Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 458: Are You Eidolon?
Doing the same as the previous times he found himself in the snowy lands, Dante began walking. This time, he at least had a landmark to follow.
The tall gray wall seemed to stretch on endlessly, and it didn't seem like he would reach its end anytime soon. Still, he kept his eyes peeled for any distinct marks along the way. It didn't feel like the wall was just looping endlessly, but he had yet to be completely sure.
Dante found himself unable to ignore the signs anymore. His dreams had been a bit odd in recent times, and not in the common sense of the word. The snow fields were one thing, but Hannah speaking to him more than once couldn't have been normal.
Then there was the last dream.
It didn't take an expert to tell what was happening with that one, but Dante's concern lay elsewhere. When he tried to recall some things from his past—things he was sure he could never forget, everything turned out rather hazy.
The incident that took away his family. He remembered it clearly, and he remembered why it happened, but when he tried to recall the events leading up to it, things got weird.
That night, Dante was sure he had attacked someone very important. Someone who must not be offended. That person had said something to his sister, and having heard it, Dante went into a fit of rage.
He was sure what he heard was bad enough to warrant that reaction, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't recall what that person said, nor could he recall how they looked. That alone wouldn't have been strange, but when he tried to research the incident, he found nothing.
The event of that night was held at Eidolon's headquarters in Vetrograd. It was supposed to be the biggest corpo event of the year, and the attendees were some of the most important people in the country. That naturally included his parents, two widely recognized geneticists.
Someone being assaulted at such an event was front-page-worthy news, and yet there wasn't a single headline mentioning the incident. Not a single mention of what he did. Not even a social media post.
By that point, Dante was already convinced that the matter was being covered, but then he looked at the list of those attending the event. That was when he started doubting his own memories.
Larry had already done more than one scan of his brain, and he found no signs of damage—nothing that could've made him lose his memories or cause false ones emerge. But if that were the case, why could he remember things that seemingly never happened?
The list of people who had attended that event did not include whoever he had attacked. Dante had a feeling that he was a tall, handsome man with a charismatic personality, but even after going through the list multiple times, the darkness shrouding that memory refused to fade.
Though he couldn't remember it, he was sure that none of the faces on that list matched the one he planted his fist into. It was almost as if that person did not exist.
The snow crunching under his feet, Dante came to a stop and looked up at the sky.
For the last four years, all his anger had been directed at Paragon. Even when he thought of him as just an obstacle, his true target would always turn out to be Eidolon as a whole, not the person he suspected had ordered the deaths of his family.
"Paragon…"
The nightmare that had haunted him for years had an end he had never seen before. The crash was still vivid in his memory, and because of that, he was convinced that the continuation of the nightmare born from it didn't come out of nowhere.
That night, he hadn't lost consciousness entirely, not before dragging himself out of the flipped car and pulling his sister with him.
Hannah was injured, and her body was littered with cuts, but none were fatal, and she was breathing just fine. He was sure of it because, as soon as he was relieved that she was okay, his body gave up on him, and he lost the ability to move. His consciousness faded soon after, and as the darkness swallowed him, he appeared and took her away.
"Paragon…"
The memory surfaced in his mind. The memory of that monster picking his white haired sister and taking her away. The hatred he felt for the accursed Genome reached new levels as he watched him rise to the sky with her in his arms. He had reached out, desperate to take her back, but his hand never reached her.
"Paragon…"
The anger bubbling beneath burned through, quickly reaching the surface. It was an anger much greater than what he felt before, and the hatred he felt toward the hero and those who made kept growing. The world around him shook, the snow melting and the gray wall shaking.
Hannah was alive. The realization should have brought him joy, but all it did was fuel his anger and disdain. They took her from him. The bastards.
"I'm going to kill them…" Dante gritted his teeth. "I'm going to kill them all…"
As his rage kept growing, it spread to his surroundings, sending cracks through the dream. Just as it seemed like the earth was about to split and swallow him, a screen popped up in front of him.
[
Implants:
Kinetic Absorption Protective Sub-Layer Generation 15 (C)
RespiraCore Series V (D)
Overmind Cortical Interface Module (A)
Overmind Neural Response Enhancer (A)
Ares Iron Cage (B)
Ares Iron Fiber (B)
Ares IronPulse Engine (B)
NephroCore Series X (D)
NutrimaCore Complete Series X (C)
Voxcore Series S (C)
Eroscore Series V (C)
Suzuka's Modular Bionic Interface (Arms) (S)
Suzuka's Skull Guard (A)
]
As he looked over it, Dante's anger slowly waned. The operation was over. All of his new implants were now in place, which meant the upgrade would start very soon.
Despite having replaced half of his body with machines, his Threat Index still showed Level 2. Dante understood the reason—most of the bionics he installed were geared toward utility and durability, not dealing damage. Still, it disheartened him to have come so far and still not cross that threshold.
"No matter…"
He was an ascended human now. All the parts required to keep him alive were no longer made from flesh. Once the upgrade was over, the limiter he had on his abilities will be gone, and he would have the freedom to use VOLCAN for as long as he wants.
"Just wait for me, Eidolon scum." Dante gritted his teeth, his fists clenched. "I will come for you soon."
His anger returned, and the world around him shook once more. This time, the change didn't go unnoticed by him. The gray wall to his left crumbled, falling apart and leaving a massive opening. Dante had been to find an entrance of some kind along the way, but he hadn't anticipated that the wall would just crumble.
The hole helped him regain his calm, and his curiosity about the wall and what lies beyond it returned. Just as he turned to face it, new screens began to pop up in front of him, making him realize that the upgrades had started.
"Shit!"
Dante took off running, quickly scaling the rubble. The upgrades starting meant that the dread was going to end soon. With no idea when the next time he would return there will be, Dante knew he had to hurry and learn what he could about this place.
His access to his implants was still cut, even when the upgrade notifications kept coming. With no way to enhance his reflexes and perception, he couldn't increase his speed by much, forcing him to run like anay normal person.
"This is a dream, goddamn it!" He cried. "Why can't I just equip an armor or something!!?"
Alas, even though he was completely lucid, he had no control over his surroundings or what he can do could do. The land beyond the wall was covered in snow as well, but in the distance, Dante saw a few dark silhouettes. Buildings. As he dashed toward them, he noticed that the snow was thinning out under his feet.
The snow soon gave in to long patch of asphalt. Dante realized that it was a runway almost immediately, but as it gave him nothing, he kept running. The buildings were getting closer. Just a little more.
"Huh?"
As he continued to run, Dante heard a strange sound, and just as he recognized it as engine sounds, he noticed something move in the corner of his eye. Several vehicles came rushing in his direction. Armored trucks primed for the snow covered lands.
They reached his position seconds later, one of them moving to block his path while the remaining four formed a circle around him. Forced to halt, Dante could only watch as a couple dozen soldiers poured out of the trucks and quickly surrounded him.
Moving in unison, they all aimed their rifles at him.
"FREEZE!" One of them shouted. "THIS IS A RESTRICTED ZONE! DO NOT RESIST OR YOU WILL BE DISPOSED OF IMMEDIATELY!!!"
Dante raised his hands in the air, confusion filling his mind. He did not expect to meet people at such a place.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" The same soldier shouted again.
Though it was a dream, Dante had a feeling that he shouldn't tell them anything. With his hands still raised, he looked left an right then turned to the soldier addressing him.
"What is this place?" He asked.
"WE WILL BE THE ONES ASKING QUESTIONS!" The soldier shouted. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!!!"
Dante gritted his teeth. Neither the soldiers nor the vehicles around them had anything that can be used t identify them. No marks, emblems, or flags. Nothing.
'This won't actually hurt, right?'
Bracing himself, Dante took a deep breath.
"Is this Polaris Ultima!!?"
"TAKE HIM IN!" The soldier shouted. Another four rushed in right away.
Preparing to fight, Dante shouted once more.
"ARE YOU EIDOLON!?"
Before he could get any response, the world around him went dark.
