Post by Empty on Dec 29, 2010 20:29:28 GMT -8
» Training: Agent of Utopia (Part I – Mind versus Soul)
He sat beneath the dome, even when without company he was a man never truly alone.
Mundo Negación, the enclosed field he had erected emitted a pure green light, from outside nothing could be sensed, not even with Loki's own peerless reiatsu senses, no, unless he reached his mind towards the Caretaker itself then it was as if nothing existed outside of the thirty feet wide near spherical field that he had created at the top of the mountain near his German style estate in Utopia's northern most major settlement, Sapporo.
Seated on a small flat outcropping of rock eight feet wide, he was in one of the highest peaks of all Northern 'Japan' or at least the facsimile that he had rendered through over fifty years of hard work. Astraea was at his estate, sleeping soundly with a pair of Sentinel guardians to ensure her safety, should someone attempt to seize her in an attempt to pressure Loki, though in truth, the two guards were unnecessary, for Caretaker itself was keeping an eye on the situation, just in case.
It had been with great dismay that Loki had finally recognised the greatest threat to Utopia, its greatest weakness was Loki himself – were he killed then all he had wrought would soon pass, for it was his own reiryoku which the Caretaker sealed that enabled his creation to provide light and warmth to allow the plants to grow, likewise it was his reiatsu that infused the Caretaker, providing Hollows and Arrancar with the ability to live without consuming other souls, even the fragile peace that the Caretaker enforced would be gone. Should Loki die, the thin facade of civilisation that he had endeavoured to provide would be torn asunder, as the inhabitants did what they needed to survive; Utopia would become no different to anywhere else in Huecco Mundo, save for a little salt-water and some solid ground.
Following this gut-wrenching realisation, Loki had come here, to meditate on his possible ways of dealing with the situation and he had come to one very troubling solution. He needed to find some way to seal away his own soul, while maintaining control over Utopia, only through sealing himself away could Loki hope to prevent his own demise and the destruction of all he held dear. Yet no matter where he might seal himself, so long as Verlassen's own body remained, they would remain vulnerable, no they needed a way to seal themselves, that would prevent their body or soul from being harmed while at the same time, allowing their will to be enforced through Utopia.
For a time he had considered changing himself into energy, for indeed that made him immune to many types of physical damage, allowing him to pass straight through matter as if it was not there. Yet the more he had considered the situation, the less he could consider it an adequate solution, for in that state, he would remain susceptible to energy based techniques in particular – and it was precisely those that presented the greatest danger to Utopia – though an enemy somehow managing to gain control of him and manipulating Utopia. 'No, merely changing into a Reiryoku based form, will not alleviate the true danger to Utopia. What We need is a Vessel in which to store Our souls and body, just as the Caretaker itself already does for the part of Our Souls' reiryoku that had been sealed for Arrancarisation.'
Loki's eyes opened wide as that thought occurred to him, indeed Utopia, through the Caretaker, already housed a significant portion of their Reiryoku separate from their own souls and the body that housed them; would it not be possible for the Caretaker to be imbued with more and more of their Reiryoku capacity? Were they to assume a reiryoku based form when they did so, would it not also be possible to infuse their souls themselves into the Caretaker? Perhaps, yet would that enable them to continue to control the Caretaker whilst they were within it? In truth Loki was unsure.
Looking over to the blank area in front of him Loki spoke softly, even here, alone and unobserved, he was not so direct as to say the call out phrase succinctly, “For the sake of the Verlassen and for all of Utopia itself, We must find a way.” The call out phrase, von Verlassen, 'of the Forsaken' was worked into the sentence carefully before Loki continued with his pretence. Yet even without doing so, his biological body was transformed into gel that perfectly matched that which it had replaced, within his head, the small ball of permanently interwoven green roots which constituted their transformed brain, was all that remained of their true body. “Blue Seas, Green Pastures, Clear Skies; Govern All Things, Tyrann des Goldes.” (Tyrant of Gold)
Though in truth their transition from humanoid Arrancar to Resurrección had taken place in a way almost no one would be capable of recognising, the same could not be said for the false transformation that followed. Their humanoid form gained two long back-swept horns, ruby yet tipped in gold, their fingernails elongated into short, retractable golden claws with a golden spike jutting from just above each of the knuckles the the back of their hand, angling forwards to take the brunt of any punch, likewise, golden spikes jutted from the deep red skin at his knees, elbows and shoulders, while a golden tipped furry red tail jutted from the bottom rear of his pelvis. Were his armour removed then his red torso would be flecked with golden speckles which followed outwards to his limbs, gradually diminishing in size and intensity until they disappeared leaving only red skin. Yet the hollow hole that appeared in his mid chest was completely encased in golden skin, surrounding the hole on his chest, through the hole itself and spreading out on his back. The Tyrant of Gold with seemingly bloodstained limbs, yet despite that he retained something of elegance about him.
In truth, all Loki had done was carefully use the Espiga technique and changed the colour of his gel, yet the combined effects were astounding; especially with a small tail added, few would ever consider the possibility that it was merely a mask to cover his true form, especially since he allowed his own reiatsu to surge slightly, to a higher level as he had begun his transformation.
The change had been so that Loki could access their Gel capabilities, yet the false transformation had been for two purposes, the first being that there might be undetected observers, while the second and perhaps more important was that he wanted to ensure he was in the habit of assuming the false form as a matter of course. Deception about something so basic might be seen as paranoid, yet Loki did not feel the least troubled by that, since it helped ensure the safety of the Souls of Verlassen and the future of Utopia.
» Training: Out of Body Experience
Sitting there on that flat rocky outcrop near the very tip of the mountain, Loki concentrated on an area no more than three feet across from him, carefully manipulating his reiatsu he gathered rock and air from his surroundings, kneading them into the shape he desired. Facing him, a figure soon resolved itself from the Gel he had produced then adroitly shaped, a second Golden Tyrant, this one completely stationary, completely without energy, soul or mind; nothing more that a shape of gel, ready to be used as a puppet by a gel seed if that was so desired.
Creating a gel seed within the puppet instead of planting it there, would once have been a feat beyond Loki, yet over the years he had extended his abilities to an extent that he had never before even envisaged. The small roots spread throughout the inside the gel shape's head, then began travelling through to the rest of the costume. Yet even with the Gel Seed in place, without a mind to govern it the costume would never move, nor have reason to do so. That was the dilemma that they faced not only when creating a Gel Seed, but also where they to infuse their complete power into the Caretaker; it was for this very reason that they had released, to obtain some sort of insight as to how this limitation might be overcome – were such a thing even possible.
Concentrating on the Gel seed, Loki sent the mind of Tony towards it, the former sneak thief's soul remained within Verlassen's own body, yet it seemed to slumber within them as the gel costume opposite them opened its eyes. Tony's mind controlled the gel vessel, yet the soul remained insensate within Verlassen; as Loki spoke with Tony, it was through their thoughts, Loki's mind connected to Tony's mind, rather than his soul.
Yet within their own body it was possible to house more than one soul, more than one mind, their Union of Souls had been established for some two hundred years; and in that time, they had learned how to coexist to an extent matched by no other being that they had ever encountered. That coexistence extended to their Gel creations, within moments, Gertrude's conciousness was established within the gel costume, the two souls comatose within Verlassen's body while their minds remained keen within the gel costume. Other souls quickly followed, more and more, until nearly all of the Souls bar Loki's own inhabited the gel vessel; some of the consumed souls had attempted to stay, imagining that they might wrest control, yet Loki had prevailed with ease – the force of his own will without comparison amongst those gathered.
After a few moment's, where Loki and the souls checked to ensure that they were all able to think and communicate, as well as being able to move their respective bodies; he pulled the souls back into their true body. Opposite him, the second Tyrant of Gold slumped slightly, tissues relaxing at the absence of thoughts within to hold the muscles taunt. Now he would attempt something he had never before tried, though it should be no more difficult than moving Tony or Gertrude, or any of the other souls' mind to the Gel shape – he would now attempt to move his own mind.
He imagined moving from one body to the other, yet moments passed with nothing happening. It was more difficult than he had imagined it seemed, for that alone was all that was required for him to send one of the other minds to inhabit a gel seed. Looking across at the Tyrant of Gold before him on the rocky platform with a green field of reiatsu as a backdrop, he closed his eyes, trying to imagine himself within the other body. Opening his eyes, he saw no difference, no change, before him a Tyrant of Gold sitting on rock, behind which was a screen of green energy; again he imagined the movement, yet as he blinked he saw no difference, again and again he struggled, nausea rising as he began to get a migraine. Finally he began to feel himself slipping forwards before countless tiny threads snapped him back into his body, firmly, irrevocably.
When sending the mind of another soul of Verlassen into a gel seed it was so effortless, the two easy detached, yet for himself...
His eyes narrowed, there was one other technique that he had developed that did similar, his Mayor Separación technique allowed him to separate the body from the soul, the soul from the mind, the mind from the memories. For a moment he wondered how had he not considered using such a thing, before he realised that it was simply due to just how easy the feat of moving the mind of another soul within Verlassen was; he had assumed doing the same for his own mind would be as easy or even more so. Yet he had overlooked one major difference between his own soul and that of the other souls within Verlassen, his own mind was controlling their body, it was controlling their energy.
It was no wonder his attempts had failed; it was too strongly attached – just like how he had to oscillate the component he desired to separate from a soul outside of Verlassen, so too he could use the oscillations to separate his mind from his soul. However, the forceful separation of his own mind from their souls was something more dangerous than he had envisaged, the main problem seemed to be that the move would separate him from their energy and body, so who would control it and how. Were he to make the wrong decision, not only might he destroy his own soul but he might trigger Verlassen's regression into a much more primitive, even non-sentient, state similar to that of a new Gillian.
Strictly speaking, Mayor Separación was rather gentle when removing those souls who were not in control from the body of the soul who ruled the vessel, yet in removing that controlling soul it was quite brutal. To avoid damage to his own Soul he should attempt to make the separation as smooth as possible, to avoid overusing force or to 'sever' those innumerable connections; instead he should attempt some other way.
But how could he make those links between his mind and soul less restrictive, less solid, without holding mind so tightly to soul? After a few moments of pondering Loki realised he had one technique that was almost perfect for the task at hand; his Aquí y allí enabled him to create undetectable, intangible conduits between himself and one of his techniques, so that he might pass energy to it, true, the range was limited however. Were he to use such conduits between his soul and mind, he would be able to separate the two without severing the connection between them, perhaps he could work a way to increase the length of the conduit – that remained to be seen.
Whatever method he chose he did must needs preserve the state of Verlassen while he experimented, to that end he would have to appoint one of the other Souls to control their body and soul, should his absence prove prolonged. The choice of who it might be proved easy enough, Gertrude was the most obvious choice; highly respected within Verlassen, she was a voice of moderation, not to mention sharing much of Loki's goals, indeed, had she pressed the issue when they were a Gillian, it may well have been she who emerged the controller of their body rather than he himself. He passed his attention through the minds of Verlassen's souls; the nameless accepted his words without comment yet their anxiousness was readily apparent, meanwhile many of the named grumbled but few could consider themselves in a position to vie for control.
Those not among the one hundred and seven other souls in Verlassen were far less impressed, though few of them were able to comprehend what was occurring, those few that were screamed for control, desperate for the opportunity to break the dominance of those chosen few. It was troubling that only the one hundred and eight souls who had been in control of the hollows at the time they had become a Gillian were amongst the dominant souls within their existence, the other voices were so dim they could barely be distinguished behind the combined power of Verlassen, like a candle held up to the sun, their feeble light was outshone many times over until it could no longer be seen. It was a situation which Loki found reprehensible, but one he had not yet managed to find a solution too, something he would soon need to address.
No, amongst the souls that might struggle for dominance, thus destroying their unity and power, there was general acceptance of Loki's wishes, Gertrude would control their body and energy were Loki not able to return; with that, their possible degradation would be minimised if not outright prevented.
Concentrating carefully, Loki adopted as relaxed a state as possible before beginning; focusing on the tiny cable like connections between his mind and his soul he began infusing one with the energy he used for Aquí y allí, the strand seemed to 'lighten,' becoming more and more difficult to detect with even his vastly superior Revealing Gaze. After he managed to infuse the energy into the tiny connection, Loki paused, attempting to determine if there was any difference, he felt no dimming of his wit, nor his control over his reiatsu, nor did his body feel uncomfortable or numb in any way, his coordination was unaffected.
One by one he infused the tiny strands, pausing every so often to see if there had been some result, yet none was apparent until nearly ten minutes had passed, as he attempted to send his mind towards the gel created but soulless, Golden Tyrant, he began to experience a slight drift effect, where his mind began moving more and more towards the costume, finally however it snapped back, yet the nausea was at a far more manageable level than before and he rapidly began again.
During his second attempt he was able to progress far more rapidly than before, knowing that were there any negative consequences, they had not yet manifested. When he reached about the same degree of progress as he had made before, he slowed down, again he proceeded one strand at a time. Nearly two hours had passed until he was nearly half done, yet there were still no ill effects. Once more he attempted to make the move, yet this time his mind was slightly less than half out of his soul before it encountered resistance, using his revealing gaze, Loki scanned his soul, noting that where the resistance had been felt was the same places that the strands were still attached. Yet this time, instead of allowing them to snap his mind back to his soul, Loki eased back so that the two were together once more then allowed the conduits to fade.
A third time he created the strands, this time the first half of the strands were done in just fourty minutes, a marked improvement; once again when he progressed further than he had previously, he proceeded one and a time and stopped every so often to ensure there were no problems. From the souls of Verlassen he could hear the cries of encouragement, they felt further away than usual, even more so than when they were in a Gel Seed, perhaps this was the result of Loki's mind being the one moving rather than one of the other souls. When he had finally completed the strands Loki was ecstatic, the strain of creating and maintaining so many conduits was telling, yet as Loki managed to infuse the very last strand, he was able to shrug his mind free from the confines of his soul. Drifting towards the Gel created costume which he attempted to possess, only to find that without reiatsu, he was unable to do so!
Channelling energy through the intangible conduits linking mind to soul, proved easy enough, but the paucity of the amount available quickly became apparent; compared to usual, he was many dozens, perhaps hundreds of times weaker. The only way that such a thing could prove useful was if his mind was able to harness a much more complete source of his own energy. Yet what was even more obvious was the incredible strain from maintaining so many conduits between mind and soul, the concentration required was exacting and any slip would result in them becoming solid once more, slamming him back into his own body – with great force.
He needed a way to reduce the amount of concentration required to maintain the connection; at the same time he also needed to find a way to improve his access to their power.
Coordinating the energy requirements for so many simultaneous conduits was proving too much, regardless of Loki's prowess, no mortal could hope to maintain such a thing for a protracted period; the energy requirements for the conduits themselves were not so intensive, he could maintain a much lesser number of more powerful conduits, yet the effort of maintaining infusions of energy to so many of them? It was beyond his skills. What he needed was to lessen the strain of them somehow, the most obvious way that occurred to him would be to collate them into fewer more powerful ones. Focusing on the numerous cables between mind and soul, Loki create a single large conduit, nearly six feet in diameter, it surrounded the entire mess of cables before slowly shrinking in on itself; the intangible conduits were gathered up like a bale of hay, the single thick conduit was nearly an inch thick, yet the amount of concentration it required to maintain the infusion of energy was vastly less – despite the amount of energy remaining constant.
Throughout it all, Gertrude and the other souls of Verlassen remained still, their body unmoving, unable to do so much as lift a finger, their energy silent, unable to stir a leaf.
How could improve his mind's access to their reiatsu? The conduit allowed him to draw from their reiatsu at a reasonablerate, yet the amount remained far less than his own usual capacity, also the energy was focused within the soul, something that would not work in the way he desired. No, what he needed was for his mind and reiatsu to be together, yet separate from his mind, body and reiryoku capacity.
It was there that Mayor Separación again provided the answer, for the technique allowed Loki to separate reiatsu from a being without harming them; in truth that was usually limited to those far less powerful than he, significantly weakened or damaged; however a willing soul could allow Loki to do so without difficulty. Focusing his attention once more on Verlassen, Loki began to oscillate their energy, his intention quickly apparent to the souls of Verlassen and Gertrude acquiesced, the energy quickly drifted from Verlassen's body and the souls it contained and Loki drew it unto his mind. That done, Loki looked down at the Golden Tyrant yet hesitated once again, this time though, it was for a different reason. With mind and energy, did he not have precisely what he needed for yet another technique? Energía Conversión allowed Loki to change his very being to a pure reiryoku base, true that was usually a soul, but could not the mind assume a similar state were it able to access and control enough energy?
The moment he began to consider it, a green nimbus began to form in the air, coalescing slowly into a cloudy shape, then into roughly human dimensions and finally into a naked and perfectly green Loki look alike, here and there a line blurred on occasion, yet otherwise remained stable. It was a complete success, even without needing to acquire the gel costume he had created earlier, Loki was astounded. A few moments of intense concentration followed before the green reiatsu pulsed, the Energía Conversión once again applied, this time to convert the energy form into spiritual matter, a reishi body of gel surrounded Loki's Resurrección.
Loki turned his head finally to look at Verlassen, using his revealing gaze he tried to determine the cause of their inactivity, yet apart from the absence of reiatsu it appeared no different than normal. Within his mind, Loki could still feel the thoughts of the other souls within Verlassen, the link was still there. Musing on the issue for a moment, Loki decided the best thing to do would be to return to Verlassen, to ensure there was nothing amiss- for it seemed that without Loki's mind, Gertrude was unable to control Verlassen's body or energies – even with the agreement of the other souls.
Allowing his spiritual matter 'body' to turn back into reiatsu, Loki eased himself towards Verlassen, allowing the conduits to dissipate. Instantly their eyes sprung open, there was a slight sense of discomfort and a headache, but after a thorough examination, Loki was pleased to discover they were otherwise unharmed and their capabilities undiminished.
» Training: Agent of Utopia (Part II – Reiryoku Storage)
» Training: Mirada que Revela (Revealing Gaze) – increasing sensitivity
Once more Loki had returned to control of their body, the first requirement for their objective was complete, yet another presented itself; even were they able to leave their body, it was essential that they find someway to render it inviolate, to protect it from all harm – just as the Caretaker itself was incapable of being harmed. Ideally, they would desire for the Caretaker's own protections to be extended to their body, though that was a very difficult thing to envisage; the Caretaker was impossible to be harmed because it was a product of thought and energy, purely intangible yet present throughout all of Utopia. Yet somehow, despite being wholly intangible, the caretaker was able to store not just Verlassen's Reiatsu, but the portion of their Reiryoku that was accessed in their Resurrección; how could the intangible Caretaker store reiryoku, the energy that was replenished by consuming others and was later converted into reiatsu for use?
In truth, Loki had never truly delved into that matter before, it was a conspicuous oversight, no doubt he had in part been complacent – that the Caretaker managed it was sufficient. Yet to ensure the continued safety of the Caretaker and the prosperity of Utopia, it was essential that Loki address his failure by understanding his own creation, one he had inadvertently made upon attempting to become an Arrancar. Using his Revealing Gaze, Loki had always been able to see his reiatsu infused within the atmosphere throughout Utopia; yet at the same time, he had never managed to catch so much a as glimpse of the Reiryoku reserves that it contained, nor of the Caretaker itself – it was much like the wind or gravity, a force felt yet never seen. However with his Revealing gaze, he was able to perceive and analyse even the most complex of energy infused entities, so why had the Caretaker escaped his attentions?
Even here within the green spherical Mundo Negación, he could feel the presence of the Caretaker, the energy suffusing the air itself; taking a deep breath, Loki began to examine his surroundings in greater detail, his revealing gaze pulsating through the air, sending him details of his with a level of detail that was at first very vague, then becoming increasingly complete. The simple objects and substances without energy were revealed in greater detail more quickly, without the presence of energy to interfere with the examination, these things were reported back to Loki almost instantly. Eventually more intricate information became available, the existence and structure of the Negation field, revealed itself as did the composition of the Golden Tyrant's Gel costume he had fashioned. Yet still no information presented itself on the Caretaker.
However Loki was not yet satisfied, he knew there was some trick behind it – the Caretaker was indeed present surrounding him; that the reiatsu was present meant that their was reiryoku being converted even here. Perhaps there was some inter-dimensional aspect to the Caretaker or perhaps –
As he pondered the possibilities, he caught the occasional flicker of energy, barely sensed it was gone almost instantly, yet the flickers were happening all around him – hundreds of them every seconds; tiny fluctuations like the twinkling of stars in the night sky, each was gone almost before he noticed their presence, yet when the spherical area was examined as a whole he could definitely detect the tiny pulses, not just reiatsu, but the presence of reiryoku. Each time a burst happened there was a slight delay before any others happened in the surrounding area, the reiryoku building slightly then spreading out as the release of reiatsu flickered, then the process began again.
It was a much more subtle sensation than when Loki himself converted reiryoku into reiatsu, and it came from the entire area rather than a single being, yet the process was unmistakeable; here around him, the Caretaker was converting reiryoku into reiatsu. As Loki limited his concentration to a much smaller area so that he could concentrate on the reiryoku, his revealing gaze began to pick up something it had never before managed. There, in the air before him, were countless tiny points moving around just like the particles of air, yet they were clearly different – their was something about them that was intimately familiar; instantly the thought occurred to Loki; they felt just like the Gel puppet he had created.
When he reached out towards them with his Gel Schaffung, he attempted to draw them into the palm of his hand, yet the tiny cube shaped particles of gel seemed not to even be aware that he had directed them – it was not that they resisted his effort, but rather they seemed unaware that such an attempt had even been made. Shocked, Loki once again attempted to steer the particles of energy towards him. As he did so he could feel the tiny fluctuations increase in speed, there within the small area that he had been concentrating on, the tiny cubes of gel began growing; as each cube reached twice their former dimensions it split into eight identically sized cubes, which in turn released a small amount of reiatsu then began to grow once again. The more intensely Loki attempted to direct the cubes, the more rapidly their division process proceeded.
Each of the cubes was so tiny that Loki could not begin to perceive them with even his Afilar enhanced vision, though with his revealing gaze that should not be the case for it was able to even see the tiniest of structures and the energy within; however, about the most he could determine was that the cubes were not just incredibly small but nearly clear like crystal, with a green tint and tiny golden flecks.
Even as he was able to examine the composition of the air surrounding the cubes, Loki was unable to sense much of the structure or workings of the gel cubes themselves, his every attempt was negated with tiny flows of reiatsu that interfered with his examination, each time, there was an almost imperceptible answering release of reishi which was followed by the reiryoku building up once more. No doubt it was this absorption of resihi that gave the cubes their golden flecks – coloured the same as Reishi particles that Loki himself absorbed; while the green was doubtless influenced by Loki's green Reiatsu. Without the benefit of the analysis provided by his revealing gaze, it was a few moments more before he realised the most likely culprit was one of his own techniques.
Since the Caretaker had access to all of Verlassen's own techniques and abilities, it was fair to assume that what was negating his every attempt at analysis was in fact Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny), the technique had been developed to prevent energy use within a field, it seemed that very principle was being applied to the cubes of gel themselves, preventing Loki's attempts at manipulation or even examination; the Caretaker had sought to protect its own secrets and had done so with adroit competence.
» Training: Caretaker Charge
Being unable to examine the cubes in greater detail was incredibly annoying, no matter how proud Loki was of his creation's ability to defend itself – even from its creator.
He had however determined that the reiryoku was stored in a multitude of tiny cubes throughout utopia, that the cubes were made of green and gold gel and were extremely small, constantly growing as their reiryoku replenished itself, then dividing as they grew too large, releasing the reiatsu that was within the Utopian atmosphere. By using his Gel Schaffung, Loki had managed to somehow infuse the cubes with more energy – it seemed that the Gel had used Tiranía Tranquila's application of Fuerza de Oposición (Opposing Force) to halt the energy, turning it into reishi then absorbing it, turning it into reiryoku, increasing the number of cubes then beginning the division process once again.
Impressed by the idea of managing to increase the number of crystals and the reiryoku reserves that they represented, Loki continued to infuse the microscopic gel cubes in his surrounding, steadily the sensation of reiatsu surrounding him became more and more pronounced, almost intrusive. Yet even as the number of crystals reached such a level they began to dissolve at a similar rate as they were produced, each resulting in a more substantial flow of reishi than before; no matter how much more reiatsu Loki sought to infuse into his surroundings, the total would not increase further – it seemed there was some sort of limit about the concentration that the gel crystal cubes were able to survive in.
Being able to reinforce the Caretaker's strength was extraordinary, Loki was more than simply pleased with himself, though he could not help but note that the idea of managing to perform such a feat for all of Utopia would be beyond his own capabilities, the area that he had managed to infuse to saturation was barely thirty feet in size, true, the effort had not taxed him much, yet Utopia was far more immense than the sphere, the amount of power required would be incomparable. Perhaps there was some way that Loki could enable the reiatsu of others to be provided to the Caretaker. For a moment he considered some sort of constant drain on everyone within the region, yet instantly he discarded the idea; the caretaker itself would prevent that sort of 'harm' being inflicted, in truth it was something he would prefer to be voluntary anyway, a way for people to give back to the caretaker, for their own energy to be used to protect their new way of life.
However, Loki had no desire to pass around the knowledge or capability of how to infuse the gel with energy – were he to do so, it might open the way for those of nefarious intent to manage to inflict some sort of harm on the Caretaker. No, instead he would need to come up with some way for people to use so that they could do so, without being able to work out how it was occurring or being able to manipulate the process itself.
Such matters were difficult to determine, how best to protect the means used to 'charge' the Caretaker's reiryoku capacity by producing the tiny cubic crystals? The cubes themselves provided the first hint, that the means to charge should use Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) to oppose whatever energy was provided, then convert it into the most basic forms of reishi, to provide reiryoku reserves. However such a mechanism would need to be large enough for people to use easily, would not such a thing be more easily targeted by ne’er-do-wells, completely unlike the tiny cubic crystals. How very troublesome.
Loki was no stranger to gel created crystals, he had created the first of the sentinel crests using ground up crystals that were able to be infused with energy to create a beacon of energy or to provide access to Sustracción (Subtraction) and Sereno (Serene). They were, in his own opinion, one of his more subtle and useful creations.
The beacons of energy produced were each unique to the crystals used in the seal as well as the reiatsu of the individual using it; that was one of the ways that Sentinels could authenticate each other over considerable distances. Perhaps... Were the charging to be done through a much larger version of such a crystal, it might be possible to create a unique energy signature that the caretaker could readily identify and target for absorption.
Already in his Resurrección, Loki glanced towards the ground where a new pool of gel began to appear some two feet from where he stood. Instinctively, Loki began to create a different shaped crystal than those he had created for the Sentinels which were triangular prisms, or from those that were in the air which were cubes; instead the crystal growth that began was a green hexagonal prism that reached nearly four feet in size and eight inches across, at the base, smaller hexagonal prism crystals began to form – growing just as they would in a natural deposit. Even the golden flecks appeared like natural imperfections that might arise in crystals, yet the infusion of Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) quickly made apparent its arcane nature.
Just like the sentinel crystals, this much larger version could create a beacon of energy; though the sentinel beacon was quite noisy, this was far more subtle, barely discernible to any without sufficient skill. Yet even as Loki directed a weak bala towards the crystal outcropping, the energy was opposed, broken down into reishi and absorbed by the crystal. The resulting beacon of energy was a three foot wide beacon of green and gold light which thrust upwards into the air, across the top of the Mundo Negación field and seeped down throughout the air.
All around him, Loki could feel tiny flickers as the reiatsu infused light filtered downwards opposed by tiny flows of the Caretaker's reiatsu from the microscopic gel cubes, followed by pulses of reishi quickly absorbed as the reiryoku contained in the cubes grew until saturation was reached once more.
» Training: Agent of Utopia (Part III – End Game)
Whatever else they may have learned, the fact that the Negation field had become saturated with energy was something that was inarguable – in such a situation, it was impossible for the Caretaker to absorb his energy – his very being. For the path to him was abundantly clear now. Energía Conversión would transform his very being into energy – such energy could then be infused directly into the large crystal that he had created, to be rendered into a beam of light and absorbed by the Caretaker.
Verlassen sat down across from the Golden Tyrant gel costume once more, then Loki separated each and every minds within Verlassen, as well as their reiatsu from their souls and the vessel it inhabited. Creating a form of reiryoku, their hazy green outline quickly resolving itself before sinking into the prone costume; which promptly stood and examined the negation field around them, dismissing it without effort.
Casting his attention towards their now mindless body, Loki sent his reiatsu towards it, once again using the Energía Conversión technique, this time he rendered not their mind into an ethereal form but rather Verlassen's body and souls. Had their been any minds within, they could have opposed the attempt or reverted the change without difficulty, but instead the body quickly transformed into a green nimbus of energy that soon resolved itself into the seated, immobile figure of Verlassen.
Directing the energy within their 'body', Loki stood it up, finding the sensation slightly more awkward than managing a gel costume, it stepped stiffly towards the crystal before placing its hands upon the surface, pushing forwards only to find its forwards momentum halted through the Fuerza de Oposición (Opposing Force), the caretaker was doing its best to avoid negating the body and souls so as to prevent 'harm', to Verlassen. Indeed, it was only because Loki had access to the very same techniques that he was able to overcome the issue, the Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) was being used to redefine 'harm', to allow the caretaker only momentarily, to consider Loki's own consumption to be something other than harm – to be a transformation of his existence.
There was a roaring sound surrounding the mountain top, the air itself began shaking as if in indecision as little by little the hands began to seem to sink into the crystal – the energy form that their body and souls had taken was being broken down, torn apart into tiny fragments of reishi and consumed by the gold flecked green hexagonal crystal which began to glow far more fiercely than before. At first the column of light produced was hair thin, yet it rapidly swelled in size, enveloping the entire width of the crystal, then expanding to encompass the still pushing form of Verlassen's body and then to surround the entire mountain. A golden threaded green pillar of light nearly one mile in diameter. For a moment, throughout Utopia there was a pulse of energy, not particularly strong, but strangely noticeable – though it seemed to have no origin, instead it seemed to come from everywhere all at once.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Sapporo, a single mountain was completely encrusted with countless green and gold hexagonal crystals of varying size.
The Golden Tyrant looked down at what he had wrought, the expression on his face one of mixed emotions; happiness in his success was tinged with surprise and growing alarm, for even as the pulse had reverberated throughout Utopia, Loki had felt the Caretaker distance itself from him. Offering Verlassen protection while at the same time, it claimed its own independence.
How quickly they grew up.
! ~ Should I Fall... ~ !
He sat beneath the dome, even when without company he was a man never truly alone.
Mundo Negación, the enclosed field he had erected emitted a pure green light, from outside nothing could be sensed, not even with Loki's own peerless reiatsu senses, no, unless he reached his mind towards the Caretaker itself then it was as if nothing existed outside of the thirty feet wide near spherical field that he had created at the top of the mountain near his German style estate in Utopia's northern most major settlement, Sapporo.
Seated on a small flat outcropping of rock eight feet wide, he was in one of the highest peaks of all Northern 'Japan' or at least the facsimile that he had rendered through over fifty years of hard work. Astraea was at his estate, sleeping soundly with a pair of Sentinel guardians to ensure her safety, should someone attempt to seize her in an attempt to pressure Loki, though in truth, the two guards were unnecessary, for Caretaker itself was keeping an eye on the situation, just in case.
It had been with great dismay that Loki had finally recognised the greatest threat to Utopia, its greatest weakness was Loki himself – were he killed then all he had wrought would soon pass, for it was his own reiryoku which the Caretaker sealed that enabled his creation to provide light and warmth to allow the plants to grow, likewise it was his reiatsu that infused the Caretaker, providing Hollows and Arrancar with the ability to live without consuming other souls, even the fragile peace that the Caretaker enforced would be gone. Should Loki die, the thin facade of civilisation that he had endeavoured to provide would be torn asunder, as the inhabitants did what they needed to survive; Utopia would become no different to anywhere else in Huecco Mundo, save for a little salt-water and some solid ground.
Following this gut-wrenching realisation, Loki had come here, to meditate on his possible ways of dealing with the situation and he had come to one very troubling solution. He needed to find some way to seal away his own soul, while maintaining control over Utopia, only through sealing himself away could Loki hope to prevent his own demise and the destruction of all he held dear. Yet no matter where he might seal himself, so long as Verlassen's own body remained, they would remain vulnerable, no they needed a way to seal themselves, that would prevent their body or soul from being harmed while at the same time, allowing their will to be enforced through Utopia.
For a time he had considered changing himself into energy, for indeed that made him immune to many types of physical damage, allowing him to pass straight through matter as if it was not there. Yet the more he had considered the situation, the less he could consider it an adequate solution, for in that state, he would remain susceptible to energy based techniques in particular – and it was precisely those that presented the greatest danger to Utopia – though an enemy somehow managing to gain control of him and manipulating Utopia. 'No, merely changing into a Reiryoku based form, will not alleviate the true danger to Utopia. What We need is a Vessel in which to store Our souls and body, just as the Caretaker itself already does for the part of Our Souls' reiryoku that had been sealed for Arrancarisation.'
Loki's eyes opened wide as that thought occurred to him, indeed Utopia, through the Caretaker, already housed a significant portion of their Reiryoku separate from their own souls and the body that housed them; would it not be possible for the Caretaker to be imbued with more and more of their Reiryoku capacity? Were they to assume a reiryoku based form when they did so, would it not also be possible to infuse their souls themselves into the Caretaker? Perhaps, yet would that enable them to continue to control the Caretaker whilst they were within it? In truth Loki was unsure.
! ~ Golden Chance ~ !
Looking over to the blank area in front of him Loki spoke softly, even here, alone and unobserved, he was not so direct as to say the call out phrase succinctly, “For the sake of the Verlassen and for all of Utopia itself, We must find a way.” The call out phrase, von Verlassen, 'of the Forsaken' was worked into the sentence carefully before Loki continued with his pretence. Yet even without doing so, his biological body was transformed into gel that perfectly matched that which it had replaced, within his head, the small ball of permanently interwoven green roots which constituted their transformed brain, was all that remained of their true body. “Blue Seas, Green Pastures, Clear Skies; Govern All Things, Tyrann des Goldes.” (Tyrant of Gold)
Though in truth their transition from humanoid Arrancar to Resurrección had taken place in a way almost no one would be capable of recognising, the same could not be said for the false transformation that followed. Their humanoid form gained two long back-swept horns, ruby yet tipped in gold, their fingernails elongated into short, retractable golden claws with a golden spike jutting from just above each of the knuckles the the back of their hand, angling forwards to take the brunt of any punch, likewise, golden spikes jutted from the deep red skin at his knees, elbows and shoulders, while a golden tipped furry red tail jutted from the bottom rear of his pelvis. Were his armour removed then his red torso would be flecked with golden speckles which followed outwards to his limbs, gradually diminishing in size and intensity until they disappeared leaving only red skin. Yet the hollow hole that appeared in his mid chest was completely encased in golden skin, surrounding the hole on his chest, through the hole itself and spreading out on his back. The Tyrant of Gold with seemingly bloodstained limbs, yet despite that he retained something of elegance about him.
In truth, all Loki had done was carefully use the Espiga technique and changed the colour of his gel, yet the combined effects were astounding; especially with a small tail added, few would ever consider the possibility that it was merely a mask to cover his true form, especially since he allowed his own reiatsu to surge slightly, to a higher level as he had begun his transformation.
The change had been so that Loki could access their Gel capabilities, yet the false transformation had been for two purposes, the first being that there might be undetected observers, while the second and perhaps more important was that he wanted to ensure he was in the habit of assuming the false form as a matter of course. Deception about something so basic might be seen as paranoid, yet Loki did not feel the least troubled by that, since it helped ensure the safety of the Souls of Verlassen and the future of Utopia.
» Training: Out of Body Experience
! ~ For Verlassen's Sake~ !
Sitting there on that flat rocky outcrop near the very tip of the mountain, Loki concentrated on an area no more than three feet across from him, carefully manipulating his reiatsu he gathered rock and air from his surroundings, kneading them into the shape he desired. Facing him, a figure soon resolved itself from the Gel he had produced then adroitly shaped, a second Golden Tyrant, this one completely stationary, completely without energy, soul or mind; nothing more that a shape of gel, ready to be used as a puppet by a gel seed if that was so desired.
Creating a gel seed within the puppet instead of planting it there, would once have been a feat beyond Loki, yet over the years he had extended his abilities to an extent that he had never before even envisaged. The small roots spread throughout the inside the gel shape's head, then began travelling through to the rest of the costume. Yet even with the Gel Seed in place, without a mind to govern it the costume would never move, nor have reason to do so. That was the dilemma that they faced not only when creating a Gel Seed, but also where they to infuse their complete power into the Caretaker; it was for this very reason that they had released, to obtain some sort of insight as to how this limitation might be overcome – were such a thing even possible.
Concentrating on the Gel seed, Loki sent the mind of Tony towards it, the former sneak thief's soul remained within Verlassen's own body, yet it seemed to slumber within them as the gel costume opposite them opened its eyes. Tony's mind controlled the gel vessel, yet the soul remained insensate within Verlassen; as Loki spoke with Tony, it was through their thoughts, Loki's mind connected to Tony's mind, rather than his soul.
Yet within their own body it was possible to house more than one soul, more than one mind, their Union of Souls had been established for some two hundred years; and in that time, they had learned how to coexist to an extent matched by no other being that they had ever encountered. That coexistence extended to their Gel creations, within moments, Gertrude's conciousness was established within the gel costume, the two souls comatose within Verlassen's body while their minds remained keen within the gel costume. Other souls quickly followed, more and more, until nearly all of the Souls bar Loki's own inhabited the gel vessel; some of the consumed souls had attempted to stay, imagining that they might wrest control, yet Loki had prevailed with ease – the force of his own will without comparison amongst those gathered.
After a few moment's, where Loki and the souls checked to ensure that they were all able to think and communicate, as well as being able to move their respective bodies; he pulled the souls back into their true body. Opposite him, the second Tyrant of Gold slumped slightly, tissues relaxing at the absence of thoughts within to hold the muscles taunt. Now he would attempt something he had never before tried, though it should be no more difficult than moving Tony or Gertrude, or any of the other souls' mind to the Gel shape – he would now attempt to move his own mind.
He imagined moving from one body to the other, yet moments passed with nothing happening. It was more difficult than he had imagined it seemed, for that alone was all that was required for him to send one of the other minds to inhabit a gel seed. Looking across at the Tyrant of Gold before him on the rocky platform with a green field of reiatsu as a backdrop, he closed his eyes, trying to imagine himself within the other body. Opening his eyes, he saw no difference, no change, before him a Tyrant of Gold sitting on rock, behind which was a screen of green energy; again he imagined the movement, yet as he blinked he saw no difference, again and again he struggled, nausea rising as he began to get a migraine. Finally he began to feel himself slipping forwards before countless tiny threads snapped him back into his body, firmly, irrevocably.
When sending the mind of another soul of Verlassen into a gel seed it was so effortless, the two easy detached, yet for himself...
His eyes narrowed, there was one other technique that he had developed that did similar, his Mayor Separación technique allowed him to separate the body from the soul, the soul from the mind, the mind from the memories. For a moment he wondered how had he not considered using such a thing, before he realised that it was simply due to just how easy the feat of moving the mind of another soul within Verlassen was; he had assumed doing the same for his own mind would be as easy or even more so. Yet he had overlooked one major difference between his own soul and that of the other souls within Verlassen, his own mind was controlling their body, it was controlling their energy.
It was no wonder his attempts had failed; it was too strongly attached – just like how he had to oscillate the component he desired to separate from a soul outside of Verlassen, so too he could use the oscillations to separate his mind from his soul. However, the forceful separation of his own mind from their souls was something more dangerous than he had envisaged, the main problem seemed to be that the move would separate him from their energy and body, so who would control it and how. Were he to make the wrong decision, not only might he destroy his own soul but he might trigger Verlassen's regression into a much more primitive, even non-sentient, state similar to that of a new Gillian.
Strictly speaking, Mayor Separación was rather gentle when removing those souls who were not in control from the body of the soul who ruled the vessel, yet in removing that controlling soul it was quite brutal. To avoid damage to his own Soul he should attempt to make the separation as smooth as possible, to avoid overusing force or to 'sever' those innumerable connections; instead he should attempt some other way.
But how could he make those links between his mind and soul less restrictive, less solid, without holding mind so tightly to soul? After a few moments of pondering Loki realised he had one technique that was almost perfect for the task at hand; his Aquí y allí enabled him to create undetectable, intangible conduits between himself and one of his techniques, so that he might pass energy to it, true, the range was limited however. Were he to use such conduits between his soul and mind, he would be able to separate the two without severing the connection between them, perhaps he could work a way to increase the length of the conduit – that remained to be seen.
! ~ Contingency Plans ~ !
Whatever method he chose he did must needs preserve the state of Verlassen while he experimented, to that end he would have to appoint one of the other Souls to control their body and soul, should his absence prove prolonged. The choice of who it might be proved easy enough, Gertrude was the most obvious choice; highly respected within Verlassen, she was a voice of moderation, not to mention sharing much of Loki's goals, indeed, had she pressed the issue when they were a Gillian, it may well have been she who emerged the controller of their body rather than he himself. He passed his attention through the minds of Verlassen's souls; the nameless accepted his words without comment yet their anxiousness was readily apparent, meanwhile many of the named grumbled but few could consider themselves in a position to vie for control.
Those not among the one hundred and seven other souls in Verlassen were far less impressed, though few of them were able to comprehend what was occurring, those few that were screamed for control, desperate for the opportunity to break the dominance of those chosen few. It was troubling that only the one hundred and eight souls who had been in control of the hollows at the time they had become a Gillian were amongst the dominant souls within their existence, the other voices were so dim they could barely be distinguished behind the combined power of Verlassen, like a candle held up to the sun, their feeble light was outshone many times over until it could no longer be seen. It was a situation which Loki found reprehensible, but one he had not yet managed to find a solution too, something he would soon need to address.
No, amongst the souls that might struggle for dominance, thus destroying their unity and power, there was general acceptance of Loki's wishes, Gertrude would control their body and energy were Loki not able to return; with that, their possible degradation would be minimised if not outright prevented.
! ~ Mind Games ~ !
Concentrating carefully, Loki adopted as relaxed a state as possible before beginning; focusing on the tiny cable like connections between his mind and his soul he began infusing one with the energy he used for Aquí y allí, the strand seemed to 'lighten,' becoming more and more difficult to detect with even his vastly superior Revealing Gaze. After he managed to infuse the energy into the tiny connection, Loki paused, attempting to determine if there was any difference, he felt no dimming of his wit, nor his control over his reiatsu, nor did his body feel uncomfortable or numb in any way, his coordination was unaffected.
One by one he infused the tiny strands, pausing every so often to see if there had been some result, yet none was apparent until nearly ten minutes had passed, as he attempted to send his mind towards the gel created but soulless, Golden Tyrant, he began to experience a slight drift effect, where his mind began moving more and more towards the costume, finally however it snapped back, yet the nausea was at a far more manageable level than before and he rapidly began again.
During his second attempt he was able to progress far more rapidly than before, knowing that were there any negative consequences, they had not yet manifested. When he reached about the same degree of progress as he had made before, he slowed down, again he proceeded one strand at a time. Nearly two hours had passed until he was nearly half done, yet there were still no ill effects. Once more he attempted to make the move, yet this time his mind was slightly less than half out of his soul before it encountered resistance, using his revealing gaze, Loki scanned his soul, noting that where the resistance had been felt was the same places that the strands were still attached. Yet this time, instead of allowing them to snap his mind back to his soul, Loki eased back so that the two were together once more then allowed the conduits to fade.
A third time he created the strands, this time the first half of the strands were done in just fourty minutes, a marked improvement; once again when he progressed further than he had previously, he proceeded one and a time and stopped every so often to ensure there were no problems. From the souls of Verlassen he could hear the cries of encouragement, they felt further away than usual, even more so than when they were in a Gel Seed, perhaps this was the result of Loki's mind being the one moving rather than one of the other souls. When he had finally completed the strands Loki was ecstatic, the strain of creating and maintaining so many conduits was telling, yet as Loki managed to infuse the very last strand, he was able to shrug his mind free from the confines of his soul. Drifting towards the Gel created costume which he attempted to possess, only to find that without reiatsu, he was unable to do so!
! ~ The Power of the Mind ~ !
Channelling energy through the intangible conduits linking mind to soul, proved easy enough, but the paucity of the amount available quickly became apparent; compared to usual, he was many dozens, perhaps hundreds of times weaker. The only way that such a thing could prove useful was if his mind was able to harness a much more complete source of his own energy. Yet what was even more obvious was the incredible strain from maintaining so many conduits between mind and soul, the concentration required was exacting and any slip would result in them becoming solid once more, slamming him back into his own body – with great force.
He needed a way to reduce the amount of concentration required to maintain the connection; at the same time he also needed to find a way to improve his access to their power.
Coordinating the energy requirements for so many simultaneous conduits was proving too much, regardless of Loki's prowess, no mortal could hope to maintain such a thing for a protracted period; the energy requirements for the conduits themselves were not so intensive, he could maintain a much lesser number of more powerful conduits, yet the effort of maintaining infusions of energy to so many of them? It was beyond his skills. What he needed was to lessen the strain of them somehow, the most obvious way that occurred to him would be to collate them into fewer more powerful ones. Focusing on the numerous cables between mind and soul, Loki create a single large conduit, nearly six feet in diameter, it surrounded the entire mess of cables before slowly shrinking in on itself; the intangible conduits were gathered up like a bale of hay, the single thick conduit was nearly an inch thick, yet the amount of concentration it required to maintain the infusion of energy was vastly less – despite the amount of energy remaining constant.
Throughout it all, Gertrude and the other souls of Verlassen remained still, their body unmoving, unable to do so much as lift a finger, their energy silent, unable to stir a leaf.
How could improve his mind's access to their reiatsu? The conduit allowed him to draw from their reiatsu at a reasonablerate, yet the amount remained far less than his own usual capacity, also the energy was focused within the soul, something that would not work in the way he desired. No, what he needed was for his mind and reiatsu to be together, yet separate from his mind, body and reiryoku capacity.
It was there that Mayor Separación again provided the answer, for the technique allowed Loki to separate reiatsu from a being without harming them; in truth that was usually limited to those far less powerful than he, significantly weakened or damaged; however a willing soul could allow Loki to do so without difficulty. Focusing his attention once more on Verlassen, Loki began to oscillate their energy, his intention quickly apparent to the souls of Verlassen and Gertrude acquiesced, the energy quickly drifted from Verlassen's body and the souls it contained and Loki drew it unto his mind. That done, Loki looked down at the Golden Tyrant yet hesitated once again, this time though, it was for a different reason. With mind and energy, did he not have precisely what he needed for yet another technique? Energía Conversión allowed Loki to change his very being to a pure reiryoku base, true that was usually a soul, but could not the mind assume a similar state were it able to access and control enough energy?
The moment he began to consider it, a green nimbus began to form in the air, coalescing slowly into a cloudy shape, then into roughly human dimensions and finally into a naked and perfectly green Loki look alike, here and there a line blurred on occasion, yet otherwise remained stable. It was a complete success, even without needing to acquire the gel costume he had created earlier, Loki was astounded. A few moments of intense concentration followed before the green reiatsu pulsed, the Energía Conversión once again applied, this time to convert the energy form into spiritual matter, a reishi body of gel surrounded Loki's Resurrección.
Loki turned his head finally to look at Verlassen, using his revealing gaze he tried to determine the cause of their inactivity, yet apart from the absence of reiatsu it appeared no different than normal. Within his mind, Loki could still feel the thoughts of the other souls within Verlassen, the link was still there. Musing on the issue for a moment, Loki decided the best thing to do would be to return to Verlassen, to ensure there was nothing amiss- for it seemed that without Loki's mind, Gertrude was unable to control Verlassen's body or energies – even with the agreement of the other souls.
Allowing his spiritual matter 'body' to turn back into reiatsu, Loki eased himself towards Verlassen, allowing the conduits to dissipate. Instantly their eyes sprung open, there was a slight sense of discomfort and a headache, but after a thorough examination, Loki was pleased to discover they were otherwise unharmed and their capabilities undiminished.
» Training: Agent of Utopia (Part II – Reiryoku Storage)
» Training: Mirada que Revela (Revealing Gaze) – increasing sensitivity
! ~ We spy with Our little eye ~ !
Once more Loki had returned to control of their body, the first requirement for their objective was complete, yet another presented itself; even were they able to leave their body, it was essential that they find someway to render it inviolate, to protect it from all harm – just as the Caretaker itself was incapable of being harmed. Ideally, they would desire for the Caretaker's own protections to be extended to their body, though that was a very difficult thing to envisage; the Caretaker was impossible to be harmed because it was a product of thought and energy, purely intangible yet present throughout all of Utopia. Yet somehow, despite being wholly intangible, the caretaker was able to store not just Verlassen's Reiatsu, but the portion of their Reiryoku that was accessed in their Resurrección; how could the intangible Caretaker store reiryoku, the energy that was replenished by consuming others and was later converted into reiatsu for use?
In truth, Loki had never truly delved into that matter before, it was a conspicuous oversight, no doubt he had in part been complacent – that the Caretaker managed it was sufficient. Yet to ensure the continued safety of the Caretaker and the prosperity of Utopia, it was essential that Loki address his failure by understanding his own creation, one he had inadvertently made upon attempting to become an Arrancar. Using his Revealing Gaze, Loki had always been able to see his reiatsu infused within the atmosphere throughout Utopia; yet at the same time, he had never managed to catch so much a as glimpse of the Reiryoku reserves that it contained, nor of the Caretaker itself – it was much like the wind or gravity, a force felt yet never seen. However with his Revealing gaze, he was able to perceive and analyse even the most complex of energy infused entities, so why had the Caretaker escaped his attentions?
Even here within the green spherical Mundo Negación, he could feel the presence of the Caretaker, the energy suffusing the air itself; taking a deep breath, Loki began to examine his surroundings in greater detail, his revealing gaze pulsating through the air, sending him details of his with a level of detail that was at first very vague, then becoming increasingly complete. The simple objects and substances without energy were revealed in greater detail more quickly, without the presence of energy to interfere with the examination, these things were reported back to Loki almost instantly. Eventually more intricate information became available, the existence and structure of the Negation field, revealed itself as did the composition of the Golden Tyrant's Gel costume he had fashioned. Yet still no information presented itself on the Caretaker.
However Loki was not yet satisfied, he knew there was some trick behind it – the Caretaker was indeed present surrounding him; that the reiatsu was present meant that their was reiryoku being converted even here. Perhaps there was some inter-dimensional aspect to the Caretaker or perhaps –
As he pondered the possibilities, he caught the occasional flicker of energy, barely sensed it was gone almost instantly, yet the flickers were happening all around him – hundreds of them every seconds; tiny fluctuations like the twinkling of stars in the night sky, each was gone almost before he noticed their presence, yet when the spherical area was examined as a whole he could definitely detect the tiny pulses, not just reiatsu, but the presence of reiryoku. Each time a burst happened there was a slight delay before any others happened in the surrounding area, the reiryoku building slightly then spreading out as the release of reiatsu flickered, then the process began again.
It was a much more subtle sensation than when Loki himself converted reiryoku into reiatsu, and it came from the entire area rather than a single being, yet the process was unmistakeable; here around him, the Caretaker was converting reiryoku into reiatsu. As Loki limited his concentration to a much smaller area so that he could concentrate on the reiryoku, his revealing gaze began to pick up something it had never before managed. There, in the air before him, were countless tiny points moving around just like the particles of air, yet they were clearly different – their was something about them that was intimately familiar; instantly the thought occurred to Loki; they felt just like the Gel puppet he had created.
When he reached out towards them with his Gel Schaffung, he attempted to draw them into the palm of his hand, yet the tiny cube shaped particles of gel seemed not to even be aware that he had directed them – it was not that they resisted his effort, but rather they seemed unaware that such an attempt had even been made. Shocked, Loki once again attempted to steer the particles of energy towards him. As he did so he could feel the tiny fluctuations increase in speed, there within the small area that he had been concentrating on, the tiny cubes of gel began growing; as each cube reached twice their former dimensions it split into eight identically sized cubes, which in turn released a small amount of reiatsu then began to grow once again. The more intensely Loki attempted to direct the cubes, the more rapidly their division process proceeded.
Each of the cubes was so tiny that Loki could not begin to perceive them with even his Afilar enhanced vision, though with his revealing gaze that should not be the case for it was able to even see the tiniest of structures and the energy within; however, about the most he could determine was that the cubes were not just incredibly small but nearly clear like crystal, with a green tint and tiny golden flecks.
Even as he was able to examine the composition of the air surrounding the cubes, Loki was unable to sense much of the structure or workings of the gel cubes themselves, his every attempt was negated with tiny flows of reiatsu that interfered with his examination, each time, there was an almost imperceptible answering release of reishi which was followed by the reiryoku building up once more. No doubt it was this absorption of resihi that gave the cubes their golden flecks – coloured the same as Reishi particles that Loki himself absorbed; while the green was doubtless influenced by Loki's green Reiatsu. Without the benefit of the analysis provided by his revealing gaze, it was a few moments more before he realised the most likely culprit was one of his own techniques.
Since the Caretaker had access to all of Verlassen's own techniques and abilities, it was fair to assume that what was negating his every attempt at analysis was in fact Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny), the technique had been developed to prevent energy use within a field, it seemed that very principle was being applied to the cubes of gel themselves, preventing Loki's attempts at manipulation or even examination; the Caretaker had sought to protect its own secrets and had done so with adroit competence.
» Training: Caretaker Charge
! ~ Thy Cup Overfloweth ~ !
Being unable to examine the cubes in greater detail was incredibly annoying, no matter how proud Loki was of his creation's ability to defend itself – even from its creator.
He had however determined that the reiryoku was stored in a multitude of tiny cubes throughout utopia, that the cubes were made of green and gold gel and were extremely small, constantly growing as their reiryoku replenished itself, then dividing as they grew too large, releasing the reiatsu that was within the Utopian atmosphere. By using his Gel Schaffung, Loki had managed to somehow infuse the cubes with more energy – it seemed that the Gel had used Tiranía Tranquila's application of Fuerza de Oposición (Opposing Force) to halt the energy, turning it into reishi then absorbing it, turning it into reiryoku, increasing the number of cubes then beginning the division process once again.
Impressed by the idea of managing to increase the number of crystals and the reiryoku reserves that they represented, Loki continued to infuse the microscopic gel cubes in his surrounding, steadily the sensation of reiatsu surrounding him became more and more pronounced, almost intrusive. Yet even as the number of crystals reached such a level they began to dissolve at a similar rate as they were produced, each resulting in a more substantial flow of reishi than before; no matter how much more reiatsu Loki sought to infuse into his surroundings, the total would not increase further – it seemed there was some sort of limit about the concentration that the gel crystal cubes were able to survive in.
Being able to reinforce the Caretaker's strength was extraordinary, Loki was more than simply pleased with himself, though he could not help but note that the idea of managing to perform such a feat for all of Utopia would be beyond his own capabilities, the area that he had managed to infuse to saturation was barely thirty feet in size, true, the effort had not taxed him much, yet Utopia was far more immense than the sphere, the amount of power required would be incomparable. Perhaps there was some way that Loki could enable the reiatsu of others to be provided to the Caretaker. For a moment he considered some sort of constant drain on everyone within the region, yet instantly he discarded the idea; the caretaker itself would prevent that sort of 'harm' being inflicted, in truth it was something he would prefer to be voluntary anyway, a way for people to give back to the caretaker, for their own energy to be used to protect their new way of life.
However, Loki had no desire to pass around the knowledge or capability of how to infuse the gel with energy – were he to do so, it might open the way for those of nefarious intent to manage to inflict some sort of harm on the Caretaker. No, instead he would need to come up with some way for people to use so that they could do so, without being able to work out how it was occurring or being able to manipulate the process itself.
Such matters were difficult to determine, how best to protect the means used to 'charge' the Caretaker's reiryoku capacity by producing the tiny cubic crystals? The cubes themselves provided the first hint, that the means to charge should use Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) to oppose whatever energy was provided, then convert it into the most basic forms of reishi, to provide reiryoku reserves. However such a mechanism would need to be large enough for people to use easily, would not such a thing be more easily targeted by ne’er-do-wells, completely unlike the tiny cubic crystals. How very troublesome.
Loki was no stranger to gel created crystals, he had created the first of the sentinel crests using ground up crystals that were able to be infused with energy to create a beacon of energy or to provide access to Sustracción (Subtraction) and Sereno (Serene). They were, in his own opinion, one of his more subtle and useful creations.
The beacons of energy produced were each unique to the crystals used in the seal as well as the reiatsu of the individual using it; that was one of the ways that Sentinels could authenticate each other over considerable distances. Perhaps... Were the charging to be done through a much larger version of such a crystal, it might be possible to create a unique energy signature that the caretaker could readily identify and target for absorption.
Already in his Resurrección, Loki glanced towards the ground where a new pool of gel began to appear some two feet from where he stood. Instinctively, Loki began to create a different shaped crystal than those he had created for the Sentinels which were triangular prisms, or from those that were in the air which were cubes; instead the crystal growth that began was a green hexagonal prism that reached nearly four feet in size and eight inches across, at the base, smaller hexagonal prism crystals began to form – growing just as they would in a natural deposit. Even the golden flecks appeared like natural imperfections that might arise in crystals, yet the infusion of Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) quickly made apparent its arcane nature.
Just like the sentinel crystals, this much larger version could create a beacon of energy; though the sentinel beacon was quite noisy, this was far more subtle, barely discernible to any without sufficient skill. Yet even as Loki directed a weak bala towards the crystal outcropping, the energy was opposed, broken down into reishi and absorbed by the crystal. The resulting beacon of energy was a three foot wide beacon of green and gold light which thrust upwards into the air, across the top of the Mundo Negación field and seeped down throughout the air.
All around him, Loki could feel tiny flickers as the reiatsu infused light filtered downwards opposed by tiny flows of the Caretaker's reiatsu from the microscopic gel cubes, followed by pulses of reishi quickly absorbed as the reiryoku contained in the cubes grew until saturation was reached once more.
» Training: Agent of Utopia (Part III – End Game)
! ~ Discarding the Flesh ~ !
Whatever else they may have learned, the fact that the Negation field had become saturated with energy was something that was inarguable – in such a situation, it was impossible for the Caretaker to absorb his energy – his very being. For the path to him was abundantly clear now. Energía Conversión would transform his very being into energy – such energy could then be infused directly into the large crystal that he had created, to be rendered into a beam of light and absorbed by the Caretaker.
Verlassen sat down across from the Golden Tyrant gel costume once more, then Loki separated each and every minds within Verlassen, as well as their reiatsu from their souls and the vessel it inhabited. Creating a form of reiryoku, their hazy green outline quickly resolving itself before sinking into the prone costume; which promptly stood and examined the negation field around them, dismissing it without effort.
Casting his attention towards their now mindless body, Loki sent his reiatsu towards it, once again using the Energía Conversión technique, this time he rendered not their mind into an ethereal form but rather Verlassen's body and souls. Had their been any minds within, they could have opposed the attempt or reverted the change without difficulty, but instead the body quickly transformed into a green nimbus of energy that soon resolved itself into the seated, immobile figure of Verlassen.
Directing the energy within their 'body', Loki stood it up, finding the sensation slightly more awkward than managing a gel costume, it stepped stiffly towards the crystal before placing its hands upon the surface, pushing forwards only to find its forwards momentum halted through the Fuerza de Oposición (Opposing Force), the caretaker was doing its best to avoid negating the body and souls so as to prevent 'harm', to Verlassen. Indeed, it was only because Loki had access to the very same techniques that he was able to overcome the issue, the Tiranía Tranquila (Tranquil Tyranny) was being used to redefine 'harm', to allow the caretaker only momentarily, to consider Loki's own consumption to be something other than harm – to be a transformation of his existence.
There was a roaring sound surrounding the mountain top, the air itself began shaking as if in indecision as little by little the hands began to seem to sink into the crystal – the energy form that their body and souls had taken was being broken down, torn apart into tiny fragments of reishi and consumed by the gold flecked green hexagonal crystal which began to glow far more fiercely than before. At first the column of light produced was hair thin, yet it rapidly swelled in size, enveloping the entire width of the crystal, then expanding to encompass the still pushing form of Verlassen's body and then to surround the entire mountain. A golden threaded green pillar of light nearly one mile in diameter. For a moment, throughout Utopia there was a pulse of energy, not particularly strong, but strangely noticeable – though it seemed to have no origin, instead it seemed to come from everywhere all at once.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Sapporo, a single mountain was completely encrusted with countless green and gold hexagonal crystals of varying size.
The Golden Tyrant looked down at what he had wrought, the expression on his face one of mixed emotions; happiness in his success was tinged with surprise and growing alarm, for even as the pulse had reverberated throughout Utopia, Loki had felt the Caretaker distance itself from him. Offering Verlassen protection while at the same time, it claimed its own independence.
How quickly they grew up.