could form along the limbs while the overall frame increased slightly in height and mass.
The drawback appeared immediately afterward.
Once the armor dissolved, the outer layers of skin would be left raw and sensitive until regeneration caught up.
Nathaniel stared at the information for a moment.
Then he accepted the changes.
The interface dimmed.
He sat up slowly in the hospital bed and looked over at Ginah.
He would test the new abilities later.
Right now he just needed to recover.
He shook off the bandages and glanced over at Ginah.
She watched him with quiet amusement before holding out a glass of water. Nathaniel took it without hesitation and drained it in one long gulp.
"Thanks."
He swung his legs off the bed and walked behind the privacy wall beside the bed. A moment later a brief flash of light flickered from behind it.
When he stepped out again the hospital gown was gone.
In its place he wore a gray sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a pair of sneakers. The discarded gown had already vanished into his inventory.
The inventory was a nice thing to have.
Ginah leaned back in her chair, studying him for a moment before closing her book.
"You know most people try to avoid hospitals," she said lightly. "You on the other hand seem to treat them like a second apartment."
Nathaniel rolled his shoulders as the last stiffness faded from his muscles.
She continued.
"First the tower incident, then the biome recovery checkups, and now this. At this point the nurses downstairs are starting to recognize you."
A faint smirk tugged at her lips.
"One of them asked if you were some kind of professional stuntman."
Nathaniel snorted softly.
Ginah tilted her head slightly as her eyes moved over his now completely healed skin.
"And here I was hoping to finally see what you look like with actual injuries."
She tapped the cover of her book against her knee.
"I mean it would help justify the amount of paperwork you generate every time you show up here."
Her expression softened just a little.
"But no. You disappear for hours, come back looking like you got hit by a collapsing building, pass out, and then wake up perfectly fine."
She gestured toward him.
"You are terrible for medical statistics, Nathaniel."
Nathaniel stretched his arms over his head before dropping them back to his sides.
"Good thing I'm not here to improve them."
Ginah smiled faintly at that.
The Knight Association affiliated hospital made discharge simple. Most of the paperwork had already been prepared by the time Nathaniel stepped out of the room. A few signatures later and the staff waved him through without much fuss. Injured knights coming and going was normal here.
As they walked through the halls he spotted Erin again, standing beside Dr. Wolfsbane. The two were deep in conversation, the doctor gesturing toward a tablet while Erin listened with a serious expression.
Ginah greeted them casually as they passed.
"Try not to break him again," Dr. Wolfsbane muttered dryly without even looking up from the tablet.
Nathaniel gave a small shrug.
"No promises."
They continued down the corridor and exited the building.
Outside, a vehicle waited near the curb.
Valarie sat behind the wheel.
Nathaniel paused for a moment when he saw her.
The car was new.
He had no idea when or where she had gotten a license. All he knew was that Ginah had apparently pulled a few strings. She had mentioned something earlier about the funds from the Darium incident being deposited into his account. Apparently she had decided to put some of it to use.
The vehicle itself was a large SUV bought through the Association. The exterior was painted gunmetal grey and the frame had been reinforced with discreet armor plating.
Nathaniel walked around it once, giving it an approving look before opening the door and climbing inside.
The seats were solid.
Comfortable too.
More importantly, the suspension did not sag when he sat down.
That alone made the car worth it.
Nathaniel rarely used taxis for a reason. Most of them leaned badly the moment he got inside. The weight distribution became a problem almost immediately.
That was why he usually took the tram.
Ironically, that same weight had apparently helped him during fights.
According to several of the reports he had reviewed, his mass had allowed him to flip monsters outright when he dropped onto them during combat. Some creatures had simply been crushed or thrown off balance the moment he collided with them.
Nathaniel had laughed when he first read that.
Dropping onto monsters like a falling boulder had not exactly been intentional.
He had asked Ginah about it afterward.
Her answer had been simple.
"If gravity is helping you win fights, you should probably thank it."
Nathaniel settled back into the seat as Valarie pulled the SUV away from the curb.
The ride was smooth.
For once, his weight was not the thing breaking the vehicle.
Nathaniel sat quietly in the passenger seat as the SUV moved through the evening traffic. The city lights slid across the window beside him while his thoughts circled back to the fight.
Those mercenaries had not been cheap.
The purple haired bastard alone carried gear that screamed funding. Someone with real money had hired them.
Someone who wanted him dead.
Nathaniel leaned his head slightly against the window, watching the city blur past until something caught his eye.
A massive billboard stood above one of the intersections. It displayed a woman with bright green hair advertising some energy drink, her smile almost unnaturally wide.
His gaze lingered on it for a moment.
Then he slowly turned his head toward the driver seat.
Valarie was focused on the road, hands steady on the wheel.
Nathaniel blinked.
Then he facepalmed.
"Smack."
One of the mercenaries that tried to kill him was currently driving his car.
And she was under his control.
He exhaled slowly.
"Right."
Later that evening they sat inside Nathaniel's bedroom.
The bed had been pushed aside to clear space on the floor.
Nathaniel sat cross legged across from Valarie. The two faced each other in the center of the room.
He stared down at his right arm as he focused.
If he wanted answers he needed to see the man who hired those mercenaries. A name was not enough. He needed a face.
To do that he needed access to Valarie's memories.
That was something he had never attempted before.
Valarie's mind was relatively simple in structure. Basic memory organization, straightforward neural pathways. But the problem was volume.
She had taken a large number of jobs over the years. Sorting through all of them would not be easy.
Still, he knew two things that worked in his favor.
Magnum.
And Ivo.
Those two were major connections in her work history. If the contract came through one of their networks it would narrow the search significantly.
Most of Valarie's missions had also been solo operations.
That made the memory clusters easier to isolate.
Behind them Ginah sat calmly against the wall.
A Mortal Coil rested beside her.
Her eyes glowed a soft jade as she activated it. A thin barrier formed around the room, distorting the flow of Uratsu and masking their energy signatures from the outside world.
No one would feel what was about to happen.
Nathaniel inhaled slowly.
Then his body released every drop of Uratsu at once.
The energy vanished from him instantly.
In front of him several scavenged Ura crystals appeared, spilling out of his inventory and clattering softly onto the floor.
Five kilograms worth.
The moment they appeared they dissolved.
The crystals shattered into raw energy that flooded the room before being drawn toward Nathaniel's body. A warm amber glow passed over him as the ambient power was absorbed into his system.
The energy gathered in his right hand.
The color shifted.
Amber became crimson.
The diamond shaped mark in the center of his palm ignited as a crystal began forming from it. Black markings spread slowly up his arm like branching veins before settling along the base of his forearm.
His intent was simple.
Access.
Memory.
Stabilization.
Connection.
Nathaniel opened his eyes.
His irises had turned crimson.
Across from him Valarie stiffened slightly.
A much smaller crystal emerged from the center of her forehead, faint and translucent compared to his. Her normally white eyes slowly shifted to the same crimson hue.
She blinked a few times, clearly unsettled.
"Okay… that feels weird," she muttered.
She tapped the side of her head lightly.
"Like you're in my head."
Nathaniel's voice came both from his body and inside the shared mental space.
"Yeah. It's weird for me too."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Now focus."
His crimson eyes locked onto hers.
"Think about the meeting you had with the client who hired you to take my head."
Nathaniel stood within the borrowed memory as it unfolded around him.
The room formed slowly out of fragments. A table. Dim lighting. The faint smell of cheap alcohol and burnt wiring. Valarie sat across from a man whose face sharpened into focus the longer Nathaniel looked.
He watched the entire meeting play out.
The man talked too much.
Confident. Angry. Nervous beneath the surface.
Nathaniel memorized every detail. The posture. The voice. The way his fingers tapped the table when he spoke.
The name surfaced clearly in Valarie's memory.
Theodore.
The moment the name settled, the rest of the memory aligned around it.
Theodore.
Related to the arsonist Nathaniel had taken down months earlier.
That explained the grudge.
The memory continued, showing the exchange of payment, the instructions, the location of the meeting. Valarie had been hired as part of the operation meant to corner him.
Nathaniel let the memory run its full course.
When it ended he simply stood there in the fading mental space, staring at Theodore's face one last time.
Then the rest of the information surfaced.
An address.
A meeting point.
Financial channels.
Nathaniel absorbed everything.
Back in the real world his crimson eyes remained locked forward as the connection slowly unraveled.
The crystal in his hand dimmed.
The smaller one on Valarie's forehead dissolved moments later.
Nathaniel exhaled quietly as the link severed.
So that was it.
Theodore.
He leaned back slightly, his expression calm but cold.
For a moment he considered simply going over there and blowing the man's head off.
The thought lingered longer than it probably should have.
Theodore had some nerve.
Hiring mercenaries to assassinate a Knight Association operative was not just revenge. It was suicide.
Nathaniel rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"That idiot..."
He looked down at the information still lingering in his mind.
Address.
Schedule.
Meeting locations.
Everything he needed.
Nathaniel slowly stood up.
All he knew was one thing.
Theodore was as good as screwed.