Chapter 38: Jaeger’s last encounter

A large, white bird screamed in protest when Jaeger dislodged it from its perch, atop the ridged back of a rocky hill, and surveyed the land ahead. He had just been moving through a very rough stretch of terrain that had little to offer him and was less interesting than the towering spires that other worlds could boast of. Further on, the horizon flattened out so that all that was left was a gently flowing canopy of bright green leaves as far as the eye could see that was occasionally broken up by roads or rivers and one small town. Fern, it was called. However, he had no reason to pay it a visit and had wasted plenty of time already. His goal now was to the northwest.

Then he spotted something extremely infuriating, much like being given the only burnt croissant in a bakery. A group composed of thirty things was making its way through the woodlands. He named them things because there were several horses, two humans, one looked pretty elderly, and a couple of dozen puppets. They were starting to make them here too, he lamented internally, worried what this could mean for the looked-down-upon demi-humans already knowing it wasn't anything good. That was going too far; it was now more like being handed a croissant that had been burnt, stood on and then sliced into pieces with a no returns policy.

Some manipulators had stupid abilities. That was a fact that couldn't be helped. All abilities were personal and, as there were plenty of idiots in existence, this meant there were lots of badly thought out abilities. They might be inefficient, too costly to regularly use in a fight, or just not make a lot of sense and be clumsy to wield.

However, whilst these people were annoying, there was a far worse group of manipulators. Those that made their abilities something which could do nothing but harm others, something that was obviously personal to them, were usually best to kill on sight as their lives couldn't be ranked as more important than the numerous they would undoubtedly harm. Jaeger hated people like that, people who couldn't be trusted to see value in other's lives and who used aura in such a dishonourable manner.

Having seen them and not waiting so long as for the bird he had spooked to make a single orbit above his head, he was gone and running, his course one of interception. Of course, he would not just go in, ability blazing, and kill everything as that would be extremely hypocritical. Instead, he would confirm the identity of the one making the puppets, kill them to stop the production of anymore, and then destroy the puppets to disrupt the trade. If there was no money in it and no manipulators to make the products, he could stop the practise from really taking off.

The party he was tracking looked to be heading straight for Fern along an open road, and he soon overtook them to block their path. Here the road was quite wide and, recognizing that they were not being stopped for any friendly exchange, the group he opposed spread out, forming a crescent moon of puppets around him with two human manipulators at the centre. Each puppet was armed with various weapons, some halberds, others spears but nothing too expensive like a full-length longsword. They were all there, expressionless, clearly waiting for any command from their master.

Jaeger ignored them all, directing his gaze at the only ones that could appreciate its ferocity and slowly looking between the two of them, forcing the younger to look at his feet. It then seemed like the elderly man - he wasn't all that elderly, but Jaeger had decided to think negatively of him - was about to speak, but Jaeger beat him to it. "Welcome to my court." he said, whilst raising his arms up and wide, "Here I will be both the presiding judge and the jury."

"What do you want from us?" the elder cried out.

"Are you responsible for making these puppets?" he replied.

"No."

Well, Jaeger hadn't been expecting it to be that easy, so he took a few steps forwards and took note when the old man's nerve failed, and he snapped a command which caused the puppets to all cluster forwards, but they still stopped short of actually attacking. So what he had here were two manipulators who were clearly fine with using puppets, even if they hadn't made them, and it seemed quite likely that they had been produced by them as, as far as Jaeger knew, there were no other puppets in Anadora.

"Can you defend your killing of these people?" was his next question, already knowing that no one could create a reasonable argument to defend themselves with.

"What reason do you have to care? They're just demis!" Shouted back the younger, shaking off his blue hood to expose his brown hair. Then, after a moment of silence, his companion did not show him any disapproval.

That was enough, Jaeger decided. They were guilty enough to be killed, along with the puppets too. Accomplishing this wasn't going to be too difficult.

When he started running towards the two manipulators, the puppets were ordered to attack him, and they all went at him together, a seething mass of howling bodies and weaponry forming a near-solid wall before him. He didn't bother trying to avoid them, and one punch was enough to silence the one nearest, shattering both their skull and jaw bone simultaneously.

He was faster than any of them, too fast for any normal person to follow, and so, whilst they were densely packed, he could find the gaps between them through which to move, sending kicks out this way and that, and stamping down to break knees bending the legs in the wrong directions. If his first strike did not kill an opponent, he did not bother trying to finish them, knowing that they were no longer conscious, living beings in the conventional sense. Instead, he left them to die behind him as he forged a path of bodies through their midst, twisting arms and bursting organs until he was through them.

Making it past the puppetry had taken him around three seconds, and now only a dozen of them remained behind him, but he cared more for the manipulators and targeted them next. They looked quite shocked to see his speed, and the elder one stepped back, probably realizing that he had made a mistake in not immediately running. However, the younger recovered quickly, perhaps being more confident, and raised his arms, ready to fight.

Jaeger did not have a preference as to which he would kill first; instead, he went after the closest, the one that was ready for him.

The forward manipulator's confidence would soon be proven to be well-founded. He certainly had the potential to surpass the others that Jaeger had run into, all except one that was, since he had arrived in Anadora. However, he was still young and had neither the combat experience nor the time required to develop and become stronger. As it stood, he was no threat.

When Jaeger reached within a certain radius of him, his ability was activated; Jaeger then hardly had the time to stop himself from colliding with a tall box that appeared before him by manipulating the space in front of him to bring himself to an instant stop. It was divided into three segments, each a different shade of pink, covered in narrow slits. Not sure what its purpose was, Jaeger bypassed it trying to reach its creator. Apparently, he was supposed to have been caught within it, and he would have had his reactions been any slower, as the manipulator behind it was now looking rather worried.

Assuming that they were too naive to be tricking him, Jaeger continued forwards and prepared to strike him before being forced to stop by the box, disappearing and reappearing before him. This time his fist was partially engulfed within it and, once he had stopped by the same method as before, the skin was shaved off the end of his fingers. That was rather irritating, but he almost felt bad for the person before him as possessing such great creation ability at their age was quite interesting indeed. Not allowing any sentimentality to get in the way of his objective, he went forwards to hit his opponent in the face sending them flying back.

Through this whole exchange, the elderly manipulator had not involved himself, which likely meant they did not have a combat ability. This strongly suggested that he was responsible for creating the puppets that were almost upon Jaeger once again.

Ignoring the young one, as he probably now didn't have the energy to continue his fight, Jaeger directed his anger towards the puppets' master. With them being so slow, he only had to force his way past a couple of them to get his foe, who now stood with quivering legs and a complexion that had apparently aged by about ten years. They were right to be scared. No mercy was going to be shown to someone that converted innocent people into mindless slaves.

Jaeger arrived in front of them before they had summoned the courage to act, and he struck the man squarely in the chest, leaving him sprawling over the ground, "You're a liar!" Jaeger declared, whilst kicking him across the dirt, "You're a thief of lives, a murderer!" Jaeger told the crying wreck that remained, "You use your abilities to kill, harm and maim the innocent! I hereby declare you guilty in my court." and he raised his foot above the man's head, "Your sentence is death." he stated, bringing it down.

Knowing that he was going to die, the old manipulator managed to find some resolve, hidden within himself, one final time and cried out to the puppets, "Find and kill the prince, run from this one!" knowing that they could not defeat Jaeger.

Hearing this before his opponent died, Jaeger swore and turned over to the apprentice, who had staggered to his feet, marching towards him. "Which prince are they after?" he asked.

"The final prince of Arkadia." came the whispered response as the boy fell to his knees before his judge.

"I heard Arkadia was destroyed."

"The first prince survived assassination; we're after him."

"Hmm," responded Jaeger, wondering if it was this prince who was after the same goal as him. If it was, and they had escaped assassination, then a couple of puppets, who would likely starve on the way anyway, wouldn't slow him much. Working by that logic, as well as a certain laziness that meant he did not want to have to chase after all the groups the puppets had split into, he decided to not kill those that had survived.

The one question that remained was what to do with this manipulator; what sentence to give him? He had not created the puppets, but he had failed to see why their creation was wrong, which should have been obvious, and as such, he might not be able to be trusted as a manipulator.

Jaeger was not a fan of killing innocent people based on what they may, or may not, do. So he didn't. Instead of the death sentence, he thought of another, telling the boy, "You will now put a condition upon yourself, but first, what were your orders coming here? Do you have to return by a certain time?"

"There wasn't a time limit because I was with someone else; I just wasn't allowed to leave their side without explicit permission," he replied, looking up with a newfound glimmer of hope.

"Alright," said Jaeger, "I want you to understand two main things." and he noted how attentive this person was. Perhaps they could change for the better? "Firstly, no one chooses what race they are born as and so treat people by the quality of their character and nothing else. Secondly, your abilities as a manipulator have one purpose: to help other people." Jaeger went on after a brief pause, "You should realize that to be a manipulator does not make you superior to those around you; it just gives you a greater responsibility and a different role."

"So here's the condition that I want you to place on yourself. I want the condition to be that you must only use your ability to kill someone unless there is no other way to stop that person from killing another or in non-harmful self-defence. I also want it to include that you must leave Krinestadt and travel around assisting people wherever they could need you, no matter their race, which will mean that you more commonly help demi-humans, and I want you to make a demi-human friend."

As such, a condition that would kill the boy should it be violated was forcefully placed upon them as the young manipulator knew that he would die if they refused it. They could now only fight in defence of others, had to treat all races equally, and help any that needed them and therefore would work to repent for siding with people that so casually ruined lives.

Quite satisfied with the results from this confrontation, Jaeger left then to stand on a hilltop and watch the rising sun. It was a beautiful sight; a red beacon circled by layers of yellow, and looked to signal a new beginning for the one he had left behind.