12 Miles Below-Chapter 57Book 8 - - Honor and Pride

“You’ve escaped.” There was no hatred in Conviction's voice, more… relief?

“Interesting.” Urs answered. “I was curious about how in-depth the copy had been. You have memories of imprisoning me?”

“More than memories. I was the same one who cut your hands, arms and legs and ordered you struck down and trapped for eternity.” Conviction answered. “I am everything my progenitor was. More than him, given his ultimate fate.”

“And yet lesser, given he succeeded in binding you here, shard.”

The room had grown silent, the Winterscars here taking the time to regroup and replan while the demi-god spoke to the actual god he’s beaten once.

“His plan failed. I have grown stronger and more determined in solitude.” Conviction stabbed his sword into the ground, then let go and folded his arms. “How did you escape, God of man?”

Urs waved a hand over to me, and then to the room ahead. The knights here who'd kept Conviction at bay here from escaping. “I had help. And Relinquished was not able to wipe my name off the world as she’d hoped.”

“So I see. I admit, there is some joy in seeing you free.”

“And why would that be the case? I come here as an enemy.”

“Precisely the point. Our final confrontation lacked any true conclusion. I was denied a proper battle, ordered instead to be a butcher than anything of worth.”

“A proper battle?” Urs tilted his head slightly. “And remind me, how did your final fight against Talen go? Was that not a proper battle?”

There was a flash of something over Conviction’s features. “No.”

“I had heard the same. Learning that he was ambushed and killed without any decorum was surprising, coming from you. Or your prior incarnation.”

Conviction glared further, actual anger radiating out of him. He seethed in place, but held his position otherwise.

Urs tilted his head again, this time I had a feeling the thought was focused on Conviction himself. “Your mannerisms and appearance match A01. It is as if I am speaking directly to my old foe. And yet, I have learned that he turned against Relinquished not long after he sealed me. It was… difficult to understand. To return back to the world and find history has continued to move on. Do you not feel the same? Locked this far deep?”

“My progenitor was weak willed, and filled with doubts. I am not.” Conviction spoke. “I cannot guess at or even begin to understand why he dishonored us all. I will do no such mistake.”

“You cannot understand, is it?” Urs asked, and it sounded more like an off-the-cuff rhetorical question. “Peculiar that one iteration of him turned against Relinquished, while the other remains her loyal minion despite being a symmetrical copy. What makes you different?”

“I am his missing conviction.” The shard hissed back. A hand lifted in the air, and the blade by his side equally lifted off the ground. Occult shook in the air, gathering up within it. “Within this blade, I now seal the programming and processing permissions required for your attempts to navigate this sea. If you wish to take upon my strength, you will need to break through me. I leave no other method open. Fail, and I will rip the fractal of resolve from your soul, and deliver it to the pale lady directly.”

I could feel the vault behind us seal.

He drew his hand to his side and the blade slowly floated into hand. “Last remaining God of mankind, draw your weapon. I will fulfill my duty.”

He didn’t wait for Urs to answer back. Maybe he was afraid of what the God might say. I can’t tell myself, there was a lot of history between these two that happened long before I was even alive.

But I could tell Conviction was out for blood, already racing ahead of him, blade glowing before he turned on himself in a circle and struck forward halfway across the room. A wave of occult lanced out, wrapped with what felt like concepts of time, dissolution, and force.

Urs lifted a hand and one of the orbs cycled right before him. He tapped it.

A shield slapped the approaching pulse of power, splitting it like a rock would split a stream.

Another orb cycled in front of Urs, and he lifted a hand to tap it.

An occult lash came out. More like lightning. Conviction flickered in the air, reappearing only a few meters away, clearly out of range from the crackle of occult lightning.

And then I felt two things happen at the same time. The first was the triggered fractal of Urs. The one I was familiar with, meaning he had connected to a greater gestalt version of himself.

And the second pulse of occult was different. Far different than anything I’d ever felt.

The fractal of Resolve pulsed within him.

Occult ripped around the world, like a storm breaking into reality, sucked inwards by the God at the center. Empowering him with something beyond what I could make sense of.

The lash he’d sent forward multiplied like a true lighting bolt now, doubling, tripling, turning into several thousand streaks of power.

Conviction flashed in place, dodging each tendril sent his way. And yet no matter how many he dodged, I could tell it was impossible for him to escape this forever.

Urs could test every permutation. See every possible direction Conviction could attempt to reappear at. And had the power to send another tendril of destruction in that direction.

Anarii had once shown me a glass block, and within it was a frozen pattern. Done by channeling lightning through, as he’d explained. Thin cracks looked more like an incredibly chaotic tree filled with spines had been flash frozen.

This is how it looked to me in that half instant it lasted. The result was Conviction being stabbed straight with one of those branches as his hundred attempts to separate himself failed. He was thrown backwards, landing into the water, gliding over it instead, feet barely touching the ground.

The other knights nearby didn’t miss the chance, each attempting to lunge forward at the protofeather, including Captain Sagrius.

Conviction sliced in the air, and somehow that slice carried through reality. Striking each knight directly in the chest at the same time, long before any reached the right distance.

He sliced twice, three times, four times, and the shields broke. The fifth slice ended all their lives, sending them back out the terminal. All except for Sagrius, who knelt down and focused on wrapping shields around himself.

Conviction turned his eyes directly the the captain, and there was a look of almost respect in his glare. The protofeather lifted his blade, far out of range of the captain, and yet it looked more like was about to deliver an execution.

A pillar of absolute destruction slammed down into Conviction like a giant cudgel.

The shard sliced upwards instead, cutting the invisible force in half, avoiding it.

Ahead, Urs had not moved position, but the mask kept a cool look forward. His hand extended out again.

I felt the very concept of separation, division, and destruction line up in one vertical pillar, held in place by his will. Tall enough it outright sliced through the ceiling of the vault itself.

Empowered by the fractal of Resolve. So pure in vision, that no occult light even leaked out of it.

The blade was invisible as a result.

And Urs swung it down like a weightless greatsword, as if this amount of power was nothing to him.

The vault split in half. Conviction lifted his blade, point directly aimed at the approaching calamity.

The pillar of destruction broke apart against the spear of the protofeather’s will. Although I could tell it certainly cost him a chunk of focus given his far more ragged look.

The vault on the other hand was breaking apart now. Worse. Something on the other end of the vault door was breaking through. I could feel the barriers there breaking down as force slammed into it. Either the knights that had come back were trying to break back in or something else was on approach.

But the rest of the terminal was getting shredded apart by Urs unleashing his full power, slamming the invisible pillar of destruction again and again at his target that refused to die.

Through the sliced cracks, I could see the digital sea, sediment on the ground everywhere. Except it ended with a massive cage of darkness all around us. The edges of the terminal, locked away from the rest of the sea.

Urs lifted a hand and once more called forth the pillar of invisible death, and swung it again at Conviction. Again, and again. The strikes battered the protofeather, breaking against his parries, but otherwise slicing through the rest of the room.

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Until Conviction leaped upwards, grabbed the fading remnants of concepts of Death and destruction Urs had woven, wrapped them around his hand and spun, delivering them out with an arc of power right back at the God.

One of the orbs on Urs’s center rotated into place, and a massive dome of occult shielded him, the concept of power breaking against it.

Conviction flickered in midair, and held a hand high up. I saw the spear of A01 begin to form there. And among every flicker nearby was an identical spear equally forming up. That’s what the original A01 had used to fight against Relinquished herself.

Urs looked over the changing battleground, then once more lanced out a flash of occult lightning that split into hundreds of paths, each one slamming into the budding spears, breaking them apart.

The vault doorway behind broke apart, Conviction’s seal failing. And on the other end were some Winterscar knights. But they’d been standing at the ready instead.

At the center of the formation was Keith Superior. Returned again for another round. And in his hand was another spear of occult like the ones Conviction had been about to launch.

More than that. There were three occult ghosts next to Superior, each holding an equal spear above their own heads. All three launched their spear at the same time, and Superior lanced his own.

Conviction threw his own spear back, slamming into Superior’s midway, causing an explosion of occult that sent water and knights backwards. The other three spears were stabbed, sliced and the third actually hit home, launching the protofeather backwards in the air.

Conviction landed back on the ground, then flickered. Once more Urs lifted a hand and a lash of power came out, multiplying into thousands, trapping Conviction into dodging the entire combo. Forcing the protofeather shard backwards.

Superior stormed inside, hand lifted above him again, drawing more spears in the air, ghosts trailing behind him, equally generating their own spear.

Captain Sagrius and Father both seemed to appear out of nowhere flanking Superior’s side, like personal bodyguards. The move seemed almost practiced or that they’d already found this to be the most effective tactic.

The knights were all sprinting around the vault sides, each getting in position to lance towards the center from all directions, catching the shard at the center. And far above them all, Wrath soared straight up, about to come down on Conviction from the air. I joined in on the attack the only way I knew how: Launch a mass of occult ghosts.

At this point, the gear and weapons I had available outside the digital sea like my rifles and bullets outclassed my abilities here. Superior really was the heavy hitter when it came to us both in the digital sea.

Conviction didn’t so much as a mutter or show any surprise. His eyes rapidly scanned around at the danger all around him, calculating.

No… it felt more like he was setting up targeting solutions on us. He gave each of us a split second look and never another.

The next thing I knew I was flattened against the vault wall. Launched off my feet, like a pillar of stone had erupted from the ground upwards and cannonballed me out.

And a blast of occult followed right behind that move, pinning me there in place. The gravity inversion concepts weren’t tied to anything physical at all, Conviction was outright manifesting them in the air itself somehow. Catching us all.

He’d once more sliced forward in the air, sword glowing with occult. Each swipe sliced through the ghosts I’d sent out, dissipating them. Then the protofeather waved a hand, and large spheres of inverted color appeared on a few spots on the vault walls - places where I realized some of the knights, Wrath, Superior, Father and Captain Sagrius had been caught and shoved against the walls like I had.

Urs didn’t let this go down without retaliation. He lifted a hand, and slammed it downwards, and this time I saw Conviction get absolutely flattened into the ground, a massive imprint of a hand all around him.

The protofeather remained squashed into the ground like a bug for a moment, before a pulse of occult shattered Urs’s hold, expanding outwards. Water and broken chains were shoved out of the way from the epicenter.

Conviction slowly stood back up.

And I remained pinned up against the wall, struggling to break down the barrier. The others had it worse, they seemed to be moving as if stuck inside a time dilation bubble of some kind, struggling against the same occult bindings I was, except all in slow motion.

Two violet eyes turned to me. “Stay out of my fight, son of man. This duel is sacrosanct. Either Urs will be defeated by my hand, or I will be cut by his blade. There is no other ending to this.”

He fully straightened up, blade at his side, his pose regal and prepared with a flourish.

“You can’t expect to keep us out of the fun for this long.” I grunted back, mouth on autopilot. Which was probably a mistake given this was a copy of A01, the protofeather that fought gods and came out of it with stalemates.

Violet eyes looked back at me for a moment. “You are correct. I will bring this to an end before you and the others interfere further.”

Urs turned his mask to look me over for a moment. Then back to Conviction. Something was going through his head, but I couldn’t tell what.

In that brief moment, the protofeather leaped forward, straight for Urs once again. No flickering that I could see, nothing but a straightforward charge.

Given his earlier abilities, this seemed like an suicide charge forward if anything.

Urs once more lifted a hand. Conviction leaped, flickered in place.

I expected the bolts of lighting again, the fractal of Resolve to pulse out and once more slam Conviction back onto the other side of the vault. Or any kind of defense.

Instead, the emperor of mankind stretched both hands out, as if welcoming whatever came next.

Conviction reappeared with his blade right at the God’s throat. The tip remained a centimeter from cutting through his throat.

Urs made no move. His mask slowly turned to stare down at where his executioner had reappeared.

Conviction held his blade aimed up, the length reaching Urs despite the god floating in the air a few inches off the water.

“Allowing yourself to die?” Conviction scoffed. “I had thought better of you. You wield Resolve itself. How could you surrender like this?”

“Interesting.” Urs said instead, as if the shard hadn’t said anything of worth. More something to study. “I had not truly believed in the events that followed after I was sealed. The evidence was there, presented by the very people who broke me free. One of your kind even walked among them in peace. I saw a friendship there unlike any I have seen. And yet it felt like a figment to me. A tampering of my mind perhaps. I kept silent, watching for signs of betrayal or fracture that I believed would be inevitable. It never came. And I see it clearly now, why it could be.”

“See what?” The protofeather looked completely pissed if anything. The tip of his blade stayed perfectly aimed at Urs, ready to slice through and kill.

"I see why you have not killed me." Urs said.

“Bold of you to claim such a thing. For in a moment, the rest here will know why I did.” He let go of his dagger in the off hand, and lunged forward with that now freed hand. Occult pulsed. Conviction slammed his hand downwards, and Urs was brought down onto his knee with a power pulling him into the ground.

The protofeather’s hand lanced forward right after and wrapped around Urs’s exposed neck. “I will take the secrets you keep and present them to the pale lady.” He hissed. “You have made a mistake in giving up."

The mask slightly tilted, so that it could gaze directly into Conviction’s eyes. "Relinquished was the one who made the mistakes. One she did not rectify until she built A57. You know this."

“They made their mistakes on their own! I. Will. Not. Death before dishonor.” Conviction narrowed his eyes, hand tightening around the ancient human. I could see the sheer power, constricting. And Urs offered no rebuttal. No defense. Just letting himself get killed.

I had no idea if I should be helping or not. I could launch occult ghosts, or try and help the other knights get back up. But some instinct told me I had to trust there was a plan.

That Urs had seen something I hadn’t.

“Death before dishonor.” Urs repeated. “...And yet you remain alive.”

Conviction laughed. "I commend you, God of man. You show courage to insult me as I hold the fate of your life in my hand, and a mandate to eliminate you from this world. I was created for this task."

Urs said nothing, watching instead with a completely passive expression. As if waiting.

The protofeather equally made no movement. Holding onto Urs’s throat.

"... What mistake did she make?" He finally asked, eyes laser focused on Urs. Whatever went through his head, it seemed he needed that answer. "Tell me. Tell me why they all turned."

"She built your kind as warriors.”

“Of course she did. We were her warriors.”

“And so, only the most famous warriors among mankind would do as the base template. Not merely from any culture either. Ones that came from Tsuya’s own culture.”

“You are rambling, God of man. Speak. Why did my progenitor turn on our duty? How could they all betray our sworn liege? Tell me.”

Urs gave a slow nod, looking beyond the protofeather, as if remembering something else. “It was impossible for her to select any other warrior archetype than them, and their code of honor necessarily followed. I believe she once called it ‘Bushido.’ I am certain this sect of humans did not live up to their stories in reality, we are all fallible as humans.”

“Why is this relevant?” Conviction asked.

“Because you and your kind weren’t modeled on reality. You were modeled off their legend. And that came with their honor. As you claimed. Death before dishonor." Urs stared back at the shard without hatred. "A01 didn't seal you here because he believed he couldn't defeat you. He always could."

“He failed to kill me, from weakness. Sentimentality.” Conviction snarled.

“No. He let you live, because he believed in what you could become.”

“I will become nothing. I remain loyal.”

"The extinction of humanity is wrong." Urs spoke, glaring deep eye to eye with Conviction. "You know this deep down. There is no honor in any of this." He took a breath and this time his mask lowered and he truly stared at the protofeather holding his throat. "I fought your progenitor. I now understand what I saw in his eyes before he imprisoned me. And I see that same pain in your own. You were built from his mind. You have inherited everything he held. And most of all, you have inherited his honor. He did not kill you, because you can yet live in honor."

"I reject you." Conviction hissed. He took a breath, then gritted his teeth. "I will not break. I am stronger than he was.” I saw his hand start to squeeze, then tremble, alternating between crushing the last chance humanity had, and allowing him to escape. “I am... loyal. I am..."

"I come from a time that believed all machines to be enemies.” Urs said, “I thought all of you to be irredeemable.” His eyes turned down to Wrath and myself, watching from the bottom up. “In this new era, I see a better world is possible."

Conviction held the throat of Urs, mouth twitching in anger and fury.

"I am the instrument of the pale lady." He hissed. "I will never surrender. I will not break like my progenitor. I will not be... defective." The hand trembled. "I will not... be defective."

"You could have escaped long ago." Urs gently said, voice sounding almost kind now. "You stayed here after he sealed you, because you felt you deserved this darkness. That this was your penance, your sentence. But there is no redemption in staying locked away. It is not enough to no longer be destroying the world, we must do better. We must repair it. Conviction, exist for the good of the world. Live with honor again"

The words hit Conviction like swords, and I could see almost physical pain rang through the shard's mind.

Urs stared. And the shard stared back. “I will not break.”

The hand… uncurled from Urs's throat.

"I… will not break." He muttered, without any real energy behind it anymore. He stared at the freed emperor, mouth twitching. “I will not…”

The god stared back, waiting.

Occult pulsed around Conviction, and I felt myself getting dragged up, an address from deep within my armor's memory getting yanked out with pure command. Conviction lifted his hand to the wall of the already half-broken vault, and it shattered away into pieces.

Beyond the darkness circled around us, cutting us off from the rest of the world. Conviction drew his blade back, then stabbed forward. An occult lance struck out from the weapon, slamming into the darkness as if it were an actual shield, revealing cracks.

Tired eyes turned to me.

"Go to where you must be, Son of Man." He said. "Save your people. Save the world.”

His hand lifted.

I was launched straight out like I’d been fired out of a cannon.

And right behind me, I saw Conviction’s own blade being thrown, hilt first, a wake of occult power behind it.

Directly after me.

We both passed straight out of the darkness together into the digital sea beyond.