Cyberpunk Chivalry — Chapter 1

...THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL YOU NOW, I HEAR?

HOW ABOUT KUNLUN'S BLOOD DEMON INSTEAD?

YOU REALLY DON'T...

LOOK LIKE MUCH OF A TAOIST TO ME.

CALL ME WHAT YOU WILL. I ABANDONED THE WAY A LONG TIME AGO.

KEHE... HOW DEFLATING.

COUNTLESS WRETCHES HAILED AS GREAT HEROES

WERE REDUCED TO A SPLASH OF BLOOD BENEATH MY FEET.

YET AMONG ALL THOSE WARRIORS,

NOT ONE COULD MATCH YOU.

ISN'T IT AMUSING?

TO THINK THAT THE KUNLUN SECT WHELP I ENCOUNTERED FIRST AFTER ANNOUNCING MY INCEPTION

WOULD BE STRONGER THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE MARTIAL WORLD?

I OFTEN DREAMED OF THAT DAY.

IN THOSE DREAMS, I WOULD HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU, WHATEVER IT TOOK.

THE NEXT DAY, AND THE DAY AFTER THAT,

I KILLED YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

PERHAPS THAT'S WHY

THIS SITUATION DOESN'T FEEL SO UNFAMILIAR.

I FEEL THE SAME.

IN MY DREAMS, I DIED AT YOUR HANDS EVERY TIME.

PERHAPS THAT'S WHY THIS SITUATION DOESN'T FEEL SO UNFAMILIAR TO ME, EITHER.

...YOU DIED?

SO I ALWAYS WON?

I DID MANAGE TO KILL YOU ONCE.

ONLY ONCE, THOUGH.

OH....?

AND WHEN WAS THAT?

JUST YESTERDAY.

BWAHAHAHAHA! A PROPHETIC DREAM, THEN.

WHAT NOW? ARE YOU SATISFIED IN THE END?

WELL...

I'M NOT REALLY SURE YET.

IT ALWAYS TAKES TIME TO SINK IN.

AND WHAT ABOUT YOU?

WHAT ABOUT ME?

DID CONQUERING THE CENTRAL PLAINS MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?

WAS IT WORTH KILLING SO MANY PEOPLE?

WORTH... WORTH, YOU SAY...

DID YOU KNOW?

I, TOO, ENTERED THE MARTIAL WORLD FOR REVENGE.

...WHAT?

SO THERE'S NO NEED TO ASK.

WE HAVE WALKED THE SAME PATH...

AS FELLOW SEEKERS OF THE WAY...

DEATH.

PERHAPS THIS TRULY IS

WHAT I HAVE YEARNED FOR SO DESPERATELY...

REST.

!@#$_SYSTEM_INITIALIZATION_ERROR

RECOVERY MODE ACTIVATED

CHECKING SYSTEM INTEGRITY...

LOADING BACKUP DATA... SUCCESSFUL

SCANNING FOR FRAGMENTED MEMORY BLOCKS...

CORE TEMPERATURE... UNSTABLE

NEURAL NETWORK MATRIX... ERROR

RETRYING NEURAL NETWORK SYNCHRONIZATION...

BIOMETRIC DATA INCOMING... RESTORING

VISUAL AND AUDITORY MODULES... ACTIVATED

AWAKENING SEQUENCE... INITIATING IMMEDIATELY <<

VISUAL CORRECTION... COMPLETE AUDIO NOISE FILTERING... ACTIVE

HI, ASH! CAN YOU SEE ME?

I

Yippee! IT WORKED!!

I KNEW IT! I AM A GENIUS!

HMM? ARE YOU TRYING TO TALK?

VOICE OUTPUT MODULE... OFFLINE VOICE OUTPUT HARDWARE... NOT DETECTED

WARNING RECOVERY ATTEMPT... FAILED CONNECTION STATUS... UNSTABLE

YOU'RE RIGHT. ALL THE OTHER MODULES ARE SHOT.

Only the main core is barely running.

and it looks like about half your memory is gone, too.

STILL... THIS WILL DO.

AS LONG AS THE MAIN CORE ISN'T DAMAGED, THAT'S ENOUGH.

IT'S OKAY. I CAN DO THIS. I'M A GENIUS, AFTER ALL.

HANG IN THERE, EVEN IF IT'S A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE. I'LL FIX YOU UP SOON.

I'LL GIVE YOU ARMS AND LEGS, AND GET YOUR VOICE BACK, TOO.

SO ONCE I'VE GOT YOU ALL FIXED UP...

YOU'LL HELP ME OUT, OKAY?

I'M AKINA. AKINA GREENWOOD.

HERE'S TO US WORKING TOGETHER.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?

I CAN SEE AND HEAR, AND YET, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING.

WHAT AM I, IF NOT A GHOST?

A GHOST?

THAT'S RIGHT... I DIED.

THEN COULD THIS PLACE BE...

THE UNDERWORLD?

THE WEIGHT OF THAT KARMA CANNOT BE LIGHT.

O HEAVENLY LORD OF PRIMORDIAL BEGINNING...

A FORTNIGHT LATER

HEY, MISTER!

MR. ASH! LOOK AT THIS!!

AH, MISS A. YOU'VE RETURNED.

SHALL WE GET STARTED RIGHT NOW?

AS YOU WISH.

HUH? IT DOESN'T FIT THE SLOT. THAT'S STRANGE.

I'M SURE I BROUGHT THE SAME TYPE.

IS IT BECAUSE HE'S AN OLDER MODEL? WHY IS THIS THE WRONG WAY AROUND??

MISS A.

HOLD ON, I'M TRYING TO THINK. LATER.

...MISS A?

OH, COME ON! WHAT IS IT?

YOU'RE PUTTING IT ON THE WRONG SIDE.

THE ARM YOU BROUGHT IS A RIGHT ARM.

I-I KNEW THAT!

I WAS JUST CHECKING YOUR LEFT SHOULDER, TOO!

WERE YOU?

...I REALLY WAS!

IT SEEMS MY NEEDLESS CONCERN LED ME TO INTERFERE UNNECESSARILY.

I APOLOGIZE IF I MADE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE.

ARE ALL OLDER-MODEL HUMANOIDS LIKE THIS?

HOW ARE YOU SO WELL-SPOKEN? YOU COULDN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND ME AT FIRST.

IT'S THANKS TO THE INTEGRATED LANGUAGE PACK ON THE DATA CARD YOU GAVE ME.

EXACTLY RIGHT!

ALL DONE!

RIGHT ARM UNIT: SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE

NEURAL NETWORK MATRIX: CONSISTENCY, GOOD

YOU NEVER CEASE TO AMAZE ME.

YOU TRULY DESERVE TO BE CALLED A GENIUS, MISS A.

MISTER, CAN YOU MAKE THIS SHAPE WITH YOUR HAND?

LIKE THIS?

OKAY, GET READY!

YEAH! ROCK AND ROLL!!

I HAVE NEITHER A DANTIAN NOR CHANNELS FOR QI AND BLOOD.

I DON'T EVEN BREATHE.

NOW THAT I'M NO LONGER HUMAN,

CAN EVEN A MECHANICAL BODY LIKE THIS

POSSESS INTERNAL ENERGY?

THOUGH MEMORIES OF MY PAST LIFE RETURN TO ME, I CAN DO NOTHING WITH THIS BODY.

THREE POWERS INTERNAL ART

LESSER PURITY DIVINE ART

JADE PURITY TEMPERING ART

GRAND PURITY DIVINE ART

DRAGON-SLAYING DIVINE ART HIGH PURITY SUPREME DIVINE ART

I REMEMBER THE FORMULAS, BUT IF I HAVE NO BREATH, THEN I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN.

IT MOVES AS MY OWN BODY WOULD, BUT AT ITS CORE, IT IS MERELY A MACHINE.

WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I?

MISS A, WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE POWER THAT MOVES THIS BODY?

ELECTRICITY, OF COURSE.

I MEAN... OH! YOU KNOW LIGHTNING, UP IN THE SKY?

YOU CAN THINK OF THAT AS FLOWING INSIDE YOUR BODY, TOO.

OH... YOU MEAN IT HARNESSES LIGHTNING FROM THE HEAVENS?

THAT'S FLOWING THROUGH MY BODY?

BREATHING,

MUST NOT BE ABOUT DRAWING IN AIR,

BUT ABOUT CONTROLLING THE FLOW.

PERHAPS...

I COULD USE ELECTRICITY LIKE INTERNAL ENERGY?

INTERNAL ENERGY

IS LIKE FLOWING WATER.

IT FLOWS SMOOTHLY AND IS REFINED ACCORDING TO ONE'S WILL,

GATHERING IN ONE PLACE TO BE WIELDED AS ONE WISHES.

ELECTRICITY, HOWEVER,

BRANCHES OUT OR SCATTERS AS IT PLEASES.

PRESENT ONE MOMENT, GONE THE NEXT,

RESEMBLING MIST.

IT IS SUBTLE,

SWIFT,

AND UNPREDICTABLE.

IF I CAN'T BUILD UP INTERNAL ENERGY,

THEN I SHALL REPLACE IT WITH SOMETHING ELSE.

INTERNAL ENERGY OVERLOAD DETECTED

IF ONE CAN REMAIN EVER STILL AND PURE, THEN ALL OF HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL BECOME ONE WITH THEM.

WARNING HEAT OUTPUT EXCEEDS SAFE LIMITS

HEAVENLY LORD OF UNIVERSAL TRANSFORMATION, WHOSE THUNDER RESPONDS TO THE ORIGIN IN THE NINE HEAVENS.

FORCED SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT

FOR A MACHINE WITHOUT BREATH, THE METHOD IS FLOW.

THE HUMAN METHOD WORKS THROUGH BREATH.

I CONTROL IT.

THUS, I DO NOT ACCUMULATE QI,

NEURAL NETWORK MATRIX: FULLY OPEN

CYBERWARE SYNCHRONIZATION RATE: 100%

SYSTEM INTEGRATION: PERFECT MATCH

EFFICIENCY RATING: MAXIMUM [MAX+]

[SYSTEM LOG]

IDENTITY PARAMETERS ▶ REDEFINED ◀

A NEW PATH HAS OPENED.

I-IT'S TRUE.

I JUST CAME TO COLLECT SOME SCRAP...

HEY.

YOU THINK I'M ASKING BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW?

I'VE ALREADY SEEN YOU SKULKING AROUND TWICE, YOU RAT-FACED BITCH.

WHAT'S THIS?

NO! THAT BELONGS TO MR. ASH!

BULLSHIT!

URRGH...

YOU HAD SOMETHING PRETTY PRICEY ON YOU, HUH? WHERE'D YOU GET IT?

WELL, DOESN'T MATTER NOW. IT'S MINE.

THAT'S AN APEX ARM, ISN'T IT?

LOOKS LIKE IT. WHERE'D SHE GET SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

Apex?! It's in good shape, too! Wow, that's worth a fortune.

ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP! IT'S MINE.

AND...

OF COURSE, THIS BITCH IS MINE, TOO.

YOU FUCKING BITCH!

WHAT'S THAT?

LOOKS LIKE A HUMANOID.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

WHAT WAS THAT?

I-I SWEAR IT DISAPPEARED...

MISTER?

YOU SEEMED TO BE RUNNING LATE, SO I CAME TO FIND YOU, MISS A.