←Zero Series | Evolution Prime (Battles) | Sorrow→
Chapter 26: Evolution Prime[]
"Sire."
"Why have you come?"
"We are up to the task."
The man who stands before you is a king--
sovereign lord of the Oxsecian people.
His reply is stern.
"You've no need to know. Withdraw, Zero Series."
"But..."
"Our prey..."
"You deny us--"
Without blinking, the king cuts them down
mid-sentence.
"Do not mistakes your place and purpose."
Meanwhile, your party has made a desperate
getaway and reached the bottom of the cliff.
There you find a sight for sore eyes:
a familiar-looking gondola.
Pepropé guides you onward.
"Go. Go to the heart of this planet."
"And where might you be going?
Only death awaits at your destination."
The king's face clouds over.
"Your life energy...
How could you possibly have so much?"
He seems to be struggling to comprehend
something.
"He's different somehow--in a league of his own."
The king speaks.
"Naturally. My DNA is the result of generations
of refinement. I embody the ultimate form of
the Oxsecian people, without flaw and without
equal."
"Ultimate form?"
"The royal family has been selectively culled
since the days of antiquity. Only a select few
are allowed to live."
The ultimate form is the epitome of perfection,
devoid of even a single flaw.
The Oxsecian king proclaims so, stridently.
In order to breed ever superior specimens,
any and all flaws shall be eliminated--even
if that means eliminating one's own child,
This is the ultimate evolutionary optimization.
"What manner of devilry is this?"
"Pathetic parasites..."
The king rakes you with an appraising stare
and mutters:
"Hold nothing back now. Prove your worth."
"What's he babbling about?"
Boundless life force.
Wounds that heal instantly.
A body never winded.
Brandishing a gargantuan weapon with the
greatest of ease, the mighty monarch
can fell foes with a single blow.
He is "king" in every sense of the word.
"Now, let us end this little game, shall we?"
"Enough."
Sheathing his sword, the king begins walking
straight for the gondola behind you.
Your party gives way before him like a parting
sea, each of you sensing that barring his path
would mean death.
"Wait!"
A lone girl stands there.
"Who are you?"
She remains silent, but realization dawns on
the king's face.
"So, that report from the field was about you."
"It seems you do remember me, Father."
She is a princess culled from the gene pool
2,000 years ago.
"36AIS... But I slew you with my own hand!"
The king relates the following:
Animatas harvest DNA to create new life.
In the beginning, the pinnacle of evolution was
always a woman, and she was dubbed queen.
These queens were born to serve as an
Animata's lifecore. It was encoded in their
genes.
That genetic imprint was essentially
the ignition to activate an Animata.
But this power was extremely weak in the
king's daughter, 36AIS.
It was an unmistakable and utterly unacceptable
defect.
"What do you want with this planet?"
The king ignores his daughter's question.
Small, shadowy figures emerge behind her.
They bear an uncanny resemblance to the girl.
Understanding dawns on the king as he
takes them in with a glance.
"Defective beings can never reach the pinnacle
of evolution, no matter how many you produce."
With that, he nonchalantly boards the gondola
and vanishes without a backward glance.
Palpa turns to 36AIS.
You suspect she's already sensed something.
"And you are...?"
"I was a daughter of the king. Until that day,
that is."
"And the others?"
"They, too, are his daughters in a sense--my
doppelgangers, if you will."
The crowd of miniature beings stares straight
at you. They are clones of 36AIS.
"You must go after the king."
"Have you lost your mind, Pepropé?
We couldn't survive another clash with
that monstrosity."
"He seeks this planet's Animata. 36AIS, you must
know this. Will you show us the way?"
"...I will."
The gondola opens once more, revealing itself
to be empty. The king is already gone.
"Let's go."
The party boards the gondola, with Palpa
and 36AIS in the lead.
←Zero Series | Evolution Prime (Battles) | Sorrow→