Titans of the Current: Hands of God Edition

Part 10:2:5

There was no longer a line to hold. I cleaned up the remaining imposters before dismissing the shini and valkyrie that didn't fall victim. All these wretched beings share my face, mimic my actions, and will die by my hands!

I cleared my sections of road, all the way to the plaza. I smashed all their smug, smiling faces into pulp on the ground. Not one passed by without meeting the end of my gun, put the tip of my blades, or were just simply crushed. I didn't bother with the towers, I just killed them as they appeared before me.

I have entered the plaza, as I find that someone has been equally as productive in murder as I! Corpses lay along the ground, covering concrete as grass covers the soil.

"So, the imposter arrives at last!"

What could be mean by that? I was the only real one here! Could it be in all the chaos, my identity was switched.

That's redundant, fuck me for thinking such a ludicrous thought.

"Who are you? Reveal yourself!"

A torrent of wind hits the plaza. Blood and bodies are sent scattering to the edge of the roads, presenting the full view of the grounds.

Before me: the daunting IAC corporate building, towering at an eighty story height. At the base, stood a lone figure. This man shares all my traits, I sense his energy is like mine. However, his soul is far too familiar.

It shows through his smile, and the way he stands with his weight pressed on one side, and the way he twitches his fingers.

"Xio.... You're dead!"

A sickening laughter registered in my ear, as though it was all I could here. The same laughter I heard the day be took my uncle... The same laughter when he took my father!

But... It's my voice!

"You sick fuck! Why use my body! Why stain my mind with the thought of my hands leaving the marks that scarred me forever?"

Xio raises his finger at me. "Tsk tsk tsk! You always were impatient! This is personal just as much as business! Your blood is valuable to our cause, therefore, your genes were needed long ago to recreate the codes for the ink. We failed, and failed, and failed more.

Each experiment resulted in a fatal failure, or a rogue subject to be terminated. What we lacked was initiative! These subjects saw no purpose in living an expendable life, for the ink would destroy their bodies or would corrupt their minds. We needed to instill a sense of being into our subjects in order for them to form a will to live. "

"And you need a soul for that! So that's what you've been collecting souls for!"

"Not even close! The souls we collect are dematerialized and reconstituted into solid stone. The energy contained in each one is massive, but that's hardly the use for them."

"Then why convert? Is all this for Alrach?"

"At first, yes, but we discovered something. As with other synthetic elements, we learned to reverse engineer it into soul matter."

He can't possibly mean what I think...

"So you learned to shape a soul? And you choose my soul structure to conduct your experiments? But these things seem nothing like me!"

"But of course! They wouldn't after tweaking their DNA, in addition to chemically breeding the other emotions other than joy and amusement out from their minds."

"You sick fucker! You could have built drones, or created thralls! Why go through the trouble of synthesizing a soul through elements?"

He gains a aura of seriousness as he begins to unfold before me.