Chapter 447 - A Fugitive Once Again
In response to the alien invasion, the universal government summoned a great number of their warriors, and soon enough, a galactic scale war started. In the hope of getting to safety, Daniel used all of his means to get as far away in as little time as possible, but his escape wasn't as uneventful as swift as he had hoped.
A group of thousands of alien soldiers, accompanied by their ships, were sent in his pursuit, forcing him to alternate between standing his ground, and shooting in the distance as fast as he could. But no matter what he tried, In the end, his abilities were too limited when compared to the alien technology, who could pinpoint his position to the furthest distance he was able to reach in a matter of moments.
For weeks Daniel desperately tried to get rid of his pursuers, deepening his debt towards karma, and tiring himself out more than he had ever been before.. Until finally, in a desperate attempt to stand his ground, he was engulfed by the attacks of the dozen of spaceships specifically deployed to subdue him. It did not take long for the aliens to realize that their weapons, while effective in damaging his body, were clearly unable to kill Daniel once and for all, as not even vaporizing his body would prevent it from reforming soon after.
With no hope to fulfill the mission assigned to them by their commanders, to the aliens, only one option was left..
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Coming back to life was not a complicated process for Daniel. The last surviving aspect of his being, unless also destroyed, would become the center around which the remaining two aspects would reform, allowing him to survive any kind of violent death.
During this process, unless his mind was the aspect of his being that was destroyed, his consciousness would go into a slumber caused by the shock of being forcibly separated by the brain of which it was in control of, and the spirit from which it received the feelings it felt. He would then wake up the moment his body was fully reformed.
Thanks to Daniel's powerful regenerative abilities, this entire process would usually take a few seconds, but this time, it was clear to him that coming back to life had taken much longer.
When he woke up from his slumber, he was in an extremely bright cell devoid of doors and windows. Around his wrists were a pair of cuffs that were identical to the onesto prevent Tirah from escaping her prison cell. The only thing that reassured him, was the fact that he could still feel his planet in the same place he had left it, meaning that it hadn't been found yet.
Daniel stood back up on his feet, weakened by the forceful absorption of power produced by the handcuffs, which stripped the true essence that strengthened the connection between his atoms, and recycled it so that it could be used to reinforce the material of which the handcuffs were made out of.
For the following few minutes, Daniel inspected his cell. To an inexperienced eye, this room would appear as the inside of a cube, devoid of any kind of entrance, or exist. But that was not the case for Daniel, who thanks to the eyes of an ascended high immortal, was able to find the extremely thin rectangular crevice which indicated the presence of a door masked as a common portion of the wall. However, Just as he was about to start touching the door around, it suddenly opened towards the inner part of the cell, forcing him to take a few steps back, and stand in the middle of the room.
From the now opened door, came a thin alien that belonged to a race different from the ones he had met before. His thin body was the least impressive detail of his body, when compared to his purple skin, and abnormally large cranium. His clothes were different from those worn underneath the spatial suit by the Kruga soldiers, and were of the same kind worn by the scientists present in the secret laboratory of the alien's prison he had infiltrated to, to steal the alien translator.
This odd looking alien fiercely walked into the cell while holding Daniel's spatial ring, as well as the helmet Virgil had modified for him so that it could translate from human language, to the alien one.
After noticing the lack of fear in Daniel's eyes, the alien brought his extremely thin left wrist up to the lipless slit present in the place where a human's mouth would be, and let out an incomprehensible series of sounds directed towards his bracelet. As he finished emitting those sounds, from the bracelet came a string of words in the human language, that said, "Where did you get this?"
Daniel did not respond, and instead pointed at the ring the alien was holding, and said, "Do not lose that. I will get it back soon."
The alien either did not understand the threat, or did not care, and instead let out another series of sounds, this time slightly different from before, right into his translator. "Who modified this?" He asked while pointing at the relatively new wielding present on the side of the helmet, right where the translators was installed.
Once again, Daniel did not bother with answering the question, and instead asked, "Where are we? Is this another secret lab hidden underneath a planet's crust?" His tone was a casual one, and his expression was devoid of any form of worry. From the scientist's perspective, it did not appear that Daniel was a prisoner, and that he was in fact able to escape at any point in time.
"You are in your permanent residence, one whose comfort will only get worse if you don't start answering my questions." Responded the alien before once again lifting the modified helmet, and repeating, "Tell me who modified this helmet. Who gave this to you?"
Daniel's words regarding a secret laboratory did not escape the ears of the scientist, who willingly ignored its validity due to his conviction. To him, the helmet was enough of a proof that Daniel hadn't infiltrated one of their bases, and that instead, he had come to learn about the laboratory's existence from one of his interaction with a spy. A traitor who had given a sample of their technology to the enemy, and that had gone as far as modifying it for them so that they could understand their technology better, and learn their language.
This theory was completely wrong, and yet, it was the most plausible for a civilization that could not understand the concepts of mana, and that could not imagine walking through solid objects, become invisible, or teleportation.
However, Daniel was in no mood to correct his mistake, and instead decided to feed the alien's suspicions by saying, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Seeing how Daniel had reacted, the alien did not press the topic any further, and instead took another step into the cell, and said, "So you are another one of those special parasites. I have heard a lot about you, and your siblings."
"Only good things, I am sure." Responded Daniel before smiling, and resting over the furthest end of the wall opposite to the cell's door.
"Not particularly positive, no. They call you the outcast, abandoned by a group that did not fit to begin with. That is impressive." Said the scientist, slightly more comfortable now that he had seen that Daniel was not rebelling in any way. He then took another step into the cell, and said, "Why don't you tell me about yourself.. What makes you different from the others?"
Daniel's shoulders were raised in response. "As you've said, there are degrees of strangeness even amongst strange people. I am one of the strangest ones, I suppose."
For the next two hours Daniel and the alien scientist kept their back-and-forth in a relatively civil way. For someone who could read the emotions shown by the scientist's alien race, they would realize how much that had surprised him. After all, he was the one who had interrogated the Necromancer, and only he knew how difficult of a person she was.
The specificity of the details he was interested in were more easily obtainable when the other party was free to answer, since by planting a controller into the girl's head, they were only able to demand that she gave a sufficient response, and not an exhaustive one. With Daniel that problem did not seem to persist, as he appeared to be willing to share anything that was asked of him in a sedate, and strangely charming way.
Initially this was positive, but during the last few minutes, the alien scientist started to feel odd about it. "I had the impression that your kind was not keen on sharing information with people they distrust. Why are you telling me all of this?" He asked with curiosity.
"It is funny that you ask." Responded Daniel before scratching the stubble that had grown on his face. He then added, "There are actually two reason for that."
"Please, enlighten me." Said the scientist, now sure that something was up.
"Well, the first reason is that I was hoping to get on your good side before telling you that the distortions of space caused by your people's technology are gradually causing the destruction of this universe." Said Daniel with a matter-of-fact tone, before taking a pause.
From what Daniel had learned about this scientist since the two started talking, was that he wasn't easily impressionable. He was clearly prepared to hear the most wild claims and crazy stories, and now that he was presented with one, he was left unfazed.
"Our technology does not leave any form of permanent effect on the space we act on. Whatever plot that ridiculous claim was made to serve, it will not work." Responded the scientist through the mechanical voice of his bracelet.
"Can't blame me for trying." Responded Daniel with a smile before lifting his left foot, and placing it over the wall.
Slightly amused by Daniel's behaviour, the scientist took a step back, and after resting over the piece of wall that was right next to the door, he asked, "What is the second reason?"
"I am waiting."
"Waiting for what?" Inquired the scientist, even more curious than before.
"Well, it was when I came to steal that trinket and saw the state in which the Necromancer was being kept, that I have realized that your kind does not understand the origin of our cultivation. You know that our essence makes us stronger, but you probably have no idea of what martial arts are." Responded Daniel ever so calmly.
The scientist wasn't so calm anymore. His bracelet had translated the words martial arts for him, and while he did not know what those words meant, his intelligence was deep enough for him to make a reasonable guess.
In response to Daniel's words, the alien suddenly pushed his body away from the wall and tried to reach for an item that was hidden in his pocket, but before he could grab it, Daniel shot through the cell, and pinned the scienting against the wall he was laying on.
"We are almost there." he said before kicking the back of the alien's leg, and wrapping his arms around his neck the moment he lowered himself.
Suddenly an alarm went off, and from the right side of the corridor, many soldiers in spatial suits ran towards the other side. This alarm was the signal that their ship was under attack, and signified that most guards and soldiers were required to leave the ship to protect it from the hostile forces.
Once the corridor was clear, Daniel dragged the scientist down its length, only stopping a few meters down in front of two cells similar to his own. In these cells were the quiet figure of the Unmovable, and the sorry figure of the Viewfinder, who sat on the cold floors of their cells with saddened expressions.
From the look of it their fate wasn't as colorful as Daniel, and their systems were unable to find a way out for them like the Karmic System had done for Daniel. However, Daniel was already aware of that.
"Open those two doors." Said Daniel with a menacing tone, and while tightening his grip around the alien's throat.
The scientist, clearly not used to physical threats, immediately used his personal code to open the two doors, causing the two children of Iewah to shift their attention from their miserable futures, to looking at Daniel with confused expressions.
"This ship is going to leave in approximately seven minutes. Surrender your artifacts, and I will allow you to leave with me." Said Daniel while showing the most shrewd smile he had ever been able to showcase.
The very moment Daniel finished speaking, the two children of Iewah pried into a newly created option of escape from their systems, and after learning that Daniel was actually willing to let them leave, the large man took his belt out, and threw it in Daniel's direction. This belt was the reason why the ineffective attacks received by the Unmovable would restore his power instead.
The Viewfinder, unfortunately, seemed to be distressed. She looked at Daniel with worry, and said, "I don't have an artifact.."
Aware that she was lying, Daniel looked at her, and with a malicious smile, said, "Then you better shit one, and fast, or you are dying behind bars."