Chapter 258: Divine Intervention

Using a divine avatar was, well, it was strange, no matter how you looked at it. It was like a tiny portion of my mind was separated from my main body, fully aware of itself and kind of separated from the rest of me… while still being a part of me. Kind of hard to explain, but I was two separate beings all at once. Heck, I couldn’t even communicate with myself if I didn’t concentrate hard enough. Like I said, it was disconcerting, even with just one extra body, and there was Molly and Abigail manipulating how knows how many different bodies. 

Thankfully, I had a few moments to collect myself since I seemed to be buried under some wreckage and rubble. Noe must have stuck me in the aftermath of one of the cities that the aliens had destroyed. It made sense, I suppose, since it wasn’t like anyone would be looking for mysterious individuals among the destruction left behind by the alien invaders. 

Still, being in two minds at once was damned strange.

“It will take a while to get used to controlling two minds, my Host,” Noe said, her voice oddly reverberating twice, once to each body, “I am no longer insulating or assisting your mind like I did back in Jordan’s mock trials.”

I did as I was told and tried to focus just on one individual -- my avatar. I felt a larger portion of my mind separate before disappearing into a part of my mind I no longer had access to. Well, not unless I wanted to access it anyway. I felt my own half-mind ease up and a sense of normality returned. I tried to reestablish connection with my main body, but Noe stopped me since the whole point was to, well, not do that.

Fuck this is weird. How’s my real, or uh, main body doing?

“I am woefully surprised at how slow you are when it comes to working in the higher planes.” Noe sighed, before she paused briefly and sighed again.. “... and your main body just asked me the same question. The answer is the same, just as how both of you are the same. Just forget about the implications and focus on the task at hand. To avoid confusion and unnecessary risks, I will relay information between your two minds. I do not want to risk the consequences of you trying to share information between your two segmented minds. We do not want you to become distracted during an important mission.”

Okay, okay, let’s just focus then. How’s the monitoring situation? Am I clear to act?

“Xalla and her sister have most definitely noticed, and it is probably safe to assume that Q has an idea of what you’ve done as well, but aside from those three, your possession seemed to have gone unnoticed by the others.”

I frowned. Wait, possession? 

That was when I finally noticed the body that I was inhabiting, what with the half-buried state I was in and the whole mind separating fiasco, but I wasn’t in my own body. I frowned even harder because I wasn’t even the same gender. I still had access to my Xollon senses, so I did a quick one over on my body, and I frowned even harder. I couldn’t quite make out what I looked like since I was covered in dust and it appeared that half my ribs were crushed - Noe clearly chose an already deceased body to inhabit - but aside from the awful wounds and dust, the body was modestly young and attractive. I used some of my divine energy to fix the worst of the damage. 

Once I cleared most of the dust and muck off my body, I saw that she was maybe a wee bit older than Yoona, but that was about the only similarity between the body and the high schooler. First of all, this lady was tatted up, every inch of her from her toes to the top of her neck seemed to have some kind of pattern scribbled in irreversible ink, and her hair was a hodgepodge of different colours. Her roots were so damaged from constant bleaching that I wouldn’t be surprised if she went bald in a few years. I think she had more than a dozen piercings, although only the ones on her ears and nose survived the damage. I think she had several more, given the extensive tears on her face and small pieces of metal jewelry on the floor, but I fixed those up when I healed her body.

She wore comically ill-fitting clothing, with chains and other metal doodads dangling from seemingly random parts of her jacket and pants, all while different patches of material were sewn “artistically” to the clothes. Finally, to put everything together, she wore a t-shirt with some jagged scribbles of an obscure metal band - the logo looking like someone with cerebral palsy tried to draw lightning bolts. 

The last thing I checked was to see if I could find some kind of ID, because I could have sworn that this person looked kind of familiar. But you’d think that I would remember someone so distinct… but my mind was drawing blanks. And of course there was no ID to help my memories. She had a phone in her pocket - thankfully, the punk cargo pants had more than enough of pockets -  but the device was destroyed when the building fell on her. Any clue about this body’s identity was a mystery. Aside from a packet of gum and some crumpled-up bills, she had nothing on her.

I pushed the worst of the debris out of the way and stood up. Using a body not modeled after my own took some getting used to, even when my physical capabilities were super boosted through my divinity.

What the hell, Noe, how is this the best body that I should be in? 

“Once again, I do not have conscious knowledge of how the Absolute Luck Skill works, at least in terms of the algorithms and how it chooses the best events.” Noe answered, “However, I think I can make some educated guesses in this case.”

And?

“You are trying to be inconspicuous, my Host,” Noe said, “And from your archived memories, you have always chosen to appear in a male form, even prior to our current reemergence. I do not believe that anyone will think it is you in that particular form.” 

Okay, fair enough, that explains the gender, but uh… I thought we were trying for inconspicuous. I stand out worse than when I wore that suit of armor as Winslow! I can change my clothes, but nothing’s hiding the goddamn rainbow hair and tattoos. 

“I am sure that there are reasons, my Host,” she replied, “But only time will tell. Enough speculations, though. Please clean yourself up and head toward Toronto. Someone will eventually notice a lone survivor wandering out of an otherwise destroyed warzone. I have already had to expend a significant amount of Luck Charges to avert curious eyes on this location.”

I saw that there wasn’t another living organism aside from a few cockroaches and rats scurrying between the rubble, and nodded. Yeah, best to get myself somewhere less conspicuous as soon as possible, especially since I was already treading on thin ice by manifesting at all. I was sure that the Overseer’s goons were on alert for any abnormalities in the trial, and more than a few sets of eyes were on me. Just because Noe could blind the Trash Matrix didn’t mean that I was entirely invisible.

I thought about changing clothes as I went, but thought better of it. First, I was in the aftermath of a literal alien warzone, so getting new clothes wasn’t really an option, and it wasn’t like I had the time in any case. But more importantly, I didn’t choose to because Noe’s Absolute Luck must have chosen this body for a reason. My best guess was that this individual had some kind of relationship with an Aspirant in Ryan’s group, although this was just speculation. 

Fortunately, getting to where Ryan and his goons were didn’t pose a challenge, at least in terms of finding where they were. Now, I’ve never been to Toronto, much know anything about it other than its the biggest city in Canada, so I thought finding directions - especially when I didn’t have a phone - would be challenging. But no, I just had to follow the sounds of battle; it also helped that I could see the burning skyline from where I was. The only problem was the actual getting there part. 

I was on foot, and while I managed to find an abandoned bike about an hour into my run, but the roads were a total disaster. Craters and gashes in the tarmac made navigating a nightmare, and that wasn’t accounting for the cars and other rubble littering the streets. I gave up trying to bike halfway through and just ran for it. It took the better part of 8 hours just to reach the perimeter of Ryan’s defensive lines. 

The sounds of fighting and slaughter grew in intensity as I scurried by way between half-collapsed buildings and debris, making sure to stick to the shadows so that I wouldn’t be noticed. Another half an hour of careful manoeuvring and I was finally able to see what was going on in the time that it took to reach here.

A group of Ryan’s Aspirants, and what appeared to be a few hundred local militia or police, were engaging in an extended firefight against not the alien invaders, but a bunch of mutated cultists. Ryan’s group had made a crude fortification on one of the main thoroughfares leading into the city, and I could just about make out other Aspirants in the background, erecting what appeared to be a wall. A few mages were standing sentry, protecting the workers, dissuading all but the dumbest of individuals from attacking those positions by chucking fireballs or what have you, which meant that the bulk of the cultists were funnelled into a single chokepoint. 

These particular robed individuals had tentacles and other feelers growing out of their bodies or had disjointed, elongated limbs that thrashed about vigorously. Others had extra eyeballs growing out of their arms or legs, and while my cultists certainly looked quite horrible, they were, uh, very weak. The extra appendages and tentacles, while powerful, hindered their movements and made them sluggish. The extra eyes made it so that the cultists were clearly disoriented, while elongated or enlarged limbs meant that they had to drag around hundreds of pounds of extra baggage. Worse, they weren’t even bulletproof.

All in all, what this meant was that my cultists were being slaughtered. 

Holy shit, Noe. Won’t I run out of worshippers at this rate? 

“Hardly, Walter,” she snickered, “These creatures are not even formally a part of your cult. They are the failed experiments of David and his crew. Speaking of failed experiments, I believe that some of them have noticed your arrival. They are coming now.”

Ah, well, at least I won’t feel bad smooshing ‘em in that case.

“I would advise against that, my Host,” Noe warned, “The defenders have noticed as well, and I believe that the Aspirants amongst them have recognized the body that you inhabit.”

I frowned and extended my senses and saw that Noe was right. There was clear recognition, along with equal parts relief and panic, in the expressions of the Aspirants that defended this position. The lead individual, a woman dressed in a neat tactical uniform, gave me one final look before she issued a series of commands. The few mages in reserve began to move toward me immediately, while others scrambled to inform the rest of Ryan’s cohort about my arrival. 

Huh, I never should have doubted your abilities, Noe. It seems that the body you chose is someone quite important… but it’s not an Aspirant, clearly, so who could it be?

“They’re coming. I would advise against acting out of character before we figure out whose body you are inhabiting.”

Don’t have to tell me twice, Noe. 

I watched the first cultist melt into a puddle of goo as it approached me, while another tentacled monstrosity was vaporized by a beam of concentrated fire. Before I could see anything else, a man in his mid-thirties materialised a few feet behind me from a dark patch of shadow and scooped me up unceremoniously. He whispered something that I didn’t quite catch before jumping back into the dark patch and disappearing, taking me with him.

We reappeared in what looked like a makeshift command bunker, with men and women scrambling around to defend the city. More importantly, there was one man whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time in that command center, and he was looking at me slack jawed. 

Ah shit… Yeah, now I remember where I’d seen this woman before.

“Aisha, is that you?” Ashwin said, “But… How?”