239 Unrestrained Evil
“To the nearest planet with life,” Vincent commanded.
Just as the command left the lips of the ICARUS CEO, the sight of the stagnant stars and blackness of space was replaced by a blur of rapid light, producing a reality-shaking hum before in a singular instant, the ship reappeared in front of a planetary body.
It was a world that appeared mostly blue from the outside, bringing the ship down to a landmass covered in azure grass and plants of varying shades of blue.
He was able to leave the ship from a platform that descended beneath his boots, speaking of the advanced nature of the ship to allow itself to be utilized in flexible ways, finding himself lowering down as he entered the foreign world.
“Interesting,” Vincent watched as he descended, “Procedural generation, I assume.”
The man looked around, watching the abnormal grass being brushed by subtle winds. Plants of unorthodox origin stood in the bumpy fields, swaying beneath the lapis sky.
As he began walking around to explore the unknown world, one of the tall plants reacted to his presence, attempting to bite him with a mouth full of oozing thorns.
“Hm.”
With a single swipe of his fist and swift reflexes, he casually blew through the plant before it could try turning him into a meal. It was relinquished to a mushy mess of purple liquid and scattered mass.
Vincent looked at his fist, finding it dirtied by the plant’s blood that had an acidic nature to it, though it wasn’t strong enough to harm his skin.
“I see. Reincarnation is no paradise—what you’ve left is a life just as full as hardship for those who arrive,” Vincent mumbled.
It was a quiet world with nothing more than the wind providing an ambience to his ears as he explored its bumpy geography. There wasn’t much interest he found besides malicious plants and scurrying insects.
As he stepped through a biome of flurry, azure foliage, something squelched beneath the clean, white boot he wore.
Looking down, he raised his foot to see the smashed paste of a large insect, reduced to a splat of oozing, green blood left twitching on the soil.
“Disgusting,” Vincent said.
Moving on from the crushed insect, he continued exploring the generated world, walking amidst what resembled a jungle full of curving trees, anchored by dark-blue vines that entangled the entirety of the region.
As he entered the jungle, sticking out like a sore thumb with his regal, clean-white attire, the U.I. beeped in front of his vision:
[WARNING: Hostile entities nearby]
This signal brought him to a pause for a moment as he stood alone in the jungle, surrounded by azure moss and a distinct smell that resembled gasoline.
“–” Vincent glanced around.
It seemed it wasn’t just the strength of his body that had been amplified, but his senses were elevated as well, allowing him to hear the subtle scurrying of whatever was lurking in the blue jungle in an attempt to get the jump on him.
There were multiple sources of noise, though there was one closer than the rest, and approaching him directly.
East, he calmly thought.
As he stood there silently, keeping his eyes closed to further hone in on his enhanced hearing, something crashed through the bushes to his east, jumping towards him with a screeching hiss.
Glancing over with reflexes already well aware of the entity’s existence, he found it to be a grotesque, human-sized spider with a light-gray exoskeleton, looking at him with dozens of purple eyes.
In a natural movement, he raised his hand towards the malicious creature, summoning a digital construction into his hand that instantly formed into a sleek, black gun. As he pulled the trigger, a miniature shock wave propelled against the creature, rippling its flesh and destroying it in its entirety with a singular action.
“…I see,” Vincent said, looking at the weapon in his hand.
Looking down at the splatter of insect blood painted onto the soil and moss, he brought his gaze back up before pointing the futuristic weapon towards a boulder sitting in front of a curving tree. The trigger itself was light and easy to pull, but could only be activated through the registration of Vincent’s identity by the weapon recognizing him. As he pulled it again to test its power, the shock wave traveled at frightening speed, instantaneously turning the large boulder into a powder that fell onto the soil.
It’s difficult to tell if this technology is born from code or an existence supplemented by whatever means SAMSARA used to create these worlds. Whatever it is, it’s intriguing–weapons like this, if existing on Earth, would create wars so fundamentally rotten that it’d be the end of humanity, Vincent thought.
In the mind of the successful CEO, even in his youth his mind had already been wired to think a certain way, imagining the profitary possibilities of such technology existing on Earth and under the control of ICARUS.
If we controlled the supply of an unequivocal weapon, especially one of such ease of use and low maintenance cost, we could set the price. I wonder…perhaps it’s not truly impossible to replicate, Vincent thought.
As he inspected the weapon he held, he felt the desire to take it apart and investigate every nook and cranny of its functionality, though held himself back as he received another warning from his U.I.:
[WARNING: Large number of hostels approaching!]
Hearing many scurrying insects now, Vincent decided it’d be least troublesome to head back to his ship as he did just that.
He didn’t travel very far, leaving him only to summit a steep hill before walking down the clearing of abnormal, blue grass to where his ominous ship was left hovering.
“…Hm,” he glanced back.
As he headed towards his space-faring vessel, an orchestra of inhuman screeches resounded from behind him, finding himself being rushed by dozens of the gargantuan arachnids.
There was a complete calm exhibited by Vincent, even in the realm accessed by reincarnation that was anything but a game, if not a match of constant life or death; he raised his hand to summon the controls of his ship while eyeing down the purple-eyed insects.
Undoubtedly, there was a threat possessed by the great arachnids, at least to normal beings; their massive, spiked legs were spears in themselves and their agility was great, likely possessing strength just as commendable.
However, Vincent Icarus possessed something greater:
[DEPLOY [HAIL] TURRETS?]
With a tap of the prompt, Vincent looked forward as his ship hovered up ever so slightly before large, platinum turrets deployed from its underbelly, unleashing a storm of high-velocity bullets that rained down on the horde of arachnids.
High-pitched hisses released from the malicious spider-like lifeforms each time a bullet pierced through their forms, filling the area with a unison of their cries and the spinning of the turrets.
The white-haired man watched with a slight smile as the blaring gunfire slaughtered the giant insects mercilessly, causing their entire bodies to relinquish to liquid from the power of each shot.
After a minute, the gunfire stopped, leaving the area silent as the azure fields had been carved up by the mass of bullets, dyed in the rancid blood of the insects.
“Hah,” Vincent couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, “You really gave me quite the VIP experience, didn’t you, Haru?”
Returning to the circular platform left on the ground, he stood on it as it levitated back up towards the empty hatch in the ship. As it brought him back to the main observation deck of his ship, he watched through the window, overlooking the insect-inhabited world before bringing up the voice command once more:
“Find the nearest cluster of ships,” Vincent commanded.
In an instant, with a hum blaring suddenly, the space vessel launched upward before propelling through space with speed that surpassed light altogether, warping forth towards the desired location while Vincent stood.
…Let’s see how other users are faring, he thought.
After the hyperspace travel came to an end, his ship was left in a wide space in the cosmos, surrounded by other spaceships, most of which were much smaller than his and seemingly less advanced.
There was a constant show of lights as ships exchanged volleys of lasers, with smaller vessels having to swiftly maneuver through space to evade the larger structures that opposed them.
It was war.
Vincent spectated, watching from his observation deck as lights of differing colors flashed; clashes of bright-green and azure lights danced in the dark cosmos.
Though watching as all he planned to do in the moment, an impact rattled his ship, activating the previously unseen shields of his vessel as he glanced over.
“–” Vincent squinted.
[WARNING: Hostile ships in the vicinity]
A small, circular ship was responsible for the unprovoked attack, spinning around and unleashing more blasts that rattled the protective shield.
Though he was taken aback for a moment, a small smile crept across the man’s lips as he stood there with his hands behind his back.
“Open fire on the attacking ship,” Vincent commanded.
The words given directly to the system controlling his vessel were heard as the massive laser-bearing cannons on the exterior of his ship were revealed, unleashing a blast of scarlet energy that vaporized the ship in front of him.
As he watched the metal scraps of the much smaller ship float off in space as nothing more than burning debris, a question came to mind, needing to be confirmed:
“Was that a person? A reincarnator, I mean,” Vincent asked.
[ANSWER: Yes.]
For a moment, he didn’t quite know how to fill, though after a minute, exhilaration took over as the prospect of the strength bestowed to him flooded over.
“…Before I take my leave, I’ll leave them with a small gift,” Vincent said, raising his hand, “Release a full-power bombardment on all ships in the vicinity.”