Chapter 3: Humanity Salvation

When I awoke, I opened my eyes and found that I was sitting in a comfortable chair in a luxuriously furnished room. This time I got the body of a man, a middle-aged man, dressed in some form. Then I did not give a look around the voice of the Being that arose in my mind.

“So, the rules. Figures are forbidden to kill other figures. There are four of you in the game. The winner is determined by the Council of the Sages. The rest will be explained to you on the spot.”

As soon as the voice was silenced, the door in the wall on the side opened, and a man in some strange suit came out. However, if you do not go into details, then it was the usual set: shirt, pants, jacket.

“Mr. Sammael Tamuz, I ask you to follow me.” bowed guest. “Everything is ready for the presentation.”

I decided to go with the flow so far, so I followed the guide, who quickly glided along the corridors. Judging by the lack of windows, we were in some underground bunker. A few minutes later we went into the hall, where I was offered to sit in a large red armchair surrounded by black seats easier. In total, there were four such special chairs in the hall, so they were most likely intended for other game figures.

Ahead of us stood the rostrum, behind which was a large screen, now displaying a screensaver with an incomprehensible acronym ICOCOS. Small chairs almost all were occupied by various kinds of intelligentsia, and in red while I was just sitting. A couple of minutes later, the rest of the figures appeared. I did not see anything remarkable in them. People are like people. Although one was somewhat inhibited. Apparently, he was here suddenly. Or what a savage.

“So, gentlemen. Attention please.”

I was so carried away looking at the competitors that I didn't pay attention to the audience that appeared on the podium. And there was one human individual of a professorial appearance, who had now begun to speak, and two fat individuals of snickering bureaucrats. These are always easy to identify.

"If anyone knows, my name is Adolf Rigertstein. We have gathered you here to entrust a matter of prime importance. It is about, I will not be afraid to say this, the salvation of all mankind. Now I will bring you up to date, and then the distinguished Nikos Papadopoulos will address you on behalf of the Council of Sages.”

Then followed a detailed four-hour lecture, from which it became clear what I would have to deal with.

This world was rather technically advanced. Suffice it to say that space interstellar flights were absolutely common here. Another important factor was that many intelligent races lived in the galaxy. What is most funny, these were not incomprehensible chupacabras, but completely "familiar" to me elves, orcs, centaurs, kitsune and other creatures.

It is safe to say that all the mythical creatures ever mentioned in my world lived here. And as if this were not enough, all these races were also technically advanced. And in addition to this, they were also magically advanced. So much so that purely technical civilizations were crying with crocodile tears of envy.

As it is easy to guess, in such a "multinational" world, wars between different civilizations were constantly going on. The situation could be described as "everything against everyone and every man for himself". Such a meat grinder did not last for the first hundred years, and a very unpleasant fact gradually became apparent: humanity is losing.

People could not boast of either strong magic or god-like technologies, or even special combat talents. That is, in each individual discipline, they were far from the last, but with a comprehensive assessment it turned out that the rating of human civilization falls in the top ten among nearly a thousand races in the galaxy. And only thanks to the incredible efforts of the Council of Sages, we have somehow managed to keep afloat. Looking at the shiny Papadopoulos hare, I had an alternative opinion about the reasons for this situation, but I did not express it.

At the moment, twenty-three planets were under the control of humans. At the same time, seven of them were in the zone of interests of other civilizations, and therefore were constantly attacked and attempts to take them under siege. According to analysts, the complete destruction of humanity as a species should have happened in 10-15 years. And it was even less time to turn the tide.

Then Nikos Papadopoulos took the floor, saying that over the next three years we must find a way to save our race. We four were the best minds of humanity. Each of us was subordinated to a whole institution with thousands of scientists, engineers, magicians and other specialists. And after three years, we had to submit our projects - fully completed studies, allowing mankind to jump out of the mud into the princes and pile on the entire galaxy.

After the end of the event, I was sent along with the attendants to a spacecraft, which was supposed to take us to a research space station, lost in the vast galaxy. Only the maintenance of complete secrecy could allow us to complete the research and not be destroyed by enemy forces.

On the ship I met my surroundings. It turned out to be leading scientists, with whom I had to work for the next three years. Having discussed with them global issues and the current political situation, I retired in my cabin and thought about how I could save humanity.

Speaking directly, I didn't care about local humanity. How are they better than the same kitsune? Personally, I more like girls with fox ears. Well, what to do? Here I am such a fetishist. So the salvation of an endangered race interested me last. But I was interested in local technology and magic. In the world of spiders, I strongly lacked a normal computer on which to calculate the parameters of a spell.

Thus it turned out that I need to focus on my own elevation, simultaneously solving a local problem. The decision was to be made by the Council of Wise Men, which added to the game an additional uncertain factor. However, I had one interesting idea.

I got out of bed and went to the communications center, where I requested a secure communication channel with Nikos Papadopoulos. That, according to my companions, was one of the most important cones in the Council.

“Sammael Tamuz? What made you contact me?” Judging by the disgruntled look of the interlocutor, I pulled him out of bed. And there he did not sleep at all.

“Mr. Nikos, I have an important question regarding the task that you set for me. When you talked about the salvation of humanity, did you talk about saving us as a species, or about saving us as individual living beings? In other words, what is more important for you, the immortality of a race or the immortality of its most gifted representatives?” The bureaucrat frowned and tried to read my thoughts. Alas, he was not a magician, and therefore this trick failed. But his glances eloquently showed that he understood my hint.

“Do you think which of these options will suit the Council more?”

“I think that the council, as well as you, is concerned with the preservation of the best representatives of society.” He finally delivered his expert assessment. On the face of Papadopoulos showed sincere interest.

“Do you already have any ideas on this?”

Looks like a fish swallowed the bait. Now I had to put the right thought in his head, which in three years would penetrate the consciousness of every member of the Council of Wise Men.

“Yes. I believe that the achievement of personal immortality for one will solve the problem of the immortality of society. As for concrete decisions, I think it is worth discussing them when I already have something to demonstrate to you.”

“Many tried to achieve immortality.”

“Of course. But I think you understand perfectly well that I need success in this event no less than you. Unfortunately, I have no hope for other favorites. It remains to hope for the prudence of the Council and its best representatives, who will be able to dispose of the fruits of our labors.”

Nicholas nodded in agreement, and then turned and looked at something behind the scenes. Judging by the sharply bored look, what he saw interested him more than a conversation with me.

“Do you still have questions?” He turned to me.

“I do not dare to distract you. I'll let you know when I have good news.”

At this point I broke the connection and began to think about our conversation. I think my Aesopian language was clear enough for the snickering bureaucrat to realize that I promise him personal control over the future way of attaining immortality. Therefore, there are real chances to influence the outcome of the vote in my favor. Still, the desire for personal gain in such people always overshadows all the arguments of reason and conscience. Well, here I did everything I could, and now it remains only to solve the problem already facing me.

Arguing about immortality, one should separate the immortality of the body and the immortality of the spirit. The body, by definition, is mortal, and the question of its destruction is only a matter of applying sufficient effort. With the soul everything is more complicated. It is possible to destroy it, but in any case this destruction will be only partial. And most likely it will not even be possible to scratch it. For the impact on the soul requires energy, much higher than a person can use. Even I, creating my tails, did it indirectly, using Bakhion, which had been accumulated in the domain for thousands of years. And it only sufficed me alone.

So the immortality of the soul can be taken as an axiom. And then it turns out that to achieve immortality you need three things. First, organize the continuity of memory. Secondly, to ensure the rebirth of souls in new bodies. And thirdly, to make these bodies much more resistant to external influences than human ones.

In other words, I was going to save people, not humanity. After my changes, the new creatures could be called anything but not human. But at the same time, I was going to give them the very immortality that people of all worlds so dreamed of. I already had almost all the necessary information to develop a suitable solution. It was necessary only to streamline it, develop optimal spells, and then check their work in practice.

The first problem for gaining immortality is the destruction of the physical body. One has only to knock out a man's brains, as his body turns into a useless piece of meat. And much less damage could lead to the same result for only a couple of tens of seconds. The body was the mechanism that provides the binding of the soul to the material plane of being. Therefore, it was necessary to make this body as strong as possible. The solution was simple and repeatedly used by me in the past - it was necessary to seal the soul into a magic crystal.

When I was a spider, I studied two types of crystals: those in which the spiders kept their knowledge and energy, and those in which the demons kept enslaved souls. By combining these technologies, I could create a perfectly protected body that would hold the soul and give it the most basic spiritual shells. The size of such a crystal could be small. In the end, the same fairies have a soul, but at the same time no more than ten centimeters tall. And the smaller the receptacle of the soul, the easier it is to preserve its integrity with the help of magic. Where to get magic when it comes to ordinary people? So the demons have solved this problem long ago. Almost any person is able to become a magician, if you instill it in a suitable body with the necessary energy shells.

Of course, to exist in the form of intelligent crystals is not very convenient. And therefore, in the crystal you need to put a spell that allows you to create a body from any material at hand. Mud golems are a great example of how you can create a humanoid from the material tucked under your arm. Of course, for a full-fledged existence, the body should be quite complicated, but this is just as easy to achieve by developing an appropriate set of artifact spells. We do not need to create a body that is comparable in complexity to a human one. It will be enough to organize the desired appearance and emulate the work of human senses - touch, sight, smell, and so on.

You can even program such reactions as sexual satisfaction and enjoyment of exercise. On the other hand, there is no point in feeling pain and discomfort. And because the new form of life and will not suffer from the perishability of the material shell. In the end, this is just a material projection, so that restoring it after receiving damage will require minimal effort. Instead of overgrowing wounds, propagating the slow cells of the human body, it is possible to slightly reconfigure the existing building material that does not have any complex internal structure. After all, the shape of the body will be set only by magic.

By the time our ship reached the research station, the plan was already in the rough. All that was left for me was to make a list of the main tasks, to contract the subordinates for the execution of subtasks of my plan and to monitor its implementation. Of course, I first had to teach people the basics of spider magic. But for them it was all the same only theoretical information, because the local magicians used some kind of unknown to me earlier magic, to delve into the problems of which, I had no desire. After all, humans had hundreds of years to figure out how to use their magic in the best possible way. And if they didn't think of anything, then I don't want to do it either. Moreover, I had only three years, which had to be spent with maximum efficiency. Remembering my previous research on magic, three years might not be enough. After all, I needed not only to understand what had to be done, but also to figure out how to specifically solve hundreds and thousands of tasks.

After two and a half years, I stood in my personal laboratory and held in my hands the result of my labors - the body of a perfect form of life. As I planned, it was a small transparent red crystal, inside which you could enclose a soul. Even in the form of crystal alone, this form of life possessed magic abilities. And as soon as she got access to the most common chemical elements (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, silicon, aluminum), as with their help it could create any body for herself. I called this form of life Vritras, which was derived from the name Vritra, meaning "Primordial demon without form."

The last two dozen experiments on suicide people were completely successful, so I thought to go to the stage of test operation. When I was planning to develop vritras, I immediately laid down three levels of implementation.

The first is the civil equipment, which was supposed to give to everyone. It allowed to live in a new body, use magic and ... multiply. The latter possibility was provided by an automatic system for creating a crystal into which the soul in the other world moved in. In fact, it was an analogue of the reincarnation of souls, but only with the preservation of memory. Moreover, if desired, it was possible to attract a particular soul, if the parent had her energy cast. Another function of the crystal was the ability to die at will. This was supposed to solve the problem of capturing the prisoners and fatigue from eternal life, if such comes.

The second configuration allowed the use of a more advanced "filler" to create the body. It could include strong metals, which made such vritras more resistant to physical damage, stronger, faster, and so on. Plus, the user got access to a set of combat spells sewn into the crystal structure. This allowed the use of magic in battle with greater speed.

And finally, the third modification was intended for me alone. In it, I put all the functions that I could think of, but which I decided not to give to the local ones. This crystal existed so far only in my head and in the form of calculations stored on an encrypted storage.

Once again I looked at the crystal covered with magical symbols and threw it into a small box with the others. They were the souls of the second type party, which I had just finished synthesizing. Having closed the box, I put it in my pocket and headed for the exit from the laboratory, at the same time taking the phone out of another pocket.

“Kirill. Gather a team and come to the laboratory number forty-one.” I gave a short order.

Since that time, I have gathered some loyal security personnel to me personally. It turned out to be the right approach, because only thanks to them I was able to live to the present moment. Three murdering attempts in two and a half years - such was the statistics of being on the most protected and secret space base of mankind. The first time was an embedded vampire agent who acted according to the program laid down in him. The second time it was an agent of another game figure who tried to sabotage my project. And the third case was the most dangerous. I was attacked by a simple scientist who, because of envy, decided to get rid of the unworthy me and take all the glory of my inventions to himself.

So now I always moved around the station only accompanied by two bodyguards. Coming out of the laboratory into the corridor, I found two accompanying people there. A light mental scan showed that they are not subordinate and are in clear consciousness. A couple of weeks ago there was already an attempt to zombie one of the guards. It ended with nothing because of the protection I had established, but the organizer of this event could not be found either.

When I reached the venue, I found the rest of my support group there. Only eight people passed the hard casting. Indeed, in the first place, I assessed people by loyalty to myself, supported by the promise of immortality, strength, power, and other things.

“Good afternoon, Kiril, how is the situation?” The leader of the group was a native of the Slavs, Kirill Dubrovich, with the call sign Oak.”

“Kind. So far, so good. Observation goals are in the workplace.” After the last incident, we decided to compile a list of potential spy-saboteurs-pests, whose activities are now monitored in real time.

“So, we have already talked a lot about this, but today this moment has arrived. I am ready to make you immortal magicians, who in the future will become the leaders of a new society.”

“All is ready?” Frank Joseph Stalin, despite his last name, was from the French clans, one of the first to break into the galaxy and begin its colonization.

“Yes. You yourself watched the subjects and talked to them. Death prisoners are satisfied.”

“They would not suit them.” Frank exclaimed. “They live like in a bar, they have sex for two hours a day …”

“Do not envy.” Mark Three interrupted him - the youngest member of our team with the strangest surname.

“Finish the farce.” Oak shout, looking at his comrades with a heavy look. “Go on.” He has ability to instantly restore order, and so why I made him head of the station's security services."

"In general, I created the warrior caste crystals. Anyone can go to appeal right now. Or wait, watching the lives of more courageous comrades.”

“Will there be crystals for the Brahmin caste?” Narayan Bhagavan Singh, from a cultural point of view, was a typical Hindu, but outwardly he looked like a true aryan - the ideal of the Third Reich. Actually, he was the ariy. In this reality, the wild dark-skinned tribes of mlechs and yavans did not succeed in conquering India and replacing their true masters with themselves. Narayan considered himself a direct descendant of Balarama and a Brahmin - a representative of the highest caste in the Aryan culture.

“Will be.” According to I nodded. “One. Only for me.”

Arius sighed and volunteered.

“What nedd to do?”

“As you have not seen?” I was surprised. “Sit in the gut.”

This disinterested word guards frightened suicide bombers sent to us to conduct experiments. The name for the unit stuck, although in official papers it was called "The system of extraction of information and energy shells of consciousness." However, there was nothing terrible in the device. It looked like a dentist's chair with a slightly strange headrest. Well, the limb fixation system - where do without it in our business?

“Undress is not necessary?”

“No. You take things later.”

Narayan sat in the chair and tried to relax. I went to the next device and inserted one of the crystals out of the box. Then I had to spend a couple of minutes to activate the equipment. In fact, the main equipment here was a crystal. And all this cumbersome machinery only provided a channel for moving the soul from one body to another.

The lights on the control panel lit up green, indicating the normal operation of the equipment, and the first victim went limp, unconscious. While the process of artificial reincarnation was going on, I went to the stacks of boxes in the corner and telekinetic moved one of them to a special stand. After that, I removed the lid and checked the contents. In these "coffins" was a set of chemical elements necessary to create the body. It looked like a mixture of water and sand.

The device sighed, and I moved to the patient, for one spell controlling the state of his past body - one hundred percent dead. Even cellular activity is completely stopped. Telekinesis, in order not to touch my hands, I took out the crystal from the holder, carefully scanned it, then threw it into the coffin. All those present immediately huddled around to personally witness the process of creating a new body.

The crystal blurted out in a thin layer of water and sank down onto the sand. After a second, the grains of material began to adhere to the base, simultaneously fusing into a single amorphous mass. The process went on increasing, and the lump began to grow, stretching the tentacles around the box. After a couple of minutes, all the matter was absorbed, and the process of formation of the human body began.

Theoretically, a vritras could take any shape. But for this, he needed to consciously control this process, or to entrust the maintenance of the form and appearance to a special program. Crystal initially contained a few standard programs that provide the revived human form. In the future, it was possible to customize the parameters of the program or even write your own. I decided to further accelerate the process by transferring to the crystal a model of the appearance of the donor. In total, it was necessary to select the desired file on the phone and transfer it to the crystal via the "magic" communication channel.

The body took on a humanoid shape without a face and muscle relief, and then literally in a second took the form of Narayan. It took a couple more seconds to form small details like skin or hair pores. And so, a naked man opened his eyes and looked around.

“Well, how? Happened?”

“Get dressed.” Kiril ordered.

“What to dress?” The commander just rolled his eyes for a such question. “Oh, right.”

Vritras closed his eyes for a second, after which an image of a guard's suit appeared on the surface of his body. It was amazingly reminiscent of the transformation of the liquid terminator. Narayan looked at himself, got out of the box and began to warm up, settling in with a new body.

“Damn, I feel like after a shock dose of stimulants. Nothing hurts anywhere, does not pull, and such comfort is felt …” At this point, his eyes fell on the former body. “Is that what I look like?”

“Yes. Already want to do plastic surgery?” Frank answered.

“It is worth pondering.”

“Yes, you are enough handsome.” Kiril reassured him. “Who is next?”

On this day, six out of eight people underwent transformation. Mark Three and Mateo Hidalgo decided to wait. They can be understood. Moreover, right before their eyes, six bodies went to an organic waste utilizer. Even I, with all my preparation, found this sight disturbing. However, human emotions did not affect my decisions. I planned to turn myself into vritras in about a month, when all the preparations would be ready. Fix minor bugs can be already being immortal.

There was still six months ahead of the agreed time, but the station population was already beginning to fever. Someone discussed what the Council would decide. Someone tried to figure out how to become immortal before our research was banned, and the entire station staff was shot. Confusion and vacillation reigned in people's heads, which could not but affect the results of their work. Although the main project was already completed, there were still many accompanying ones that were supposed to increase the comfort of the existence of a new form of life.

For example, we were still working on the concept of enjoying sex. If you do not build in any restrictions, then vritras will fuck without stopping 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which will quickly lead to a complete degradation of consciousness. But it was also impossible to completely deprive people of sex. Who would agree to become immortal if the only joy in such an existence is to observe the suffering of others? After all, as they say, did filth - in the heart of joy.

In general, the work was still a sea, and the people panicked. It was necessary to introduce tough discipline, limit communication, and most importantly - to promise the immortality that they so longed for. It is quite natural that my closest supporters and opponents were the first in the queue. Almost the entire top of the institute twisted intrigues with each other. Someone wanted to gain more glory, someone wanted to urgently become immortal, until the withering body did not give up, someone sincerely wanted to save humanity, and some equally sincerely wanted to destroy it. However, there were also those who did not care, and they were only concerned with conducting research and conducting experiments.

The apotheosis of the growing insanity was the appeal of several scientists in vritras secret from me. This conspiracy decided to overthrow me before I received immortality. I did not explain to them that I was under the influence of protective spells all day and night, but I used a control key embedded in the "prisoner" models, turning the imbeciles back into a set of inorganic substances and lifeless glass.

In general, shit beat from all pipes like a giant geyser. It was very difficult to work in such an atmosphere, so in the end, I started the process of converting people into civilian models of vritras, and I locked myself in the laboratory and went deep into developing the final version of Vritras. Just so, with a capital letter.

I was not so naive as to believe that I could save my body Vritras after the game ended. Already twice I lost my body through the fault of the Creature, and something is unlikely to change in the future. All I have is a soul. And it was there that I was going to hide a special information module that stores the image of the crystal with its entire structure on the physical and magical plans. Also, as memories of past lives are stored in the inner shells of the soul, I was going to preserve knowledge about how to achieve immortality. And so that all sorts of complications do not climb there with their crooked paws, this memory area was located at non-standard mental frequencies. I chose the characteristics of my personal "flash drive", scanning the multidimensional world around me and choosing the most uninhabited range where nothing ever happened.

Another trump ace was a modification of the body, allowing it to generate energy through cold fusion. I did not forget my favorite way to solve all problems - a thermonuclear bomb. So I decided what good to disappear? While I'm not blasting anything, let lithium deuteride be used as a source of energy for body work and magic. Although I had two tails, an extra stash wouldn't hurt. Ordinary vritras were limited in their output power by the parameters of their source of magic. But my power should have been limitless.

And finally, I brought my immortality almost to the Absolute, having developed a strengthening spell that made the main crystal of the soul almost indestructible. This was achieved by the utmost specialization of the spell. In fact, it could be imposed only on a crystal of a special composition, a fixed internal structure and shape. But then, according to calculations, the crystal had to maintain its integrity, even lying on the surface of a neutron star.

The work on the last details was delayed, so I completed it just three months before the date of the presentation of the results. And just an hour after that, I was contacted by a member of the Council of Sages, who reported on the imminent arrival of a special commission, which was supposed to verify the results of our work. Time was running out, so I had to urgently complete all preparations.

To begin, I checked the statistics of problems with artificial bodies and the stones of the souls themselves. Surprisingly, there were very few. Moreover, the scientists themselves have developed a solution for these problems, after which they promptly replaced the crystals with new ones, moving the souls from defective versions to them. I took into account all the improvements and made changes to my project.

The next step I called all my guards and instructed them to strengthen the security of the laboratory during the following days. I myself locked myself inside, although after such a time of sitting alone, it did not surprise anyone. Having inserted the memory card into a computer isolated from the network station, I started the process of final calculation of the characteristics of the crystal. After a couple of hours, the process ended, and an action program was introduced into the synthesizer. It was my masterpiece, which allows me to synthesize crystals with an accuracy of an atom using an alloy of magic and technology, at the same time imposing a multi-dimensional artifact spell on them.

Finally, after six hours, the manufacture and testing of the crystal was completed. I began to beat jitters. With shaking hands, I placed the crystal in the holder, sat in the "Ripper" chair, and activated the transfer process. After a few seconds, I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I was already trapped in the crystal. Very unusual condition, I tell you.

The next stage was the most important. Having formed the spell of a telekinesis, I picked up the crystal and transferred myself to another device, in which the program of influence had already been set. Then I disconnected again, in order not to interfere with my actions with the subtle procedure of recording information into my soul.

I woke up feeling like minced meat, which someone decided to mince in the opposite direction, hoping to get pieces of meat. It took almost another day to come to life, refraining from any magical or mental activity. Finally, the equipment showed the normalization of my condition, after which I moved the crystal to an open box with materials for the body.

For the formation of the outer shell, I watched with interest. So far this has been the standard program for reproducing a copy of my previous body. Finally, I sighed, opened my eyes and listened to my pulse. The imitation of the ordinary human body was complete. Even an autopsy and x-ray would reveal the presence of internal organs. And only a chemical analysis of blood or flesh would give a very strange result. My body consisted of a third of titanium, and two thirds of carbon-silicon organic.

I climbed out of the coffin and looked at my previous body. I must say, Sammael Tamuz was not distinguished by special external data. When this whole game is over, you will need to give yourself the look of a true macho. Then I dressed in ordinary clothes and disposed of my corpse. "Own corpse" is a very unusual concept for a person.

Coming out of the lab, I was faced with already nervous guards. Still, I stayed there pretty.

“Transport with inspectors arrives in four hours.” Immediately introduced me to the case of Oak.

“What about our 'brains'?” I asked, hinting at scientists. Engineers as more mundane and magicians as more trained in self-control rebelled far less.

“Boiling. But not yet exploded. All calmed down in anticipation of the arrival of the commission.”

“Anything became known for its composition?”

“Not.”

“Well, then let's get ready to meet dear guests.”

The arrival of the ship at the station was still a trouble. In order to prevent our destruction, the station teleported to a random place about once a day. And to meet the ship, a special beacon-scanner was sent to the designated place. It was convinced that the meeting point was safe, waited for the ship to arrive, and after that gave a signal to us. The station moved to the appointed place, took the ship on board and once again jumped in a random direction.

The arrival of cargo ships occurred about once a month, and this meeting was unplanned. Finally, we received a signal, made a short jump, and a diplomatic courier flew into the hangar - a special class of ships with serious protection and the ability to jump into the jump at any moment. A few minutes later, the ramp opened, and three people in civilian clothes descended on it, followed by four men in combat suits. Papadopoulos was not among the arrivals, which upset me a little.

“Greetings, gentlemen. My name is Sammael Tamuz, I am the head of this station.”

“John Doe, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Council of Sages.” Introduced one of them. The rest remained silent, and generally pretended to be furniture. “Where can we talk?”

“Follow me, please. At your service is a room for negotiations, the highest degree of protection.”

Having made our way along the corridors of the station, we entered one of the most protected, and at the same time useless premises. Its only advantage was a luxurious setting. There was not even a computer, because it could be used for espionage. Having settled down according to the protocol, I suggested to proceed immediately to the matter.

“As I said, I am the plenipotentiary representative of the Council of Wise Men and one of its members. I know that before the expiration of another three months, but the situation is very serious. We can't wait any longer. Literally four days ago, we lost five planets at once. The entire population on them has been destroyed or is destroying now. Under our control, there are only ten worlds and twelve habitable planets. My task is to evaluate the results of your research and, if they are promising, to organize a demonstration of these results to the Council.”

It seems my first obstacle in the final will be to make the right impression on this person. Once he decides that my development is "hopeless," as I automatically lose the game. And I don't want to find out what the Being will come up with in this connection. It remains to hope for the impartiality of the individual.

“In principle, our project has already been completed. We have planned minor improvements, but they can be carried out in parallel with the implementation.”

“What is the essence of your project?” It seems that secrecy was maintained at a sufficient level, so that even members of the Council of Sages did not know what I was doing here.

“In short, we are talking about giving people immortality and making them magicians.”

“Is it all?” Said John Doe with disappointed voice. “I was hoping that it would be some kind of weapon.”

“It is better than any weapon. If you have not heard, then we are talking about immortality. That is, you can send soldiers into battle who cannot be destroyed.”

“The result of the battle is not decided by the soldiers, but by the space ships.”

“No. Spaceships do not solve anything. Because without the planets supporting them, without the supply of food and ammunition, these are just flying coffins. It is enough for us to send one soldier to the enemy planet, and in a month there will be millions of our soldiers - immortal, able to fight on equal terms with magicians and robots who do not need rear support and infrastructure. Not a single race of this galaxy can cope with our army. Just as it can not conquer any of our planets. Yes, they will be able to snap back for a while, but in a hundred years they will not be left a trace.”

John listened to my ardent speech with interest.

“That is, the soldiers will be able to multiply?”

“Not only soldiers can multiply. This is a new form of life. It is an almost immortal body that contains a soul that preserves the memory of past lives. You can draw from the afterlife the soul of an experienced warrior, and immediately get a soldier who can perform all kinds of assigned tasks. As I said, the body will be almost invulnerable. But if it is destroyed, the comrades of the fallen will be able to invoke his soul and give a new body in just a few minutes.”

"Hm ... can you demonstrate what it looks like?"

“Of course. Let's go to the test site. We make experiments on prisoners sentenced to death. We have several working samples that can demonstrate all the advantages of a new form of life.

“Come on.” We left the room and again began to stray along the countless corridors of the station. “Did you say that this is a new form of life?” A messenger asked me on the way. “That is, nominally, this is not the salvation of mankind.”

“Nominally, this salvation is not of a biological species, but of each of its representatives separately. People will replace the body, but remain themselves. Get a better life. And all nonhumans will be destroyed by us and turned to dust.”

John Doe agreed to my words and went with a contented look. The mental scan of consciousness showed that he was very indifferent to all inhuman life forms inhabiting the galaxy. In the sense that he hates them to the bone. But at the same time, the idea that people can change, remaining the beings of a "higher order", did not cause rejection.

We stopped in a room fenced off from the large hall by a glass wall. According to my instructions, there was already one of the official experimental and three troop guards hung with various weapons. I was not afraid of a riot on the part of the prisoner, because for him it was already a past stage. He was personally convinced that he was hanging tightly on our hook, and any rebellion would only worsen his extremely comfortable position.

“You see in front of you a sample of a new life form. We call it vritras. Now we will demonstrate how the sample transfers attack from personal small pistols.”

I gave order, and one of the guards raised a kinetic machine gun, firing conventional bullets. Despite all the progress, a piece of metal flying to head still remained quite an effective weapon. Unless bullets were accelerated now not by powder gases, but by gravity compensators. There was a long line, and the body of the prisoner literally riddled. Scarlet blood spilled out of the wounds, and the disfigured body loudly splashed to the floor. Brains were visible in the bursting head, and under the body a whole pool of blood quickly ran over.

“So what?” John asked puzzled.

I frowned, went to the communication apparatus, pressed the button and said:

“Martin, if you immediately do not stop fooling around, then I will deprive you of having sex. For end of life.”

Hearing the last word, the figure jerked and immediately rose to his feet. Wounds healed, and blood soaked into the body. Even the "prisoner uniform" restored its factory look.

“Ok, ok. No more joke.” muttered experimental.

“Another turn.” I ordered.

The guard raised the weapon, and discharged the remainder of the clip into the target. At this time, the bullets were barely able to leave marks on the body, which immediately healed. The tester changed his weapon to a blaster and continued the demonstration.

“Prisoners, what to take with them? There is no trust in them.” I explained the situation.

“You said something about sex.”

“Yes. We decided to keep this feature. People need a way to have fun. So we took a few women, transplanted them into new bodies, and then gave the prisoners the opportunity to relax. All on a voluntary basis. The duration of sex is limited to a couple of hours a day. This is a temporary solution, because the question is too complicated. But as you can see, prisoners love their position, and the threat of depriving them of sex is very serious.”

We traced how kinetic and plasma weapons, a flamethrower, and even an anti-tank missile were powerless to cause the target at least some harm. A built shot of their grenade launcher tore the test subject into pieces, but after five seconds he gathered back and no matter how happened he stood against the wall, whistling with a disgusting grin.

“This is ... impressive.” Guest admitted.

“This is a model for prisoners. Military can be equipped with built-in magical artifacts that will turn a person into a heavy assault infantry unit.”

“But you need to be a magician?”

“Anyone who has received this body will become a magician. Maybe not outstanding, but quite sufficient to be a serious combat unit on the battlefield.”

“And how will this affect a peaceful life?”

“Well, for each other such shots will come off except for a slap in the face. This weapon does not pose any danger to vritras. We can come up with a model of social regulation after the threat of early destruction ceases to hang over us.”

"Can you show all this to the Council?"

“Of course. But for the demonstration, I would prefer to use a loyal soldier. Prisoners for this are not suitable. They are under tight control here , and I would not want to trust them more than necessary.”

“Yes, I understand you. There are four paratroopers on my command. You can use them.”

I looked at the four metal-clad figures.

“Only with their voluntary consent.”

“We agree.” Answered one of the four. “If we could demonstrate this on the battlefield, then the enemies would have already pray for a truce.”

“Then we need to prepare. In an hour I will be able to demonstrate to you how a simple person can become immortal.”

On this we parted. The adviser with the attendants went to rest, but I had to organize a colorful show. Of course, I was not going to give these people a military version. Civil version is enough. Unless it was worth investing the ability to apply a dozen spells. Let's call it the police version.

Further it is possible not to describe. I turned four people into vritras and made another demonstration of their new abilities. After that, it was decided to take me on an express ship to the planet where the Council of Sages was now meeting. I have already received everything I could from this station, so I agreed. Unless insisted on his escort bodyguards. Finally, I plunged into the ship, taking with me a "marching set" of equipment and a hundred crystals, after which we departed.

The planet Nibiru met us with a bristling fleet, which for several hours figured out who we were and from where we came. Each arriving ship was scanned by all available means and kept in quarantine. As the adviser explained to me, this was a defense against attacks by any nonhumans disguised as civilians. Most of the problems brought necromancers, making people undead, able to turn the victims into their own kind through a bite.

We, by the way, scanners identified as people. Such a trifle as emulation of the structure of the human body and aura was a basic function. The "death" demonstrated earlier by the prisoner was the result of the work of this emulation. Having landed on the planet, we once again went through a scan, personal identification, and so on, after which I was lodged with bodyguards in one of the underground bunkers. It seems that things are really not going well here.

John Doe advised me not to tell anyone about my invention before the official presentation. Spies of other races snooping around, and any counterintelligence could guarantee the secrecy regime.

Three days we spent in the bunker, most of the time watching the news about the latest events. Human civilization really looked like it was on its last legs. The industry could not cope with the load, the crews of the space fighters were recruited by recruit operators of the space miner ships, and green recruits went to the fight, of which three out of ten experienced the first battle.

Finally, we were invited to an event where we had to demonstrate the results of our work. I expected to see a large hall filled with hundreds of people, but we were met by a couple of dozens of people, among whom I noticed Papadopoulos and Rigertstein. Ten minutes later, the Dow joined them, after which the main program of performances began.

As it turned out, three other players were also present in the audience, which I literally sensed as soon as they approached a distance of several kilometers. Perhaps this was how the ability bestowed by the Judge worked. I was determined to be the last to perform, so I comfortably settled in the chair and prepared to laugh loudly at the right moments.

The first project was the concept of building spacecraft, which reproduced the full life cycle of humanity. That is, it was a closed biosphere, capable of supporting the lives of about a million people. It was supposed to build hundreds of such ships and leave the inhospitable galaxy to hell. About the fate of those who do not have enough space on the ships, the author of the idea chose not to spread. He only noted that the best of the best will get there - the color of humanity, worthy of bringing the fruit of eternal stagnation in a cosmic vacuum.

This project has not caused enthusiasm. Similar ships were built before that. Respect caused only the scale of these giants. But at the same time, the larger the ship, the more difficult it is to protect it. So even the chances that it will be possible to build at least one ship in the current conditions were small.

The second project was implemented by an amateur terminator. That is how he called his creation - fully autonomous robots capable of carrying ‘love of humanity’ to all corners of the galaxy. I just laughed at such brazen plagiarism, prompting the angry glances of the robotics lover.

During the question-answer session, I even asked: what is the probability of an uprising of machines, and do opponents have similar systems? The first question was followed by an unpersuasive denial of such a possibility, and the second was answered by an expert of the Arms Council, who spoke about an entire race of intelligent robots that were even lower than humans in the world rankings. After all, they do not possess magic. Our creations of the gloomy Tectonian genius themselves did not possess magic, but at least they had protection from the simplest spells.

Most of all, the author of this project was pushing for the possibility of building completely autonomous factories capable of filling all enemies with robots. But my question about the uprising sowed the necessary doubts in the hearts of the listeners, so I did not expect much competition here.

The third project was extremely unexpected. In some ways, he repeated the first. The main concept was also an escape, but it was implemented on a much larger scale. The author offered to protect himself or herself in a piece of outer space with an indestructible power shield and live in this stub of the Universe, without worrying about what was going on outside.

Oddly enough, this option advisers liked quite a lot. First of all, by allowing the status quo to be maintained. The whole structure of government and society remained unchanged. Only removed the external threat factor. I had to break these pink dreams with my tricky questions.

“You said that the shields will actually cut out part of the space, creating a new metauniverse.” I asked the question to the third figure. His name was Cyrus Xenakis, and judging by the fatty face, he was a relative of Papadopoulos.

“Yes it is. This ensures that no one and nothing can pass through this barrier.” Explained actively sweating candidate for winners.

“But it is known that the space is constantly expanding. How the absence of back pressure of the surrounding space will affect the life of this universe.”

"Well ..." Xenakis's eyes darted around, seeking support from the public. “It depends on the volume of the isolated space. According to the Chandravishnu formulas …”

“How much time we can live, being inside?” I interrupted him.

“Pretty long. More than one hundred thousand years.”

“For some reason, it seems to me that even less than a hundred years.” I smiled victoriously. “I think it is worth checking out with independent experts. Yes, and such a fate - it is actually a way to guaranteed self-destruction. I would not call this approach salvation.”

The hum of discussion filled the room, and Kira Xenakis began to sweat even more, although the temperature in the room did not exceed twenty degrees. Pretty cool, as for me.

“The Council will commission the study of the materials of the third project to independent group of experts.” Finally, one of the Council members spoke. “Let's move on to the fourth project. Its author was most successful in tricky questions, and I would like to see what he prepared to offer.”

"Dear wise men," I addressed the audience with a speech that had been prepared, "Humanity faced a serious problem when trying to compete with other races for a place in the galaxy. As you all know very well, life in the universe is subject to a simple rule - the strongest survive. Or in other words, the fittest. Life is based on evolution, and living beings are forced to adapt to changing circumstances. We also need to change - to evolve into a higher form of life that will establish control over the entire galaxy. Millions of years, people have adapted to changes in the world around them. But now, in the age of space technology, changes are occurring too quickly. Therefore, we must make an evolutionary leap based not on our limited body, but on the pride of our species — mind."

I examined the audience and made sure that the poisoned honey of my words regularly flows into the ears of those present, using noodles as a means of delivery.

“The human was always been weaker than the surrounding species. But we always smarter than them. And now, in the moment of our weakness, we must use our mind to become stronger, faster, more powerful. For this purpose I created the project of complementation of humanity, which will allow us to rightfully call ourselves the highest form of life.”

I noticed that the third figure began to whisper under her breath, covering her head with her hands:

“Only not Evangelion, only not Evangelion! I can't bear it.”

Heh, here it stomps, however.

“I will not speak much, but it is better to get right to the point. I want to show you the next step in human evolution - Vritras.” With these words, one of the guards who stood at the door, came on the scene. This time he was not in a spacesuit, but in a simple military uniform. More precisely, his body depicted clothes. “This man has gone through a transformation process and has achieved true immortality. He can not be killed by destroying the body, he possess magic. Even in the unlikely event of death, he can be reborn, retaining his memory and consciousness. He does not grow old, does not need food, does not feel pain, but may experience pleasure. Soldiers like him will be able to conquer any world, because it is impossible to resist an army whose soldiers are immortal, do not need rest, food supplies and ammunition.”

The noise in the hall was growing, so I had to stop not to scream at the top of my voice. The time for an angry sermon has not yet come.

“Who let him in here?”

“This is a conspiracy of necromancers?”

“So you say he is immortal?” The loudest voice rang out.

“Yes…”

“Kill him” The order followed before I could give a detailed answer.

Several guards exchanged glances, and then one of the three vritras that stood right there, raised the machine gun and burst into tears of his companion to shreds. But literally in a couple of seconds, the bloodied and charred parts of the body united to form a whole person. I was sure that the charges of a heavy blaster could not damage the crystal, but the "test subject" insured by placing it in the heel of his left foot.

The noise turned into a real hubbub. People jumped up from their seats and began to speak loudly, waving their arms. A couple of people decided to come closer to the vritras to see him closely. Judging by the situation, nobody will listen to me for the next two hours. Instead, everyone will pour from empty to empty, trying to prove to others the exceptional importance of their own opinions. So I sat down in a chair and began to read a book on the basics of local magic. Since free time has been formed, it is worth spending it profitably.

Two hours were not enough for those gathered, so the meeting was postponed the next day. But I didn't even tell how and at what cost this immortality is achieved. However, apparently, the "wise men" were not interested in such trifles.

The next day, the Council met in an expanded format. Now they brought me to a huge hall, where two hundred people sat comfortably. The tribune on which I settled was fenced off with a protective force field. Apparently, local bigwigs were afraid for their lives. Of the game figures, it was only me and the inventor of the terminators.

Next to the main tribune, in front of a protective field, a small portable tribune was installed, where three wise men sat, including Nikos Papadopoulos. I exchanged promising views with him, but we didn't get any closer communication.

“So, gentlemen, let's get started.” The speaker declared twenty minutes after the official start of the meeting. The noise and din gradually subsided, and he continued. “By decision of the expert council, the first and third projects were rejected. We don't have enough resources to implement the first project, and in the third there was a serious flaw. Although an isolated region of space can indeed exist for more than one hundred thousand years, life in it will be possible only for the first couple of days. Kira Xenakis was sentenced by a military court to be sent to the combat zone as a kamikaze pil.., oh, sorry, as a fighter pilot.”

Giggles in the hall showed that the public appreciated the joke.

“Now we have to discuss the two remaining projects and choose among them worthy of implementation. I give the floor to Ivor Pendragon, who volunteered to submit to the Council of Sages a second draft.

The man, who was sitting on the right hand of the speaker, turned on his microphone and began to speak, referring to the text on the tablet.

“First of all, I would like to note that of the two existing projects, only this one does not imply that everyone present will turn into one of the types of magical evil.” At the same time Ivor angrily gazed in my direction. “Regarding the essence of the second project. It involves the construction of fully automated plants under the control of the Council. The plants will be located in the orbits of stars near the asteroid belt. Automatic miners will collect ore and deliver it to factories that will produce combat robots of various modifications.”

“After the formation of the army of robots, they will be delivered to one of the main worlds, where they will be blessed by the power of God Odin, making them invulnerable to magic. Further, the countless army of holy robots will speak out against the inhumans and sweep them away with a single impulse in the name of the gods and …”

“HHM!” The speaker interrupted the sermon, whose name nobody bothered to tell me. “Let's look at the description of those events that we are able to predict.”

"Uh-uh ... good." The speaker agreed. “According to calculations, the construction of one plant will take three months, after which it will be able to produce more than a billion robots per year. Provided that the current settlement zone is maintained and that the new plants are continuously produced on the basis of the existing capacities, we will be able to crush the main opponents with the mass in four years. By this time we will have one hundred Holy Robots of Odin for each soldier of the enemy!” Lecturer in a fit of feelings even hit the table with his fist. "And we will not have to betray the ancestors' covenants, turning ourselves into one kind of undead."

At the same time, Ivor Pendragon stared into the hall with such hatred that it became clear that his faction was in the minority. Otherwise, his view would not be hatred, but arrogant contempt.

Despite the recognized authority of the Council of Sages, all of its activities proceeded behind closed doors. People learned about the decision of the Council, not even after its adoption, but after the decision was implemented. The personalities of the "wise men" were also covered with a veil of secrecy, and only a few people, like Nikos Papadopoulos, were known to the masses. Presumably, in this world the Illuminats won, and did not even find it necessary to hide from someone. Rather, this secrecy was a consequence of the usual disregard for the opinion of "simple cow". There has never been a democratic election here, so no one was going to educate the people about their rulers. A lot of honor will be.

The angry speech of the apologist for the holy robots ended, and the word was passed on to my protégé.

"Dear members of the council," Papadopoulos began his speech, "tonight I carefully studied all the documentation on the fourth project, and also read the reports of our analysts.” When he managed to get the documentation? Surely with me, John Doe brought all the dirt that my envious collected? “Unlike the second project, we will not have to wait for the construction of a factory, and then hope to overwhelm the enemies with glands. We can start cramping enemies today. The human complementation project is fully completed.” Such a plagiarist! Stole my clever word. “And we are talking not only about the formation of the army. The goals of this project are much more global. Do not be afraid to say this, it really is a way to save humanity. Save each of you. Save those who are dear to you.”

Nikos made a dramatic pause and gave everyone a meaningful look.

“We are talking about the fact that each of the people can get immortality. The fact that you can bring back to life even those of your loved ones who have already died.” A surprised rumble ran through the hall. “People can stand on the same level with the gods.” I clearly distinguished how Pendragon's teeth gritted. “Humanity deserves more. We deserve not to hide behind the backs of the soulless piece of iron, but to fight the enemy face to face and tear them to shreds, confirming our evolutionary supremacy.” This time in the hall rose an approving rumble, which did not even think to subside. “Humanity has once again proved that we are the crown of evolution. The fusion of magic and technology, the fusion of secret spiritual knowledge and our philosophical convictions allowed us to make a step forward, leaving behind all nonhumans. And tell me, will you take this step, or will you cowardly step away from your such triumph in fear of violating the hardened precepts of your ancestors?” From the hall came the cheers. “Gentlemen, I think you can make the right decision.”

At this, Papadopoulos ended his speech and smugly looked at his ideological rival. It seems that just this fat beetle scored more points in their favor.

Five minutes later, the speaker asked for silence, and the stirring of the masses in the hall fell silent.

“I understand that many of you are already inclined to choose one of the projects, but before we proceed to the vote, I would like to conduct a test, push the two approaches face to face and determine which of them will be more advantageous. What think project managers about this? Arnold Schwarzkopf, please take speech.”

Finally, I heard the name of my main rival. Yesterday, he somehow managed to tell about everything without even introducing himself.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I think that a simple duel will allow us to put everything in its place. And to be more honest, I propose to put two groups of opponents who will have the same cost of production.” With these words, Arnold looked at me with a grin.

“What can you say to this offer, Sammael Tamuz?”

“I am afraid that if you observe such a ratio, then against a million of my soldiers will have to put half a robot. After all, a vrita can literally create his body from dirt. And they do not need for this expensive factories, transport and qualified personnel. Life is able to sustain itself.” I returned the scornful smile to the local terminator. “However, I agree to a small handicap on my part. My team consists of eight vritras against eight hundred terminators. I am sure that by the end of the battle the score will be eight hundred to zero.”

Schwarzkopf from such words covered with red spots and so he rushed at me with his fists. But after a couple of seconds, he pulled himself together and even smiled wryly again.

“Wonderful! Nobody pulled you by the tongue. There are enough prototypes in my institute to start this ridiculous contest.”

“Do not worry about it.” Inserted the speaker. “We have already delivered all the research stations to the orbit of the planet. The competition will begin at a military training ground in two hours. Will you be able to provide your members through this time?” He turned to me.

“Of course. My bodyguards will cope with this simple task.”

All those present turned their eyes to my eight minions, who successfully depicted furniture not far from the entrance to the presidium.

At this meeting ended and I was taken to a separate office. There, to my surprise, Papadopoulos was already waiting for me.

“Mr. Nikos, what a pleasant surprise.” I greeted him.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Sammael. I have little time, so I will be brief. Do you still remember our conversation three years ago?”

“Of course. I understand that the current sentiment in the Council is the result of your hard work. I can give you immortality at any time, after which you can repeat this procedure with any of your supporters.”

Papadopoulos's eyes glowed dangerously.

“Can you do it right now?”

“Can. But I would recommend that you first worry about the proper disposal of the old body and the availability of materials to create a new one.”

“Yes, you are right.” Calm intrigued. “Can you give me the equipment that I can use for my appeal on my own?”

“Equipment? Let me think.”

I figured out how to organize such a focus. The main problem was to pull the soul out of the body and install it in the crystal. Without proper control, it was quite possible to "resurrect" not something that would be very sad. Finally, I formed in my mind a structure that, due to the fusion of magic and technology, could have done the job of the "gutter", but would have been quite compact.

“I need a consumable. Some kind of electronic device weighing a couple of kilograms.”

Nikos thought for a second, after which he turned to his guards.

“Bring a microwave from the common room.”

Five minutes later I received the aforementioned item. There was not so much silicon I needed, so I had to also "eat" the computer’s monitor. In order not to irritate surrounding people with the process of literally devouring technology, I simply plunged it into my torso, where it was split into atoms by a system of spells supporting the existence of the body. After about ten minutes, I synthesized the desired device, putting the necessary spells into it.

Finally, I pulled a wide metal cylinder out of my belly, having some similarity to a large plate about ten centimeters thick. A shower crystal glowed dimly in the center of this device.

“Lie on your back, place it on your chest with a crystal to the top and hold your hand on the crystal for a minute. Next to you should be enough building material for the new body. You will get the organics from your body, so in addition you will need silicon and aluminum. The program of synthesis of new crystals and the spell for the conversion of a person are already sewn into the future container of your soul.”

“Thank you.” Papadopoulos stretched his trembling hands to the device and eagerly grabbed it. A predatory expression appeared on the face of a council member. “I think that after the appeal of my supporters, the council is waiting a terrorist attack arranged by vampires, after which your project will be adopted unanimously.”

“Good luck.” I bowed, looking in the back of the quickly departing future speaker of the council. He did not even look in my direction, rushing forward with the persistence of a locomotive. Heh, it seems my win is predetermined. It remains only to trample the enemy into the mud, and I can rest on my laurels.

The military base greeted us with uneven gray walls, devoid of any decoration. Apparently, this building was built just a few hours ago. The portable tactical complex, on which the map of the polygon was displayed, spoke about this. Through the window visible the slender rows of humanoid robots. Even the heels of these cans of a slightly different color were in the room, acting as my rival's bodyguards. Apparently, he also encountered a certain resistance of the environment in the form of kill attempts on his life.

In addition to us, there were representatives of the military who were going to follow the course of the confrontation. The Council watched us remotely, without pulling its volumetric asses from the comfortable seats. A middle-aged man in a uniform dotted with medals approached us and began the instruction.

“So, Arnold Schwarzkopf, Sammael Tamuz, everything is ready for testing. You will need to send your troops to the points indicated on the map, after which I will give the command at the beginning of the battle. You can use any weapons and tactics. The landfill will be covered with a powerful force field, so you can not worry about collateral damage. The barrier will withstand even a nuclear explosion of a hundred megatons. Alas, in this case, it badly transmits electromagnetic radiation, so it can be called a night battle. We will observe what is happening with the help of remote surveillance. But as you understand, these means can be destroyed by accidental fire. The most reliable means of observation is a spatial scanner. But it can only give out tactical information, not an image. This is a battle to destroy, and therefore the use of waiting and ambush tactics should be limited. Any combat unit can be masked for no more than two minutes in a row, after which there should be a break per minute. The goal of both sides is to get to this circle a hundred meters in diameter, and then destroy the enemies there. If a combat unit can enter a circle, but does not do this, then it will be considered as defeated. If a soldier entered the circle, but stepped out of him for more than ten seconds, he would also be read the defeat. If I tell you that someone need to left the battlefield, then you must command to that unit to stop the attack and retreat beyond the boundaries of the circle. Questions?”

I looked at my opponent.

“What a sign is considered as the inability of the enemy to continue the fight?” I asked.

“Lack of offensive activity for two minutes.”

“No more questions.”

The general looked at me.

"They just need to go and destroy everything that looks like a robot. What questions could there be? Job for five minutes.”

The military nodded and gave the command to nominate troops. Arnold began to tinker with some kind of wrist gadget, which, apparently, allowed him to control the robots. I contacted my telepathic team. Ten minutes later, all preparations were completed, and a hemisphere of darkness rose above the range.

One of the officers approached us and decided to conduct a small educational program.

“This force field is called the shield of darkness. The dimming function is a way of protecting against a light hitting factor. For example, during a nuclear explosion or from laser radiation. Now is the day, so the light of the sun activates this barrier function, hiding what is happening from us. But at night it is almost transparent, which allows you to monitor events in the optical range.”

"Ten-second readiness." There was a voice of the operator controlling the tactical complex.

I looked at the screen with interest, at the same time receiving information from my troops via the telepathic channel. Barrier did not affect the effectiveness of this method of communication.

Oak gave the command, and their whole group ran forward. The impenetrable darkness reigned around, but a very small part of the light still penetrated under the dome, so that their supersensitive eyes gave out quite a tolerable picture. The terrain was rugged. Shrubs and trees were interspersed with deep craters with melted edges and small hills with steep slopes.

Ahead flashed a few robots who decided to meet the enemy first. Shots of armor-piercing spells immediately went off at him. Alas, the distance was too large, and the soldiers were able to dodge or put up a shield. Still, the reaction of the computer exceeds the human, even if the person is in a more perfect body. However, it did not matter. At close range, the main parameters will be the speed of movement and the strike force of the weapon.

A dozen robots, one of which was larger than the others, emerged from the bushes. This meeting was not a surprise for any of the parties, so immediately there was an exchange of shots, the result of which was the destruction of one of the robots that fell under the crossfire of four vritras. The enemy's has high level defense, so the weak spells simply slipped off the their armor.

The tenth large robot aimed a weapon to Mark and shot something completely killer, so that the latter was literally torn to pieces. Fortunately, the shot was not instantaneous, so the target managed to move the main crystal to the foot, removing it from the blow.

“Destroyed one unit on each side.” The tracking system operator commented on this event. Arnold looked at me triumphantly.

“Stop fooling around.” I send the telepathic command. “This is not game.”

Kiril responded with mental agreement and gave his subordinates a mental headset. Immediately literally hundreds of spells fell on the robots, turning those into smoking electronic stuffing. But the vrytras did not have time to celebrate the victory, as three dozen more enemies slipped out from behind a small hill. It seems that the terminators decided to destroy the enemy even on the way to the given battlefield.

Mark Three lost most of his body, and therefore he bored into the ground, restoring mass due to the surrounding matter. Unfortunately, the titanium content in the soil was close to zero, so he had to use the "civilian" version of the filler. Six vritras rushed forward, taking the bulk of their opponents, while Mateo remained to cover his comrade.

A dozen more robots leaped from the flank, who rushed at the seemingly lonely target. When one of them ran past the place of Mark's "death," he jumped out of the ground and struck the terminator with a hand to the chest, piercing the armor. The remaining nine was destroyed by massive magical shelling from Mateo. The robots, of course, attacked in response, but the maximum that was enough for them was to make a couple of holes in the target, which were delayed in a second.

“It is tasty!” In the telepathic message, Mark was surprised. “There are so many different metals. And there is titanium too.”

After a second, his body began to absorb inside the robot through the hole made. Robot tried to resist, but after a couple of seconds its electronic offal disappeared and became part of the body vritras.

“Comfortable suit.” Mark noted, flowing into all technical cavities and absorbing all that he considered superfluous. The last part of his body disappeared into the chest of the robot and mimicked the armor, closing the hole. From the outside, he now looked like another terminator. “There is even some kind of protective magic on the armor. And the composition is not bad. Nanocomposite of tungsten carbide, titanium, chromium and nickel droplets.”

“Enough to taste it already.” An annoyed thought came from Kirill. “Go from the flank.”

Deuce immediately jumped off, bending around the hill. Mateo on the run changed shape, also pretending to be a robot.

“It is necessary to induce interference to bring down their system of recognition of allies.” He suggested.

“So do it.” Answered Kirill. “Put a stationary jammer with an adaptive block jamming.”

“It will take a couple of minutes.”

Mateo changed course and disappeared into the bushes covering the hill. Not a single twig moved on its way to the top. The body of the vritras flowed around all the obstacles like a liquid.

Mark ran onto the battlefield, occupying a superior height, from where he covered a large group of robots with an areal spell. The "acid cloud" not only corroded the armor, but also reduced a visibility. The six dived into the fog and began to carve the robots into pieces. The "betrayal" of one of the terminators turned out to be so unexpected that none of the opponents even tried to prevent the use of the areal spell, although it took at least a couple of seconds to use it.

A minute later, the whole group of robots was destroyed, and five of the eight vritras got a fashionable armored suit. Such protection turned out to be superfluous, because some terminators possessed highly insidious weapons penetrating magic shields. Judging by the tactics of the enemies, they hoped to break the vritras into small enough pieces so that they could not regenerate. And the new progressive armor was a good way to counter this approach.

In the meantime, its tragedy unfolded at the observation post.

“I lost the signature of five vritras.” Reported officer. "But instead, the radar gives out five targets that are not recognized as humans or robots."

“And what is visible on the camera?”

“All the drones and stationary cameras in the combat zone were destroyed. According to the records, both parties took an active part in this act of vandalism.”

The general gave us a condemning look and again focused on the screen with tactical information. I also looked at Arnold. On his face all traces of an approaching panic were shown.

“Do not worry you so.” I encouraged him. "This is just a game of higher order entities."

“You do not understand! If I lose ... He ... He will do IT with me again! Or come up with something else.”

Yes-aaa ... the fate of a barter pawn is hard. Good thing I win. Gee-gee-gee.

Ten minutes later, eight vritras, dressed in almost untouched suits from the terminators, stood in the prescribed zone, idly looking around.

"Has anyone thought how many we have already killed?" Narayan inquired, turning the ‘spare helmet’ in his hands, which seemed to him more beautiful than the model he had taken.

“Lot.” Mateo Hidalgo replied thoughtfully. “More than three for sure. But it is not important. If they do not attack within two minutes, they will automatically lose.”

“You know how to count only to three?”

“I do not need more.”

The lazy skirmish continued until the power shield turned off, and bright sunshine flooded the earth around.

“Fixing the end of battle. Eight objects of unknown nature are located in the center of the selected area. Two minutes have passed, the winner is determined. It remains only to find out to which side these objects belongs to.” Issued a tactical officer.

“Turn off your shield of darkness.” The general commanded, looking at us. I portrayed the serenity itself, and Arnold froze with a wax statue and also did not express any emotions. “Hey you there, drag your fat asses here.” shouted the general, turning on the speakerphone.

Eight figures looked at each other and with quick jumps rushed in our direction. In the meantime, we walked out of the building as a crowd and turned our attention to a strip of trees, due to which the winners were to come out.

“I told you that my robots will win!” happily exclaimed Arnold, barely seeing the silhouettes among the dense vegetation. He laughed happily, but there was a hysterical note in that laugh.

Meanwhile, the eight "robots" approached us, and the most closer to us took off his head mask, under which was the human head of Kirill Dubrovsky.

“Boss, can we order such suits? Only it is necessary to alter them slightly, but in some places the connection is unreliable.”

My opponent loudly hiccupped and widened his eyes.

“It can not be! These are my robots.”

“Just outside.” Mark laughed, also pulling off his helmet. "But if that calms you down, they were pretty tasty."

“No! You are not them. Destroy them!” It looks like Arnold's roof has run down completely. Terminators guarding him responded to the team, who immediately turned their weapons on vritras.

“Do not spoil the trophies!” Exclaimed Narayan, rushing into hand-to-hand.

A scuffle ensued, accompanied by numerous robots shots. My bodyguards could not use all their strength, because there were too many soldiers around. A pair of blaster charges flew past Arnold, who was in a stupor, and a brilliant idea came to my mind.

A light mental message to Kirill for one was received by the whole team, and following my wish, Frank slightly deflected with magic one of the blaster shots, which as a result hit Arnold right in the forehead. The lifeless body fell to the ground, and the resistance of the robots immediately ceased.

“Fixed the death of the master. I activate the self-destruct protocol.” The "culprit" boomed out of the premature death of one of the figures, after which it exploded, scoring the surrounding fragments of his armor. A second later, the same fate befell all the other terminators in the area.

I repaired injuries of my body and stared at the mangled human corpse, which in fact was not even my enemy. What is good to disappear?

“I sacrifice this figure to the Judge.”

Immediately the world exploded with energies, and I felt how my soul was torn out of a crystal, which immediately crumbled into the sand because of the activated system of self-destruction. I didn't want at least one full copy of Vritras to remain in this world after my death. In the meantime, my soul appeared before five terrifying Entities that they was almost impossible to perceive because of the power emanating from them.

“How dare you break the rules?” cried one of the Entities. “You killed my figure.”

“He committed suicide.” I tried to justify myself.

“Moron!” Reached me whispers Being.

"You recognized his death at your hands when you sacrificed him." Announced the indifferent voice of the Judge.

“The Being must be punished.”

“I protest! According to the rules of playing ability, I do not get any consequences from this murder, regardless of whether they are positive or negative.”

“Then the responsibility lies on the Judge!” Do not let up a strange entity. The two remaining entities remained silent.

“You want too much. I am not under the jurisdiction.” Objected the Judge. “You agreed with the rules of this game.”

“So you need to punish him!” The entity's finger of fire pointed directly at me.

“I decide who, for what and how to punish.” The Judge carefully examined me, piercing my soul with his chilling gaze. “I will take away his two energy centers. And he will start the next game in one of my worlds.”

Then an unbearable pain pierced my soul, and I felt how my two "tails" were pulled out, leaving gaping wounds.

“In the meantime, I take him.” The Being stretched hands to me. “The game is still ongoing. This small and big.”

Two almost imperceptible patches lay on my wounds, turning the agony into just intolerable flour. After that, darkness surrounded me, and my mind went out.