World Keeper - Chapter 1265: Settling Old Scores
It didn’t take long for the other guilds to realize that the Dead Script, a low-tier guild focusing on memetic abilities, had suddenly lost all contact. There were several people in other guilds that had members of the Dead Script on their friends list, especially those in the higher tiers of power that would often form contacts to network.
These friends quickly realized that the members of Dead Script had died, and that anyone who had any true combat power within the guild was eliminated. However, that was all that they could do. With the privacy barrier established, they couldn’t enter the guild’s home territory to investigate, and couldn’t provide any support.
Worse yet, even if they could enter, there were few that would be willing. The Dead Script guild was infamous for their use of memetic powers, so their entire territory was likely to be flooded with hidden dangers. Only a Master could safely traverse that space, and the Masters of Hal Tua already had their hands full.
In the Admin Room, I pursed my lips, looking at the monster that had destroyed the upper echelon of the Dead Script. “Is that…?” I began, but Terra nodded her head, a rare, serious look on her face.
“Yeah… we might actually need to get involved this time, just for containment.” She confirmed, and we stared at the squirming mass on the screen, countless lines being drawn on the ground.
The monster that had destroyed the Dead Script guild was by no means ordinary, but that was to be expected. Generally speaking, if a large territory has a major specialization, the most powerful monsters spawned there will reflect that. In the case of the Metong homeworld, it was the swarm that Lifre was still working to clean up.
Likewise, with the Dead Script guild, it was a memetic monster. No, maybe that was not the right way to refer to this. Typically, when we referred to something as a memetic monster, we meant a creature that had been infected by a memetic script and mutated, carrying with it the power of that script.
What we were looking at on the screen was different. This was not a monster infected by a memetic script. This was a living, sentient piece of information. An idea that had come to life, born of the chaotic space within the Dead Script guild. It had no discernible form, and existed as pure knowledge. What we were seeing on the screen was just the process of its victims dissolving.
If we were descended to the mortal world, just knowing of this thing’s existence would be enough for it to spread to us. “Would Chelsea even be able to make an anti-meme for that?” I asked, but Terra shook her head.
“Typically, an anti-meme has to be just as complex as the meme it seeks to eliminate, because it has to negate its very existence. In other words, Chelsea would have to create her own living meme, and hope that it fulfilled its purpose.” Terra explained, and I lowered my head in thought.
The biggest problem was… this wasn’t actually a monster. It had no concept of health or damage. It either existed or it didn’t. I wasn’t sure if it was a valid target for smiting, since it was quite literally just a piece of information. And if that was the case, how would we kill it?
Looking over at me, Terra seemed to understand my concerns, and smiled slightly. “The easiest way to get rid of it would be to dispatch an Origin. They would be able to safely navigate the territory of the Dead Script’s universe, and could target the core idea of the entity.”
I gave a small nod at that, before looking over. “Before I do, let me ask, can it be smited in the first place? The Dead Script is not the only place that specialized in memes. More of these things could start popping up soon, and I don’t want to be unprepared if that happens.”
Terra hummed thoughtfully at my comment, but ultimately nodded. “It can. Although this creature exists as a living idea, it is still a form of entity. It is merely an information-based entity, similar to a void beast. Fundamentally, there is nothing stopping a creature like this from being smited.”
I let out a sigh of relief when I heard that, nodding my head. As long as it could be dealt with in an emergency, that was enough. However, like she said, there were still ways for us to deal with it without doing so. And, like I had mentioned, there were likely to be more of these later, especially from people like the Thousand Eyes Guild.
Before that happened, we needed to ensure that we had someone experienced in dealing with these creatures. As for who… I knew just the person to send in.
Dana sat cross-legged within her room, focusing on her inner universe. She was engrossed in the creation of a new world law, one that would turn darkness into a form of creation. All things could exist within the darkness, and all it took was a simple thought to create it, whether it was a castle, a blade, or a dark god.
However, her focus was cut short when a voice appeared in her mind. I’m sorry to disturb you, Dana, but we have a situation.
Hearing the Keeper’s voice, Dana’s eyes abruptly opened. “If you’re calling me for it, it must be bad, right? Which universe am I going to?” She asked, pulling herself to her feet and heading for the door.
The Dead Script guild’s territory. I’ll have Aurivy arrange for transportation to get you through their barrier. They’re dealing with a memetic threat. Just to be safe, I won’t tell you the exact nature until you’re in that universe, to ensure that it doesn’t use you as a beacon to attack Olympus.
Dana’s mind raced, but she forced herself not to think about the implications of these words. As the Keeper said, any information could be hazardous when dealing with a memetic threat. The less she knew, the better. “Got it. Do I need any special equipment?”
No. You should be capable of handling it on your own. Those words put Dana at ease. As long as this wasn’t a special category of threat where she would have to take special gear to deal with it, she was confident.
Moments later, she exited Olympus, seeing the Master of Travel from Hal Tua standing not far away. Her eyes narrowed, causing the man to flinch. “I-I was asked to provide transportation for you.” He said, quickly opening a black gate next to himself.
Without saying a word, Dana nodded her head, stepping into the gate. On the other side, her senses were immediately assaulted by a flood of hazardous information. She felt it trying to sink into her core, unable to infect her, but it felt as if her skin was crawling with the constant assault.
“Alright, I’m here.” She said, looking around. She seemed to be standing within an empty city, discarded clothes and boxes scattered about. “What can you tell me, boss?”
The Keeper took a deep breath, slowly explaining to Dana. This universe is being plagued by a living idea, a memetic script that spontaneously spawned with its own consciousness. Out of all of Olympus, you are the most adept at dealing with memes, so I wanted to leave this to you, if possible.
Dana nodded her head, understanding the reasoning now. She had studied memetic effects for a long time, and was far more adept with it than Tsubaki or Lifre. As for Lyrica, she didn’t have a clue how good the Origin of Beasts was in this field. But, given that she needed to rely on Hal Tua’s system to handle her Origin powers, she doubted that Lyrica would match up to her.
“Got it. Can you give me some more specific information, to get it to target me?”
There’s a series of words that it repeats before it kills, and this should be the most important thing. Loss. Seven. Crimson forest–
“Return. Ash.” Dana finished the series, surprising the Keeper. She could already sense the presence of the idea as soon as the Keeper began reciting the list. Dana brought a hand to her forehead, groaning. “How does it always come back to this? I thought we got rid of it a long time ago?”
What do you mean? The Keeper asked in confusion as Dana stared at the bundle of information in front of her, which seemed to twist and contort, taking a humanoid form.
“Ash.” Dana repeated. If she weren’t an Origin, she’d probably be just as confused as the Keeper, but she could sense a lot more now. “Fragments of her information must still exist somewhere within the void, slowly corroded by time. A piece of it fell into this universe, and got caught up in the memetic cesspool that is this space.”
Wait, are you talking about Tsubaki’s old friend? The Keeper asked in alarm, and Dana nodded, looking at the vague figure of the young girl in front of her.
“That’s right. Do not tell Tsuba about this, got it? I don’t want to bring back those memories. We already put her down once.” Dana said, gritting her teeth. “Currently, this memetic entity is operating on a set principle. Anyone caught in its grasp will be thrown into an illusory world, the strongest memory remaining in this fragment of consciousness.”
“They’ll appear in the Trial of Blood, in the body of a powerless child. The success condition seems to be to play out what happened. Survive against the powerful monsters, meet up with Ash, and then kill her after she gets possessed by the spider.” Dana could sense the detailed information as the entity tried harder and harder to target her, staring at her with empty black eyes.
“If any part of the process fails, the target is deleted.” Dana closed her eyes firmly, clenching her fists. “She’s trying to find Tsuba.”
As soon as she said that, her shadow exploded out in all directions, dyeing the city black in an instant. “I’m not going to let her torment Tsuba again.” Dana said in a cold voice, lowering her hand slowly to glare at the thing in front of her. “Boss, you said that she exists as just an idea now, right?”
That’s right. Currently, it is just a memetic entity. That’s why it is so troublesome to deal with, because there is nothing tangible to attack.
“No… that just makes this easy.” Dana muttered coldly, taking a deep breath. “If that’s the case, I can handle this quickly.”
The buildings around Dana began to shudder, slowly dissolving into black masses that melted into the ground. Dana looked at the entity in front of her, and stepped forward. “The Trial of Blood. The clan. Servants. Spider. Betrayal. Forgiveness. Sister.”
Each word caused a reaction in the figure before Dana, causing it to spasm. Dana’s eyes narrowed, knowing that she was drawing the entity’s entire focus to herself. Each keyword was something that she knew would trigger Ash’s memory. “She’s my sister now. I won’t let you have her.”
As soon as Dana said that, the indiscernible mass lunged for her, head open in a gaping, black maw. Dana, however, stared at it calmly. She allowed the entity to tackle her, before a black mass stretched up from the ground, wrapping around the two of them like a cocoon.
A moment later, the cocoon faded, and Dana stepped out alone. She closed her eyes, feeling the presence of the memetic entity now locked within her inner void. She had forced it to dive headfirst into her body, where it could not escape. Where she could simply erase it with a thought.
Once the memetic entity was erased, the Keeper’s voice spoke up in her mind again. …How is it that it was Ash of all things? Surely, there would have been countless other options, right?
“It’s probably because she was partially a memetic entity already after that last incident, so her information was already part of the void. It just never had anything to latch onto.” Dana responded in a small tone, letting out a deep breath. “There could still be hundreds more tiny fragments of her consciousness spread out, each looking for something to anchor to. Or, maybe that was the only one. Given the infinite and chaotic nature of the void, there’s no way to check it for such a vague piece of information.”
Thankfully, getting out of a universe with a privacy barrier was far easier than getting in, and Dana simply cut open a black portal with her shadow. When she left, the entire planet that she had been standing on seemed to dissolve into nothing beneath the light of the sun. “Remember, no telling Tsuba, please. She’s got enough on her plate.”
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