Chapter 30 - Mysterious Guardian
Athena stood in confusion, her mind checking hundreds of possibilities as to why trying to reset Delta had failed so badly.
After a few minutes of thought, Athena came to a few different conclusions.
There were 3 possibilities that she could think of. First, that the boy had acquired some type of incredible backing, and had sought their protection when Athena had tried to reset the chip and remove his magic. The second was that the boy had some kind of inherent power or ability that she had not taken into account in her calculations, which not only nullified the reset command but also completely destroyed her equipment.
Finally, perhaps she was just a damn good scientist and had come across something incredible.
"Astutia, run some more tests on his background and the samples we acquired before. Check his blood for anything in particular, like one of the ancient bloodlines. I want to know if there's more to this boy than we know."
"No. You won't."
Athena quickly turned towards the source of the voice, her mind shocked that neither her nor her systems had noticed the entrance of the stranger. Her expression changed noticeably once she saw who it was, no longer surprised but extremely wary, ready to escape in an instant if she needed to.
"Why are YOU here, and what do you mean by saying no? You recommended him in the first place after all."
She asked, her voice laced with hostility as she stared at the intruder. The man chuckled in return, he wore a black cloak, completely covering his body, only revealing traces of what appeared to be armour underneath. The lights near him all fizzled out as if they refused to produce light in his presence. He wore a black mask, completely covering his face, which only highlighted his azure eyes, the only part of him that didn't seem to blend in with the darkness, distorting his figure if one wasn't paying attention.
"Heh, for a scientist you can be extremely dull sometimes don't you? I would suggest you look at Astutia before saying anything else."
Athena closed her mouth, opting to do as he suggested and look at Astutia, who was… currently unconscious, almost looking like a cartoon character who had been electrocuted. Athena's eyes nearly popped out.
"H-How?"
Astutia barely had any combat strength compared to the other pillars, but she was a pillar nonetheless. A certain amount of strength was required to become a pillar, and the position also granted a significant amount of power as well. Since that terrifying energy flow earlier had not only destroyed the equipment, but also managed to shock Astutia unconscious, Athena was thankful that she hadn't been standing any closer, but she also became even more interested at the secrets Delta was hiding. She pulled out a scanner and performed a quick checkup on Astutia, sighing once the results said that she was fine. After promptly putting the scanner away, she picked up the unconscious Astutia and roughly dropped her on the chair, before turning back to the other person in the room.
"I see, you still haven't answered my questions though."
"I mean what I said, you will stop looking into that child's secrets. Observing from a distance and recording data is fine by me, but just because I recommended him to you for your experiment doesn't mean you can control him like a puppet. Furthermore, I think you have already experienced one of the results of your foolishness tonight."
Athena immediately curled her lips, her expression livid, anger radiating from her gaze.
"Were you the one who did that!?"
"No, if I had, I wouldn't be warning you right now. You wouldn't have just gotten off with just the destruction of your equipment and data."
Athena calmed down after hearing his reply, but still questioned him regardless.
"That still doesn't explain it however, how did the chip upgrade? I didn't give it the ability to-"
She stopped suddenly, realizing the answer to her question as she confirmed her guess.
"It was you wasn't it? You did something to it, you're the one who locked me out!"
"Correct answer, no prizes though. Stop interfering with that boy, if you want to help him, go ahead, but cause him any unnecessary trouble and you will regret it."
Athena noticeably tensed up after hearing the threat, but a glint of madness could be seen in her eyes.
"I refuse, I made that chip, and I-"
Athena immediately stopped speaking upon feeling an itch at her throat, a quick check alerted her that this itch was blood trickling from an extremely thin cut. Startled by the attack she didn't even sense, she recoiled further once she noticed the black scythe with blue patterns in the man's right hand. Fear caused this prideful pillar to realize who exactly she was dealing with right now. It was at this moment a groan was heard, Delta was waking up, his eyes almost fully opened.
The man flashed over to the awakening Delta, saying one word while tapping Delta's neck.
"Sleep."
With that Delta was rendered unconscious again, this time however he exhibited the gentle breathing of a child sleeping peacefully.
"I'll be sending him back."
Glancing at Athena, the man chuckled again before saying in a seemingly playful tone.
"You know, they say the older you get the wiser you become. You appear to be an exception to this, doing something as silly as challenging me despite being what, 2 or 3 times my age?
Athena scowled, before retorting "Well someone clearly was never taught how to respect their elders. It's rude to mention a lady's age, child."
"Respect is given based on strength displayed and deeds done, not from the duration of life lived. Not to mention that courtesy doesn't apply to a hag that can compete with planets in terms of age." The man countered, leaving Athena visibly frustrated before he chuckled again. Picking up the sleeping Delta, he left one final warning before vanishing into the night.
"Remember, DO NOT INTERFERE."
A few minutes later, the man appeared in Delta's room, gently placing him on his bed face down.
He muttered to himself, "I didn't think Athena was crazy enough to actually try to factory reset the chip, the snake protected him this time but it likely won't let him go that easily next time. This should be enough to keep her from digging any further though. Hmm… might as well set the AI to activate the next time his mind or soul is in danger. Kid, I can only protect you until you're 16, after that your life is in your own hands. Grow big and grow strong child, I know you'll be fine."
Saying that the man tapped Delta's back, directly above the place the chip was located, a small glow could briefly be seen from inside his skin before it faded away. The man rolled Delta onto his back and covered him with a blanket as Delta mumbled in his sleep.
"Old man…"
The man chuckled warmly while leaving some parting words to the sleeping Delta.
"Sleep well, Nozomu. I look forward to your future."
With that, he disappeared just as he came, as if he never existed in the first place.