World Keeper

Chelsea leaned back in her seat as she listened to the report from Tsubaki. It wasn’t surprising to her that the Black Shadow had been the one to release the memetic entity. Though this was ultimately an unconfirmed accusation from Lena, Lena knew the person more than well enough, and had a fair amount of circumstantial evidence.

All that Chelsea had to do was run a quick check through his records with her main body in the Admin Room. Once she did that, she knew for certain that he was the culprit. Not long after Lena had wounded him, he had gone mad with a need to increase the scale of his research.

Although the Black Shadow had indeed gotten citizens caught up in his antics without remorse before, that was typically while he was performing some kind of mission, using the excuse that he was tying up loose ends. This was the first time that he had gone out of his way to use an entire colony as the subject of one of his experiments.

“Looks like it’s finally time to bring the Four Shadows plan to a close.” Chelsea shook her head as she stood, tail waving behind her while she walked for the door of her office. She had been watching the Four Shadows project since shortly after its inception, curious to see how it would play out. Moreover, she had to keep a close eye on the Black Shadow, due to the inherent dangers with memetic effects.

There had been times when she personally tutored him on the dangers of memes, back when he was just starting. At that time, Chelsea thought that he could harness the power of memetic effects to create a better future. However, whether he was corrupted by the prospect of the power he wielded, or the actual power itself, he had become more twisted over time.

Now, it was time for Chelsea to clean up an old mess that she helped to cause.

The Black Shadow paced back and forth in his room, debating how he wanted to proceed. He couldn’t simply give up on his research at this point, not when he was so close to completion. However, at the same time, the only logical explanation for what had occurred on Oranii Seven was someone like Terra stepping in.

If Terra truly had stepped in, then he could take that reaction as a sign that he shouldn’t push his luck. If she hadn’t… the only way to know would be to ask someone close to her, which would reveal to them that it was him to begin with. Maybe move to smaller settlements… There will be less information to obtain, but as long as I have the entities move slowly, from place to place, the end result will be the same.

As he thought about that, he heard the door to his mansion open, his head snapping to the side. Nobody ever visited him, they knew better. Walking into his mansion was the same as volunteering to be a part of his experiments.

Gritting his teeth at the interruption, the Black Shadow left his office, walking towards the foyer. As he approached, he sensed a familiar divinity spreading out across his home, and narrowed his eyes further. “I didn’t think I’d get a visit from you.” He said, turning the corner to see Chelsea waiting for him. “I suppose this means that the Greater Pantheon is stepping in?”

Although Chelsea herself was not considered a member of the Greater Pantheon by most of the world, the fact that she had extremely close ties with them was something that could not be ignored. However, Chelsea tilted her head slightly, blinking. “I’m sorry, did you say something?” She asked in confusion.

The Black Shadow’s eye twitched, as if he had been taunted by her words. “Don’t try to play dumb. The fact that you’re here now can only be proof that the Greater Pantheon, maybe even the Keeper himself is sending me a warning.”

“What?” Chelsea blinked again, before seeming to realize something. “Ah, you attached memes to your voice now, haven’t you? Sorry, but memetic properties are filtered through my domain. Whatever you’re saying is just white noise.”

“Anyways, I’m here to tie up some loose ends. Sorry that this can’t be a proper conversation after so long, but it is what it is.” The Black Shadow clenched his teeth as he listened to Chelsea speak.

Honestly speaking, those capable of censoring memetic properties were something of an achilles heel to him. There were still ways around it, sure. Typically, a memetic censor required too much energy to maintain indefinitely, or only protected the user’s sight. That was why he had gotten into the habit of attaching a weakening meme to his voice, making it so that all who heard him would grow weaker and weaker the more he talked.

However, Chelsea’s power clearly protected all of her senses. Furthermore, she had come to him, so he couldn’t just choose to wait until her power ran out or she lowered her guard. He had to think fast to come up with some way around her defenses.

As he was thinking of that, he heard a faint click, and light wrapped around his figure. He wasn’t sure what was happening, only that his mind had turned more sluggish, his vision gradually growing dark.

Chelsea shrugged her shoulders, walking over and picking up the card that had fallen where the Black Shadow stood. As expected, the card itself had become distorted in her vision, showing that he had been covered with so many memetic properties that they would even infect the stasis card he was kept in.

There was a reason why Chelsea had never given herself any extra domains, why she had always only been the Goddess of Security. She didn’t want any future domains to taint her power, to limit what she could accomplish.

As the Goddess of Security, she could embody the power of any security device, whether it was a camera, a lock, or even a stasis card. For that reason, she had studied the Reset Protocol, ensuring that she would be capable of recreating the effects herself.

“It’s probably not safe to let this guy get cloned, is it?” She muttered to herself. The fact that the card created by her divinity had already been infected with the Black Shadow’s memetic influence meant that it had tainted the very core of his energies. Even if he was cloned, those memetic effects would remain attached to his body.

Even the Collector wouldn’t want this guy. She thought to herself, debating on how to properly dispose of him. There were numerous methods at her disposal, she just had to choose whichever one would be the most efficient and result in the least amount of collateral damage. After all, despite how he behaved, he was an incredibly powerful individual, and would surely fight back as soon as he emerged from the stasis card.

Ultimately, the answer wouldn’t be found from her divinity. Not unless she wanted even more of it to be tainted and lost to her. She closed her eyes, altering the energy pathways within her own body, which began to pulsate with dark, red power.

Once she was done, she tossed the card into the air, staring up at it with glowing red eyes. “Ruin.” She muttered, beams shooting out of her eyes and into the card.

The card began to crack, the power of her attack piercing its confines to attack the Black Shadow directly. Chelsea could hear him scream in pain, and feel years’ worth of her divinity disappearing as a result of this one attack. Still, the scream was silenced only a few moments later, golden specks falling to the ground.

“I checked with the Admin Room, and I didn’t see any hidden bases with back-up bodies… but you can never be too sure.” She said to herself, focusing and creating a three-dimensional sphere of magic. “Set the timer to one hundred seconds. Range is one hundred meters horizontally, and five kilometers vertically.”

After she said that, she calmly turned and walked towards the door of the mansion, leaving the sphere of magic hovering in midair. Ever since she had arrived, her vision had been largely a blur. The space itself seemed to contain the power of malicious memes, making it hard for her to determine where she was going. In order to account for this, she guided her mortal body from the Admin Room, watching what was happening from above.

Almost two minutes later, after Chelsea had left this place and begun to leave the planet’s atmosphere, the sphere turned bright red. Suddenly, it erupted, a pillar of light stretching into the sky. The mansion shattered, shredded by the powerful bursts of energy.

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Nearby ninjas looked on in horror, unsure of what was going on, or if there was anything that they could do to help. They didn’t know if they even should help, given the location of the blast. Instead, they quickly averted their gazes, collectively deciding that it was better not to see what was happening. After all, anything to do with the Black Shadow’s mansion was automatically considered a memetic hazard in the eyes of the people. There was no reason for them to think any differently of this pillar of light.

Chelsea flew through space, leaving the world of ninjas to return to her lab once again, where she was welcomed by the arcane intelligence. After getting to her office, she closed her eyes and sent a mental message. It’s done. Black’s been taken care of. The only shadow left with them now is Red, but I doubt that he’ll be an immediate issue.

Very well. Thank you for this. Tsubaki’s voice responded. Were you able to keep it under wraps, to avoid drawing attention?

Chelsea’s brow twitched at that. That wasn’t part of the request. Like I said, he’s been taken care of.

Tsubaki hesitated when she heard that, only responding a few seconds later. Understood. If the Black Shadow’s death is connected to the recent incident at Oranii Seven, it is likely that those who discover it will see this as a form of divine retribution.

Chelsea nodded her head in agreement. That’s fine, isn’t it? I know your boss has the whole ‘let mortals take care of mortal problems’ policy, but he knows how dangerous memes can be. If this sends a message to people to not thoughtlessly study memetic powers, I would call that a win.

Of course, Chelsea knew that that wasn’t entirely true. As with any form of science, it had to be studied to be understood, to be developed into something that could help people. With the right meme, you could cure a deadly disease, restore lost limbs, or even defy death itself.

None of this would become possible if the study of memetic powers were banned outright, and both Chelsea and Tsubaki knew this. Thus, after a pregnant pause, she let out a sigh. I’ll tell the elders not to make a fuss of it.

Thank you, Lady Chelsea. Tsubaki responded almost immediately, as if she had been waiting for Chelsea to say that. Are there any developments worth noting in your research?

Chelsea grunted at that, shaking her head. We’ve still got a mountain of data to get through yet. Right now, we think we might have something, but it’s just a thread. We’ll need to finish our analysis before we can really come to any form of conclusion. Most likely, it will be another year or two before we’re ready to conduct our next Law Merge experiment. And I doubt the Keeper wants to fast forward again so quickly.

I believe that is the case, as well. Tsubaki answered in a respectful tone. My Keeper has shown that he wishes to keep such things for times when they are truly needed.