54 Declaration of War

Catherine was relieved, Joshua often used silly humor to deal with tough situations. If he was able to joke about the matter, he must be fine.

"In the end, it doesn't change much," he said, "That feathered bastard was already our nemesis anyway. Just one more thing to add to the pile of fucked up things he did."

"Still, he traveled to your world to personally get you… He talked about refining you into a core and that there were others. Does that ring a bell?"

"Hmm, not sure about the core part but I suppose they're other suckers like me he wanted under his wing. Ha, bird… wing, high-five brain!"

Hearing that, Catherine gave him a faint smile and he continued: "Actually, there are two things that annoy me about this whole thing. First, he erased the memory I had of meeting my old friend. That, I will never forgive him!"

He became silent after saying that so Catherine had to ask: "And the other thing?"

"Well, the chain of events he set in motion eventually allowed us to meet. Therefore, in a certain way, I 'm indebted to him. And that pisses me off!"

Catherine grinned, shook her head and replied: "You freaking idiot!"

"More seriously," Joshua stated, "We already knew he's out to get us both and since he was able to cross over to my homeworld, he's even more powerful than I thought..."

"It's weird though, we haven't heard of him since our departure. If he's so set on eliminating me and enslaving you, shouldn't he have acted by now?"

Joshua thought about it for a moment and finally said: "Catherine, allow me to tell you a joke!"

She naturally looked confused and Joshua began to tell his story:

Once upon a time, a man was praying. He had an important question he wanted to ask God. In his infinite goodness, God decided to share his wisdom with that man.

- 'God, since you're so powerful, what does a million dollars represent to you?'

- 'A million? That's like a cent in my eyes!'

- 'What about a century? How much time does that mean to you?'

- 'A century is like a second to me!'

The man thought about those answers and ended up asking:

- 'Hey God, can I borrow a cent from you?'

- 'Sure, just give me a second!'

Laughter resonated through the soul world as Luna played a bad sitcom audience laugh track.

Catherine was smiling faintly, she nodded and said:

"I see, in his eyes, we're just a nuisance he can deal with anytime."

"His overconfidence will be his undoing. Although, I'm sure he probably ordered some of his underlings to do something. We'll hear from them sooner or later. I don't like being in this wait and see situation but there is not much we can do about it for now."

"Fine by me!"

They discussed a few more minor things before Catherine left the soul world to help the others preparing the voyage. Left alone in his rune lab, Joshua's friendly expression vanished, replaced by an ugly pissed off look.

'We're just pawns to you, he? We'll see about that.'

And he got to work.

###

Time flew by and the next morning arrived soon. They had finished packing in the evening. Catherine was woken up by Luna as usual and got dressed. She hadn't seen Joshua since their conversation the day before and he was absent at breakfast, so she went to visit him as soon as she was done eating.

She found him in his rune lab. For once, he wasn't playing a silly game or dressed in a bizarre costume. Instead, he had created 2 large monitors, each displaying a different rune and was staring at them.

"Good Morning!" he said without turning in her direction. "Are you ready to write history today?"

"I suppose you mean removing the runes inside the others? I am."

"Excellent, I've been monitoring your status with Luna, both your mind and body are in peak condition. The removal of the seal can, therefore, be considered a major success."

"As expected of Mr. Lockman," she answered, "Shall we begin?"

"Actually, there is one thing I'd like to add to the operation," he replied while pointing at the two monitors in front of him."

"New runes? What do they do?"

"They're my new masterpiece! You'll understand soon how they work. However, they work in pairs. I need to add one to you," he explained, pointing to the rune on the left screen.

"Fine, where will it be added?"

"Where the seal used to be. Trust me, it's gonna be awesome."

Having no reason to object, Catherine soon found herself on the operating table once again. The rune Joshua was adding was very simple in design compared to the seal and inscribing it took no more than two minutes.

"Voila!!!! Luna, activate it!" he said.

[Server rune detected in User Catherine Lippi. Rune is now operational, waiting for client input.]

"Waiting for input? I suppose that's what the other rune is for?" Catherine asked.

"Indeed. After removing the seal, add the second rune to whomever you operate on."

"Very well," she replied. Catherine was getting curious and was looking forward to Joshua's new idea.

###

Eric was the first person Catherine operated on. Carefully, she removed the seal. It goes without saying that upon completion, Eric felt like he had been reborn. His physical rank advanced a level and while his soul world didn't evolve, he made a lot of sudden progress, making him spare several years of hard work. This was all within expectations so Catherine proceeded to add the extra rune where his seal used to be. Once done, Catherine heard Luna say:

[Client rune detected. Allow connection?]

"Yes!" Joshua ordered.

Eric suddenly heard a voice in his head:

[Greetings User Eric. Congratulations to have been selected to participate in the Prototype Test of the Luna Rune Network; an upcoming information-sharing network developed by Lockman & Lippi Industries. Would you like to receive a tutorial on its functionalities?]

Of course, Eric who had never heard Luna's voice was taken aback and shouted: "What the hell is this?"

"Well, my dear Eric, as the name suggests, it's the Luna Rune Network!" Joshua explained, "Powered by my soul world, you can now make requests to Luna via this invention. I based it on the runes that were used in the security cameras to see through the eyes of the animals in the wild. Since this is just a prototype, the range is fairly limited right now and only works when you're at maximum thirty meters away from Catherine, but I have big plans for it in the future!"

"Luna? I've heard you and Lady Catherine mention it sometimes but I don't understand how it works, so it's some sort of ability of yours?"

"Something like that. Since this is new, there is a tutorial available explaining all its functions. Just watch it and play with the system a bit. Catherine had to familiarize herself with it as well when we first met. If you have any questions afterward, I can help you out but for now, could you be so kind as to send us the next person? "

Eric slowly nodded and left the room.

When he was gone, Catherine asked: "Luna for the whole team? Very ingenious. That will certainly be advantageous for them. I suppose they have access to the targeting system?"

"Of course, but that's not all, the data transfer works both ways!" Joshua replied, "For example, let's look through Eric's eyes for a moment."

A monitor appeared, showing Eric talking to Cynthia, a few seconds later, they saw her head towards the operation room.

"As you know, I originally build Luna to be a system usable for everyone. The hardware I work with has changed a bit, but via runes, I think it's possible to realize that dream someday."

Catherine smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's work hard to make our dreams come true."

Their seal removed, the twins both grew stronger. As for Boris, the seal had been destroyed a long time ago. Still, there were a few residues in his brain which Catherine erased as she inscribed the client rune. While not as drastic as the others, he benefited from their removal. Once that was done, they gathered their supplies and prepared to leave the place.

###

After the operations, Joshua returned to his rune lab, a sinister smile on his face.

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"Luna, how did the memory scan go?"

[4 sets of memories have been downloaded. Client users haven't noticed anything.]

"Very good. So, is any of them working for the crow?"

[Negative.]

Joshua nodded, relieved.

"As expected. They've all been loyal to Catherine. Still, I'm glad there is no traitor among them."

'Everything worked perfectly,' he thought.

He felt a bit guilty using people he appreciated as test subjects like that, but it was necessary. The crow had many agents in the world, posing as ordinary citizens. He had long imagined a grand scene where Catherine would appear as some sort of Saint, placing her hands on someone's head, removing the accursed seal from them. People would love her in return and pledge to follow this young woman. Of course, there was a fatal flaw in that plan: if you're handing out free power-ups like that, you will also hand them over to terrible people. Joshua was convinced removing the seal was the right thing to do, but precautions had to be made.

It was really simple, the operation would act both as a blessing and a Trojan horse. Catherine would grant them the use of Luna, a wonderful invention that will revolutionize their lives. It will help Joshua realize his dream of building a wonderful network of AI chips that everyone can profit from.

In the meantime, Luna will act as the perfect spy, keeping tabs on everything. Criminals, followers of the crow or whoever might mean harm to Catherine will have nowhere to hide. Thanks to Luna, he will have eyes everywhere. Of course, currently, he was far too weak to establish such a powerful network, but once he evolved his soul world, everything would change.