Esper Labyrinth - ESP - Superhero - LITRPG

A normal person would have been flabbergasted by the reactions the group gave off. Most of them were expressive, all but the Unconquered Sun, but those expressions felt wholly alien to human ones. There were a few slow blinks. Gurgles of the throat. Rustling of scales across certain parts of the body and so on and so on.

The impression I got was one of mild amusement. But not surprise. It felt as though the great big toad were going through the motions. Waving me on as if to get this charade over with.

'Is he worried, I wonder?'

My eyes scanned the platforms again. A chill crept up the leather armchair and the seat suddenly felt cold.

'Do they know how this ends? Or do they think they know?'

Regardless, the toad croaked.

"How so?" Voice of Order asked.

"Easy. I am the one who stands to be the most influential in the future. Even if Hazimon ascends, an event all of us agree would not be in the cards for a long time, he and Singing Metals would not have the same influence with the System as I have."

There were a few nods, though I suspected they were for my benefit.

"Take, for example, the idea that everything will be A-okay once I ascend. Tell me, what do you think will happen if I happen to get here on this nice podium in this fetid little swamp of yours and, oh I don't know, refuse to play ball?"

"Go on." Balanced Scales urged me. "Say what you mean."

I theatrically feigned discomfort. Even though the chair's temperature had returned to normal and despite my body not really being able to feel discomfort as regular humans did anymore.

"Is there a way to change the setting first? I'm fairly sure I may have swallowed a bug or three when I was climbing those stairs. That and the smell is getting to me."

I tried exerting some power, and found that the whole world shifted at my command. The pyramid and the platforms were still there, but now they were overlooking a lush field of green surrounding a lake. It's waters twinkling like a blanket of stars as the false sun shone down upon them.

"Aaaah. That is much better. Thank you." I said calmly. My eyes scanning the vantage point while I tried to connect with my Intruders from here.

"This is the nexus that connects all our realms." Living Stitches spoke softly. "You have power here, but so do we. We all share in the power to change this place to our whim. We are just ceding the ambiance to you this one time."

"And I do appreciate it." I said hurriedly. A bit disappointed that one of the traps I'd set didn't pan out.

I had mentioned the odd, flat, deformed Intruders of this fault line when I had revealed everything to Hazimon, but I had declined to mention that part of my contingencies involved making strides to bend them to my will.

And while Cultist Sully was still a treacherous little weasel, his training had helped to push me right over the edge, to the highest heights of Telepathy that I could reach as a mortal. I didn't manage to control very many of them, but I had hoped they'd be enough to cripple Singing Metals, and maybe a few of these old farts if I was lucky.

I wouldn't have needed much time. Maybe a heartbeat or two. But it looked like they were right after all and the twisted knot was a space the five of us had to share.

'Oh well. Not like I don't have other contingencies.'

"Say what you mean, Mad Tyrant." Balanced Scales spoke again.

"Ah yes, of course. Thank you for the breath of fresh Pandemonium air. Now, as I was saying. This little nexus of ours that supports the System is partly made up of all our realms. Including mine. Like, several picnic blankets placed close to each other at the edge of the lake in a nice, sunny day. I shut down the System the first time by yoinking my own blanket away."

"Yes, yes. Go on." Voice of Order kept waving lazily.

"Oh, I won't bother you that much longer." I smiled. "My point is simple. I managed to do this while I was much weaker than I am now. When Hazimon threatened humanity and started this whole mess. What makes you think things will be any different in the future?"

"Because the fate of humanity is tied to the fate of the System. If the System never existed, then nothing would have guarded nascent worlds like Earth, like your Earth, from foreign conquest until your species was ready."

"Ah." I raised a finger. "You are missing the forest for the trees, my toady friend."

I allowed myself a simpering smile. Much like the ones Serpent Tongue was so very fond of.

"I am speaking of cooperating until such a time as the System's creation was set into motion. Only to then yank the System access away as soon as that happens. Trapping us all on this side of Pandemonium while the rest of the multiverse gets by without us."

All four of them seemed interested now.

"You would be trapping yourself as well." The Unconquered Sun spoke through clacking mandibles.

"Yes, but I have three Savants on the other side, and a small army of people I have boosted very, very far. Perhaps, in another time, in another life, before this whole debacle, there would have been Masters close to ascension that might have stood a chance against them but now…"

I sucked in a breath and bit my lower lips with my teeth. Making sure to be as theatrical as possible.

"Now, who knows what might happen if we all get trapped on this side. You can't coerce me, of course. Divines cannot coerce other Divines by force alone. I could simply retreat to the bowels of my realm and then good luck to anyone trying to use brute force to get me out of there. No, you'd have to convince me. Which would be awkward if you sided with Singing Metals over me. Because I have something I can take away. Singing Metals, does not."

"And what makes you think we won't control your mind right here and now?" Voice of Order asked.

I gave him an especially simpering smile.

"You are certainly welcome to try."

Because if they did, [Corrupting Influence] would give me an in. Just for a few seconds, but a few seconds was all I needed.

None of them tried though.

Instead, Living Stitches chirruped, in a way I would not have expected of a large, human-sized salamander.

"Well, I'm convinced." He said suddenly. "Everything he says makes perfect sense. And he's not so great a psychopath that he razed the whole Kenari species into ashes. Besides, Hazimon did start this whole mess. I'd like to take this moment to remind everyone present that, at the time of the System shutting down, he had tried to kill a Student by abusing his role as a High Enforcer. A position of responsibility that he'd been entrusted with. That is, he had been trusted to guide Students in the Tutorial without taking sides and without abusing them and of course, without taking advantage of them for his own benefit. Hazimon broke all three of those general guidelines. What's more, he himself admitted that he had planned to abuse his power to extract benefits from a Student from the very beginning and that he had been planning to kill the Student in question from the very beginning."

The others were listening in silence, though Living Stitches didn't seem to care that they were. It was as if he was a narrator. Speaking to the wind and not minding who else might listen.

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"In other words, his was a worse crime, because he was in a position to know better and because it was still premeditated, despite him knowing better."

He waved towards me.

"I think his demands are reasonable. Perfectly so in fact. Usually, Hazimon's crimes would result in him losing his High Enforcer status right after the fact. But given how much he bent the rules and given the threats he made against a nascent species, after receiving help from a Student of that species no less, I think it's fair to say that further punishment would not be deemed unreasonable."

Voice of Order waved the concerns away.

"That may be so, but we are still not in the habit of getting involved in conflicts out there in the multiverse."

"We are when it comes to the continuation of the multiverse. A continuation that Hazimon threatened by waving his…"

"There is the other matter." The Unconquered Sun interrupted. "That of the burden of responsibility."

"Ah yes, of course." Voice of Order agreed. "Very well, Mad Tyrant. Let us say that we agree that Hazimon was in the wrong, as Living Stitches so eloquently put it. Let us also say that you could very well make things very annoying for the rest of us, should you be so inclined. Let us even agree that you have more leverage on all the Divines as a whole, should you be so inclined as to use your status as leverage. That still leaves a very significant detail out in the air."

"What little detail could that be?" I asked, now putting out a façade of innocence. "I am strong. Stronger than Singing Metals out in the material realm and soon to be stronger even on this side. I am not unreasonable. I will make concessions and I will be more than happy to negotiate in good faith, so long as you all agree to act as intermediaries. Therefore, from the perspective of selfish self-preservation, as well as practicality and good old common sense, it makes sense to side with me."

I waited for a few moments to continue.

"Also, I am closer to ascension than you might otherwise think. I have managed to gleam insights into how this all works and my suggestions and the things I would want to change would not be so extreme as you might fear."

"And how do you figure that?" Balanced Scales asked. Seeming genuinely curious.

"Easy. Before I shut down the System I contemplated how I had no idea how any of it worked. Or how I would even begin to construct it. How to set it up. There were many factors that eluded me from the beginning. For example, when I first arrived at the Tutorial, I imagined the System window was a sort of computer interface. One being sent into a brain implant or other such device. It made sense at the time, but not when I started seeing things like the levels and how my powers increased with each level. Later, I thought the whole System might be some kind of Telepathic overlay, but it was more than that. The System can teleport people and monsters around. It can create entire Instances. Pocket universes out of nothingness and some of those pocket universes have special properties. Like the way levelling is easier in the Tutorial because Psy itself is more concentrated there and due to the System offering more assistance. And speaking of monsters, the System can spawn them pretty much wherever, whenever. That didn't make any kind of sense. But then I went through my tour of the alternate Sullys and figured it out. After much, much prodding from that bastard, Cultist Sully."

I pointed at Living Stitches.

"You did not have a presence in Pandemonium like mine. You were not originally destined to ascend. Not without the System and not without my echo. Your strings were not attached to other, alternate versions of you, but they were attached to the birthing of all sorts of monsters."

Voice of Order glanced to him and he gave me the salamander equivalent of a simpering smile.

"You are responsible for birthing all the System monsters, bosses and Symbiotes. You, have insights that I simply cannot match. Even as advanced in Shifter as I am. You, are a Savant."

Silence descended on the platforms.

I kept pointing at him.

"You are a Savant that can boost people, using Shifter Powers."

"Technically through the use of Symbiotes they bond with." He clarified. "But yes."

I turned to the Unconquered Sun.

"You are a Savant that can boost people through energy in the atmosphere. My guess is you have some way to turn energy like force, light or sound into Psy and then bombarding people with that Psy like an X-ray machine. You are also the one creating the pocket dimensions that later become Instances."

I turned to the Balanced Scales.

"You are a Savant that can boost people through injections of Psy. Physical injections of Psy. Though you don't do it directly. Not anymore. I have a feeling there are restrictions too. Maybe, oh, I don't know, things like setting a goal and completing it? Something like a quest?"

She laughed. This time in a very human-like manner.

"No! Of course not! That's all you."

"Oh." I said. A bit deflated.

"No, I mostly boost monsters further, since they can't level on their own due to not being sentient. But you are right that I can infuse living beings with Psy through direct contact. I do it by repressing my own Psy into the same shape as foreign Psy, by holding myself still, both physically and mentally. I make myself immovable, then force the energy to move so it becomes distinct from me."

"Oh."

"It was a good guess though." She allowed.

"But understanding is not enough." Voice of Order prodded. "Like you guessed, I am not a Savant. I am the only here who is not a Savant, but I did have a hand in crafting most aspects of the System as you know it. So, tell me. Aside from all that, aside from that knowledge. What is the detail that I had in mind? What do you think is the most important task the System ever had? What do you think our mission, my mission, was since the very beginning?"

"To make more Espers." I answered immediately. "And to make a positive impact in the multiverse. You obviously care about justice at least as much as I do. I can see that much even without agreeing with a lot of things you do."

"Correct." He spoke. "At least partially. Making more Espers was what I wanted when I cried out to the heavens in protest. I had always been alone, you see. A single bonfire amidst a sea of candles. But that is not what is pertinent right now. Tell me, how would you go about making the many universes in the material realms better?"

He inclined his head.

"Easier for people to live in. More just. More fair. Closer to the impossible idea of a utopia. What would you do differently?"

I looked at him with curiosity.

"I would not be taking people into the Tutorial for once."

"Yes yes, we can discuss those small details later, but that is not where I mean to go. What would you do if you were given the responsibility of setting up a System for all living beings to become Espers?"

I considered the question.

"Well, at first, I wasn't sure that I'd even design a System in the first place. In my experience, a lot of bad comes from messing with Esper powers without supervision. People in my world and Randall's world tended to become criminals if they felt like they couldn't be punished. The System has also done a lot of harm, even outside the Tutorial."

I nodded to myself.

"I guess the main thing would be civilizations like the gnomes. I guess I would step in and very carefully tell them that I didn't like slavery. And that anyone I caught dealing in slavery was going to meet a very nasty end after a very nasty series of accidents."

I paused.

"I would also stop the petty wars going on all the time. Each species should keep to their own home dimensions and other species coming over to conquer and enslave would no longer be a thing. I would step in and say that warlords would also, no longer be a thing."

"Funny you should say that." Voice of Order interrupted me. "How common do you think warlords and petty wars are in the multiverse?"

"Very common." I said at once. "I've seen all of them. I've sensed all of them and drank their memories. There is far too much suffering."

"More than there would be without the System?" He asked.

I paused. Thinking about it.

"No." I admitted.

"No." They all repeated one by one.

"No." Voice of Order agreed. "Sentient species tend to make things very bad for members on the lower strata of civilization. Not all species and not all civilizations, but it does happen. Upwards mobility is hindered by social norms. Reputation and rank. Caste and money. The mighty tend to be those who are not well suited to making decisions. Those who do not know the price of success as well as their forefathers and foremothers. Or those who simply grab power by means of ferocity and animalistic violence. Think of the corrupt authorities you grew up with in your world. Think of the warlord who took your friend Borislav's sisters. Think of the leaders who doomed your friend Monique's world with their biological warfare. How many innocents have died because the people in charge weren't worthy of their station?"

"You sound like the Dragon." I mused.

"Because he had a point." Balanced Scales prodded. "You were a danger and giving the wrong people a leg up in life is exactly the opposite of what the System set out to do. The System is all about making things better yes, but it is also about merit. You can grow if you are willing to put in the work. You will grow if you decide to make the right sacrifices. All things balanced. Sacrifice and responsibility. Only those who truly know the former can understand the latter."

I nodded.

"Let's move on to something else. My good Tyrant." Voice of Order followed up. "What is your relationship with freedom?"

"I like freedom." I said at once. "I like it when people are free."

"Funny you should say that."

"Don't." I cut him off. "I know what you're about to say. I am not blind to the situation that Cultist Sully has caused. I did not want any part of it. I never did. All I wanted was what you say you want. Less suffering in the world. For everyone to feel what their actions would lead to. For everyone to truly understand the suffering their victims would go through. I wanted everyone to just freaking behave like people instead of animals. I wanted the predators and the robbers and the drug dealers and bank robbers and murderers and misery merchants to see what their actions were leading towards. I wanted them to know their victims and I wanted them to know someone was always watching. I wanted change. Real, lasting change. I wanted to do some good in the world."

"Well, you certainly achieved some of those things." He said happily. "The people in your world certainly seem happy and there is a lot less crime now. Tell me, do you think the multiverse would be a better place with your drowning everyone with your [Presence]?"

He paused.

"Do you think things would be better with everyone being forced to feel good after doing good deeds all the time?"

He waved, and an image of my parents showed up. Both grinning like idiots after the Troubadour's power washed over them.

I did not say anything further.

"I think we've made part of our point, but we wanted to give you another way to look at things. So, we've invited a guest over."

"What kind of guest?"

He waved his hand again.

Puffin, stepped out of a portal. Her eyes wide with surprise as they took in the surroundings.

Then, they were full of hate, as they stared right into me.