Chapter 96

Unsung Heroes 2

-:-

2 hours later

9th District of Hell Hole

If there was something Theo’s forces specialized in, it was construction.

From large scale manufacturing, experimental technology, building repair or even plumbing, Theo’s Reformants can do it in disturbing levels of speed while being very economical in terms of building materials.

With more and more fabricators being constructed at an almost weekly basis and large amount of materials just lying around the ever growing Vermilion City scrapyard, it was not exactly an exaggeration when someone claimed that Theo was turning shit to gold.

In fact, it was this disgustingly miniscule amount of financial expenditure that propped up quite a lot of conspiracy theories around his company.

Since no one knew of Theo’s fabricators, or the fact that he had multiple Archon Generators hidden from prying eyes, it was only logical to question how the hell was he doing it.

As per usual bureaucratic crap, the government sent an inspection team to ‘make sure that Theo’s company was abiding with the clean-air laws, human rights laws, fire protection laws, etc, etc,’.

Theo compiled and allowed them to tour the factory.

Naturally, there were corporate spies secretly mixed in with the inspection teams.

Naturally, said corporate spies were currently being tortured for information.

Thanks to Miss Samantha’s connection, Mother Leticia’s Ecclesiarchy influence, and (surprisingly) the Lord of Vermilion’s strong arming, Theo’s company was cleared without much fuss.

But still, that didn't change the fact that Theo’s company was suspicious as hell.

2 weeks ago, the 9th District was a scene straight out of the second world war. Craters were everywhere, no building was in one piece with lots and lots of dismembered body parts everywhere.

14 days later, that was no longer the case.

The entire district that once housed thousands of criminal scum was as flat as a parking lot.

In the middle of that concrete plane was a massive construction project that was woefully out of place in the Hell Hole District.

Though it was very far from completion, a massive 20 story cathedral stood both magesticly and imposingly.

At the moment, only the main tower-like structure was present, and even that was filled with many holes.

The very idea that it only took 14 days to build up to 20 stories was both unbelievable and highly suspicious.

And if you add the fact that the entire 9th district was turned into a concrete plane, no way alarm bells would ring in any sane man’s head.

However, when a formal inquiry was made, it was not Theo’s company that the government and the media had to face, but the Ecclesiarchy.

Using some religious hocus pocus that Theo didn't understand, the Ecclesiarchy was able force everyone to accept that they had officially hired Theo to turn the 9th District into a gigantic Ecclesiarchy convent.

Why?

Why not!

Anyways, the truth was actually a bit more complex than that.

Originally, the Ecclesiarchy was only to get a small patch of land within the 9th District. However, the plan changed after Theo’s forces took over the district.

Some shocking discoveries were made, and the Ecclesiarchy was the perfect deterrent for any curious fools that would decide to use the law to force Theo to show them what he has uncovered.

Anyways, back to the present.

Theo, the head builder of this project and Mother Leticia stood outside the Ecclesiarchy Cathedral.

Juno and her Eisenmadchens returned to base in order to prepare for Juno’s departure. She was going to go on a vacation to visit her family for a month or so.

Preparations needed to be made for the Eisenmadchens’ training menu while she was gone.

That gave Theo the alone time he needed to refresh and relax.

“Wow…. just wow..” said Theo as he marveled at what his builders had accomplished. “I’ve always been a sucker for Gothic architecture, but this more impressive than what I expected. Good job R981.”

R981, a large man wearing a red robe to hide the many additional mechanical limbs he had, knelt in front of Theo.

“We are honored of your praise my lord! We thank you for allow us free reign as to the design of this structure. We will make sure to show the world the glory of your creations!” said R981 with much enthusiasm.

“I have to admit young child, this generous gift of yours is putting me in quite a bind.” said Mother Leticia with a sigh.

“Really? I thought the Ecclesiarchy welcomed all donations” replied Theo.

“True. But we have never received an small city district, a grand cathedral and a soon-to-be-made convent in one go. *sigh*... do you know that the High Bishops and even the Pope himself has been pestering me to set up a meeting with you?”

“For real?! Shit!” said Theo as he facepalmed.

It seemed that a portion of his plan backfired a bit.

He hoped that the Ecclesiarchy would keep the government, media and the superheroes from pestering him.

But on the flip side, he open himself up to the future pestering of the Ecclesiarchy higher ups.

While he obviously gained a powerful ally in the Ecclesiarchy, this may or may not cause Theo problems down the line.

“Did they say anything as to what they want to talk about?” asked Theo.

“At the moment, none. I think they’ll try to butter you up in the first few meetings. Shower you with praises and gifts and alike. Maybe even honey trap you with the many virgins among the Ecclesiarchy sisters. I have seen this tactic done many times before. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing again” replied Mother Leticia.

Theo could only groan in response.

The Ecclesiarchy was, at the moment, his ultimate shield to keep the superheroes at bay. However, it seemed that the shield was cursed to give him no shortage of pain in the future.

“*sigh*... I’ll deal that crap once the situation presents itself.” said Theo before he turned his attention to R981. “With that out of the way, let’s move to the real reason why I’m here.” said Theo.

“Indeed. Follow me.” said Mother Leticia as they went back to the elevator.

After leaving R981 to resume his work, Theo and Mother Leticia continued to ride the elevator until they reached the underground complex hidden underneath the cathedral.

Unlike the beautiful and uniform structure topside, the underground complex was a chaotic mess of tunnels from one room to another.

The rooms themselves were very different from one another.

Some were as clean and orderly as laboratories while others were not too dissimilar to a trash heap.

Each room had contents that fit into 3 categories: Modern Weapons, Magic Items or Something Really Messed Up.

From guns to bazookas to abominations of who-knows-what origin, the underground was filled to the brim with them.

“*sigh*.... So much heresy…. Young one, while I have no problems giving you all the guns, can I atleast have my acolytes burn all the heretical tomes and monstrosities? I understand that these are all yours by right of conquest, but still...” said Mother Leticia.

“No can do Mother Leticia. I promised one of my waifus that any and all magic items we find is hers to take. Once she takes her pick, then I’ll turn over everything to the Ecclesiarchy” replied Theo.

“I see. That’s good…. But which wife are you talking about? The White One or the Homunculus?” asked Mother Leticia

This actually took a little weight off Theo’s shoulders.

It seemed that the Ecclesiarchy info on him was far from complete.

This also meant that Nichola was his secret weapon against magic based threats. Keeping her safe was paramount

“I think it’s kind of obvious that I won't tell you anything about her, right?” replied Theo

“I see. She’s an apostate” said Mother Leticia ” Just to be clear though, while the Ecclesiarchy do try its hardest to slaughter all the heretics from the face of the earth, we do have collaborators and we treat them very well.”

“I’m not exactly well informed about the whole ‘collaboration’ thing, but she’s scared shitless of both the Ecclesiarchy and the Mosque. I think its obvious who I’ll side with in this issue”

“I can't deny that her fear is correct. However, the Ecclesiarchy is just as corrupt as any organization. Large donations, such as an entire city block turned into an Ecclesiarchy Monastery, is enough to make the higher ups to ‘overlook’ a few apostates.” replied Mother Leticia, much to Theo’s shock.

“D-did you just diss the Ecclesiarchy?” asked Theo

“Of course I did. No point in lying to a potential associate that has already done us a great service. While I know this apostate wife of yours is still very reluctant to show her face to us, I swear to the divine that she will not be harmed. In fact, we will actively protect her in the same manner as we will protect you.”

“That’s for her to decide.”

As the two bantered, they made their way to through the maze and eventually ended up in the largest room they have seen so far.

“Holy Vagina of Venus! What the hell are those?!” exclaimed Theo as the sight in front of him.

4 gray skinned humanoids about 5 meters tall floated silently inside massive glass containers filled with some sort of blue-ish. Based on the room temperature and the frost in the glass, these giants were in cryostasis.

Emphasis on WERE.

One of the stasis chambers was shattered and a corpse of a giant was found a few meters away from it. This was also surrounded by the corpses of Ecclesiarchy battle nuns.

“This morning, as we were initiating our SOP for information gathering about items to be purged, one of our scribes who were familiar with machines decided to study these machines. The result of her carelessness is as you can see. 20 of my sisters had perished to kill the beast. And it seems that the other pods are starting to defrost as well. As such, a little assistance would greatly be appreciated” said Mother Leticia, but Theo was already on the computers while she was talking

One look at the machine and his fear was immediately realized. The machines was nothing he was even remotely familiar of.

The language flashing at the screen was pure gibberish and gave no clue as to what was happening. Deciphering it would take a lot of time, and based on the slight movements of the giants, it was time he didn't have.

He rushed up one of the stasis tanks and used his midas alchemy on the lid to open up a hole.

However, right after doing so, Theo immediately felt dizzy.

It was the sign that the load incured onto his mind and the energy burned was much larger than normal.

Whatever the metal used on the stasis pods were, they were not normal in every sense of the word.

Despite the nausea, Theo powered on.

His placed his right pinky on the bluish liquid and made sure that it had the absolute minimum amounts of skin contact.

He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Not a second later, the bluish liquid and the giant became a block of solid ice.

The ice was so cold that Theo had to forcefully pull his pinky off the ice, ripping a small portion of skin in the process.

It wasnt much of an injury. Nothing a classical omnigel cant heal.

Theo unsteadily descended from the stasis tube.

He took out all the emergency lethally high calorie bars he had and shoved one after another down his throat before heading to the next stasis container

“Young One. What is-” asked Mother Leticia

“No time for explanations. My signal can't reach topside so I want you to get as many of my builders here ASAP. Tell them to prepare to build a high performance refrigeration engine.” replied Theo.

As if finally realizing the gravity of the situation, Mother Leticia noded and began throwing orders around.

Theo proceeded to use his ring finger, middle finger and pointer finger to freeze the remaining giants.

Approximately 10 minutes later, his builders arrived with building materials and a welcome meal for Theo. After handing out directives, Theo’s energy starved body made short work of the 1 whole roasted meal his builders provided him.

“Young one…. What are this things?” asked Mother Leticia with concern and confusion in her eyes.

Unfortunately, Theo’s answer gave no comfort

“I dont know. But it seems that we have horribly underestimated the criminal scums. If they have shit like these that can kill 20 highly trained Ecclesiarchy Battle Nuns, then Vermilion City is in much more danger than I originally thought”