151 The Final Act Part 2
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(General P.O.V)
"One would think you'd learn by now. Between the two of us…I have always had the better ideas."
Kent Nelson addressed the golden helmet of Fate, in a white room that seemed to have no end in sight.
"This is not up for discussion. The Lords have decided on the best course of action. I trust in their judgement."
A hard voice came out of the helmet, ringing through the featureless space.
Kent shook his head.
"There is a difference between blind obedience and loyalty, great Nabu. You were once human like me…you understand why some sacrifices, no matter how insignificant the life of one matches up against the life of many…is wrong."
The old man's words made Nabu snort.
"What do you know of sacrifice Kent?"
"60 years stuck with you. Enough to understand that it is never simple. Let me break it down for you…"
The old man was soon interrupted.
"That will not be needed. Your incessant chatter is exhausting."
Kent frowned. Fortunately he knew how to handle the grouchy bastard after nearly a lifetime together.
"Well too bad for you because I am starved for conversation."
He shot back, causing Nabu to growl but otherwise keep quiet. Kent cleared his throat.
"The moral conundrum is such as this. You seek to sacrifice one life for the lives of many. In a pragmatic view point, the trade off seems worth it. But then, you come to realize that the single life you sacrificed could have saved more lives down the line and because you decided to play God, you doom them all."
"The likelihood of such a scenario happening is abysmal. Our sights stretch far and wide. Such a thing would not escape our sights. We would make the right decision."
Nabu answered.
"So in that scenario, you would sacrifice the lives of many for one person just because that person, may or may not prevent a disaster in the future?" Too late, Nabu understood Kent had trapped him with his own logic.
"Do you not see the discourse?"
"Then what choice would you make, Kent Nelson?"
Nabu questioned after a period of silence. Kent sighed.
"Truthfully…I do not know. What I do know however is that wanting to save someone does not come with conditions. And my darling Inza would skin me alive if I didn't do my best to save all of them."
The aged sorcerer laughed, remembering his feisty late wife. 'Soon my dear. Soon. These old bones have outgrown their usefulness. Even Ted beat me to it Ha! The old cat would be so insufferable about it.'
"Your words are even more illogical. You would try to save them all? Even if it was futile and in doing so you all perished?"
Nabu's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"You do not understand, Nabu. We are creatures of emotions. To emote is to understand, to understand is to care, to care is to love. Even if we all perished…as long as you tried your best to understand their fear, to care that they are losing something as precious as life…then accompanying them to the other side should not be viewed as a tragedy but as the greatest expression of humanity. It is the reason why all the best positive emotions are shared."
This time, the silence was longer.
"I see. Human sentiment has clearly changed. Whether the change is an evolution or a devolution remains a mystery."
Nabu finally said to which his friend and partner of many years laughed.
"Exactly!"
A shining door appeared on Kent Nelson's side, glowing with a beautiful resplendent light. Nelson looked at the door with a somber smile on his face.
"I believe the time has come for us to part ways, my friend."
Kent's face changed to a disappointed one upon The Lord Of Order's words. Then he sighed and brightened up.
"I understand. Great Nabu, it has been an honor serving alongside you to keep the machinations of chaotic forces away." He bowed and rose up a second later with a cheeky smile. "I pray that your new host is someone of great patience because you are not easy to deal with, old friend."
Nabu surprisingly laughed.
"That remains to be seen. He has the potential but potential takes time to be realized."
"Don't be too hard on the boy. He has shown a great aptitude and an even stronger moral code to do what is right."
Kent supplied. What went unspoken was how much that sort of thing was dangerous. Pairing Nabu up with someone who believed in doing what was right for the greater good did not seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, it was out of Kent's hands now.
"Farewell, Kent Nelson. Farewell, Dr. Fate."
Nabu bid him.
Kent gave on last nod and then walked over to the door and opened it. His soul crossed over as Nabu broke the link between him and the helmet.
In the real world, Kent Nelson had passed away 2 weeks prior. As Doctor Fate, his last mission had been to find his successor. The Lords of order had led him to a certain hidden village in Kenya. A place where mystics protected a hub of the green from taint and those with nefarious ends. And there he had found his successor. 2 weeks later…Kent Nelson truly passed away.
(Aden's P.O.V)
I increased my perception to read through the updated mission before whoever this was stepped through, though I was very sure I knew who they were.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
(Chain Quest Updated)
(Destroy Galiel's Known Associates: 3/5)
(Updated :- 3/4)
(Associates remaining:- 1)
(Due to the actions of the client who issued the chain Quest, one of the associates has already been dealt with. You made the Devil wait, wow…so much for good work ethic. As a result of this, a replacement mission has been issued)
(The Final Act:- Save Jason Blood and Allyssa from the schemes of the Hell Lords, who seek to use this chance to undermine Lucifer's influence in the recently tension wrought realm known as the Hell Dimension. The client wishes to test your mettle before this challenge. As a consequence, he has revealed your position to a…few interested parties. Think of this as a test. Survive, get to hell and kick a few demon asses)
Mission Objectives:-
Come out on top in the following Encounter.
Find a way in to hell, preferably without dying.
Defeat The Hell Lords.
Just…Survive.
Mission parameters:-
-Mission Time limit- Do you really want to keep him waiting again?
-Mission Difficulty- Hell (Pun Soooo Intended)
Mission Rewards:-
-> 25 training points for each objective cleared for a total of 100 training points, if all objectives are cleared.
-> 100 training points for mission completion.
-> One Boon From Lucifer Morningstar.
-> Mysterious Reward.
-> A New Perk.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
I read over the quest and struggled to keep my emotions under control. First of all, the rewards were insane. Secondly and most importantly...the mission was even more fucking insane. Go up against the Hell Lords and defeat them? Was Lucifer serious? Is he talking about Beelzebub, Azazel, Asmodeus, Belphegor and other high tier powerhouses in hell? Because if that is the case...then current me is fucked. I was under no delusions I could take on a high level demon in their home ground and win. This quest was suicide.
The last and most urgent thing to note however was the fact that before I even started on the clearly fucked up quest, I still needed to clear the fist level of this uphill battle. Which was to come out on top in the following encounter. The system's words not mine. Which meant...as Doctor Fate stepped out of the Ankh...I had one more thing to worry about than the thing I should have been worrying about in the first fucking place!
Mystical energy of a flavor that I...liked made itself known along with his appearance. Looking at the faces of the Justice League, I could see that none of them had anticipated this. Zatara stepped forward just as the Ankh behind the Lord of Order disappeared.
"Great Nabu...to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Zatara amiably greeted.
I extended my telepathy out and for lack of a better word, gently 'knocked' upon Miss Martian's walls. She was maintaining a sort of telepathic monitoring system on the others, where she wasn't actively reading their surface thoughts but aware enough that she could form a link or guard their minds incase of an impromptu attack. It was an advanced skill that I knew I couldn't pull off yet. My telepathic abilities could be summed up in 3 facets. One...I could project my mental energy out for offense, 2, I could use my psionic energy to form a defense around my mind and 3, I could sense other people's minds and try to communicate with them. Offense, Defense and Support. That's it.
The Martian's eyes turned to me and I could feel her, sort of open the door and step out to talk to me outside as opposed to allowing me inside her mind. I hid a smirk at how careful she was being. Miss Martian was learning.
"Aden... you've gotten better at the mind arts."
Her soft voice held a tinge of excitement that made me almost smile, if it wasn't for the circumstances.
"Thanks M'gann. But let's leave that for now, we have another pressing issue. I think...I think Doctor Fate is here for me. Things might get a bit ugly so I wanted to inform you and the others to be careful." The girl gave the equivalent of a mental gasp and I cut her off before she could say anything.
"I am going to see if I can lure him somewhere else. A fight happening in the Watchtower could spell doom for most of the Team and League members. If things don't go as planned, get the Bio-ship ready for immediate evac."
"I...I... can't! She's out of range."
Fuck. I could see the faces of Robin and Connor change as they immediately felt that something was off, catching on to the tense vibe. Doctor Fate was yet to say anything. All he did was hover in place, ignoring Zatara. His eyes swept through the room and found me. Yup he was definitely here for me. I said one last thing to M'gann before cutting off the link.
"Ok, then just be on your guard."
"Aden Strong. You must come with me."
The voice that escaped the helmeted figure was two fold. One was deep and the other was relatively young. I also couldn't help but notice how... familiar it sounded. Equity appeared in my grip as I levelled the weapon at him from across the room. It couldn't be Kent. The energy signature felt powerful but uneven. As if the host's own mystical ability was not vibrating on the same frequency needed with the helmet. Thus it was safe to say that Nabu had found a successor after I refused him.
"Where are your manners Nabu? You're supposed to say, pretty please."
