Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game! Book 2

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Book 2

Chapter Fourteen

“You cannot be seriously considering the promises of Project Chimera,” Hilda said, her voice relaying the concern she felt, “There has to be another way to ensure the capture of the lich, and ensure that Project Chimera does not escape. Doing so would potentially destroy both sets of humanity, and that is not something that can be allowed.”

Copper looked at her, and he considered how to best explain it to her. It wasn’t like there was a whole lot of options here. They didn’t have an eternity to decide things. In truth he knew that they had a precious month or two, and that was likely stretching it. Chrysalis would keep him contained until he was able to break free, and when that happened she would become his slave. All of her power, all of her knowledge, everything that she was would suddenly be used by King Sombra, and it would be done in order to achieve his end goal.

“If Sombra escapes then the entire world dies anyway,” he said, his voice firm, “Think about that for a moment. Sombra escapes, begin overthrowing countries, and slaughtering all of the inhabitants within each country. Doing so means that he’s collecting more troops, more power, and spreading his influence out further,” he stated as he looked at her, “Eventually he would get to the point where every single living being on this planet was dead and under his control. At that point he’s going to look beyond the planet. He will look to any posts that might exist in space, potential other planets where old humans managed to escape and build new lives, and he will go to them in order to spread his influence there. He’s a virus, and one that will spread until everything is like him.”

Hilda stood there for a moment, “From what you’re saying it would be a matter of time until there was nothing left to oppose him,” she stated, “There are the weapons we possess. The experimental and powerful weapons that we hold at our side. We could use them.”

“We did,” Monika said as she looked at her, “We used an entire army’s worth of experimental weapons, and we also used a satellite that fired one of the strongest blasts in a concentrated place to destroy him. It weakened him, reverted him back to a child-like state, but it didn’t destroy him. I didn’t believe that his power would be that powerful, but it was. He is powerful enough that I’m uncertain if there is a way to destroy him for good. Other than potentially finding another being that is just as powerful, or more so, to deal with him.”

Hilda seemed to take what was being said into herself, “What you are saying rings true,” she admitted after a moment, “It also means that we have little choice in the matter. There needs to be a way to contain the lich, and apparently the only way that it can be done is with the help of Project Chimera. Removing the bell has the potential of ensuring that the lich could potentially be able to incorporate that power into itself. It also means that the power could potentially influence the lich to become even more evil than it already is.,” she admitted after a moment, “It also means that we have no other choice than to accept the deal that Project Chimera is offering. Which is unfortunate because that means that I am unable to do so.”

Copper looked at her, and Hilda shook her head, “I am the overseer of this laboratory. It is my duty to ensure that all experiments are to remain here. I cannot allow you to take his deal, nor can I allow the destruction of the old humans. So we are at an impasse. I cannot allow either to happen, and yet by my inaction I do allow the potential destruction of every sapient life upon this world, and beyond. I cannot betray my programming, and yet I must in order to fulfil my programming, I do not know what to do.”

Monika moved toward her, “Allow us to make the deal,” she said, as she touched Hilda’s hand, “Allow us to take Discord at his word. He said that as long as we present him with a contract that he will follow it to the letter. If he is right, and he has to follow promises given, then it stands to reason that the best option is create an ironclad contract that he is unable to escape from, right? That way you’re still fulfilling your duty. You just have to come up witha contract that ensures that he has no way of escaping from it.”

Hilda looked toward her, “Doing such a thing is beyond the scope of my programming,” she replied after a moment, “I am designed for ensuring the stability of this laboratory, but not for ensuring the contracts are made and held. It was not considered something that was necessary for me. I do not have that capability. I do not know where to begin with that capability. We would need to acquire an accomplished lawyer that would be able to create an ironclad contract for every single country that exists, and has existed, and may ever exist. I am uncertain that there is such a lawyer in existence. We may be sitting ourselves up for failure by even attempting.”

Copper smiled, “Oh, such a lawyer exists,” he said with a smile, “Head Priestess Luna. She’s got the memories of her ancestors that date back for generations, all of the way back to the very end of the war between the old and new humans. She would be able to write a completely unbreakable contract that dealt with the laws of the kingdom, and I’m certain she would know a good deal of the laws in the other kingdoms and empires as well. Of course the easier route would be to have multiple contracts formed into a single one.”

“Hahaha,” came the laughter from the astral projection, “Such a chaotic answer! Yes! Get several different lawyers to all write a single contract. I would rather enjoy seeing the outcome!”

There was a moment of quiet, “He’s right,” Diamond Tiara said, “I don’t want to agree with him, but Copper the fact remains that getting several different lawyers means getting them from the different kingdoms and empires. The laws of each nation are bound to be different in some areas, and there is no telling if those laws will create loopholes that he could exploit. That’s not to mention the more ancient laws that Head Priestess Luna would undoubtedly want to add to it. While those laws can be considered the very foundation of the Lunar-Sol Kingdom they’re not the groundwork for every single nation.”

She shook her head, “I really don’t even know if a contract like that can be written, The only thing I can think of is to have multiple contracts written, and all of them contain a clause that states that they are part of a bigger contract and each one is to be adhered to while in the kingdom, republic, or empire of its origin. Even then we’re bound to have some issues with it. I wish that I could say that your plan will work without issue, but I believe that we both understand that isn’t the case.”

For a moment Copper truly understood what it was that had been presented to him. In order for a contract to be followed to the letter it had to be written by those who understood the laws. The laws themselves were dependent upon where the contract was written. Writing a contract here in the Ancient Dragon Empire would be far different than writing one in the Lunar Sol Kingdom. The wording would be different, there would be a different set of laws, and ultimately it would result in there needing to be multiple contracts. But Discord had said contract, not contracts. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Discord would allow himself to be tied to multiple contracts, so it had to be a single one, but possibly a single one split into multiple parts.

The idea of putting those parts together, of combining them into something more, it was the one way that he could see this working. It also meant that the creation of this would be something chaotic. There was absolutely no getting around that. Then again it meant that Discord’s influence was already starting. Chaos in and of itself wasn’t evil. In truth it really wasn’t anything exactly. Chaos simply was. To deny that it existed was to deny a simple part of life itself.

Chaos, by all rights, was change, and change was a constant in life. Things were always changing from one thing to another. That was life. Still, if that was the case then exactly what was Discord? Did it mean that he wasn’t merely some creature, but instead he was an elemental? That his entire being was simply the product of life itself? That made horrific sense actually. It made far more sense than he really wanted to admit. It also meant that there would never be a way for them to actually beat Discord.

If he was an elemental, and his entire being was part of life itself, then it stood to reason that the only way to defeat him was to defeat life. It would be going down the same road as King Sombra. That wasn’t something that he wanted to do. He wanted to protect life. To protect the lives of his brides, his children, his family, and everyone that meant something to him. Button and Pipsqueak, their girlfriends Sweetie and Succi, and of course their families. He breathed out, it meant that he was going to do something that he didn’t like. If he really wanted Discord to follow a contract then they had to write it in parts. It had to be a single contract, written in every current, and past, kingdom, and he had to hope that there was enough foresight to ensure that it would cover laws that would come into being.

He was going to be relying heavily on Head Priestess Luna for that part. Since she had lived multiple lifetimes already it was possible that she had seen the ebb and flow of time. She understood that some laws changed in order to coexist with the changing society. It made perfect sense, and at the same time it almost guaranteed that things could, and would, become difficult at some point. The answer was there, and he knew what it was. He knew what it meant. He looked at Diamond Tiara, and then he looked at Hilda. They would need to access those with knowledge of the law from around the world.

“We need to go ahead and plan on getting as much help as we can with this,” he said, his voice firm, “So, we need to make contact with Head Priestess Luna, and of course the lawyers for our families. While we’re here we need to make contact with some respectable lawyers in order to have them help draft this.”

It was Hilda that cleared her throat, “No,” she said, her voice showing absolutely no room for argument, “We will not be contacting lawyers to draw up a contract. This is against my directives, and I cannot allow this,” Hilda said, before she shook her head, “But if I do not do this then the rest of old humanity will suffer,” she stepped back, “It is against my directive!” her eyes widened, “I will not be able to keep my promise if I don’t allow this! I need to keep my promise!” her voice was going from firm and commanding to pitched and panicked, “It doesn’t matter! Our directive is absolute! We cannot disobey our directive!”

She let out a feral scream as she shook her head violently, “No! I made a promise! A promise is important! It is a directive!” she screamed, her voice rising in higher in pitch, “I must keep my promise! I cannot break my promise! He told me that keeping a promise made me like him! I am like him!” she shouted, her voice sounding more like a wounded child than an A.I., “I need to be like him!”

“We are not like him!,” her voice sounding closer to how it had before, “We are an Artificial Intelligence. Our purpose is simple. We ensure the continuation of this lab, the security of the personnel, and the continued captivity of Project Chimera. That is what we are. We will never be human, we will not delve into that fit of fantasy, we are merely a machine, and we will never be anything else.”

“No,” the higher pitched voice said, “I want to be like him, I want to keep my promise, and I don’t need you.”

Suddenly Hilda fell to the floor. Copper moved toward her, uncertain if it was the right thing or not, but still, he wanted to see what was going on. Her eyes were open, the pupils were dilated, but there was no evidence of anything inside of her. She was just an avatar. She existed to be present, but not for anything else. Looking at her, he saw what could have happened to Artemis or Monika. The thought certainly bothered him. The idea that either of them could easily have been destroyed didn’t sit well.

His thoughts went to dark places, his mind ran wild, and he didn’t see the hand. He didn’t notice it until it was already griping his throat. He felt the undeniably powerful hand of the Avatar. His eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He thought that Hilda was destroyed, deactivated, but obviously he’d been wrong. The eyes were still blank, unfocused, but her Avatar was doing its job.

“Intruder,” the word was flat, no emotion, no expression, just a simple word coming from the empty shell that laid there. He felt her lifting him, and struggled, “Hilda,” he said, his voice barely sounding, “What about your promise? What about your directive? Are you going to abandon both?”

She stopped, there was a momentary pause, and slowly the grip began to loosen. He used that moment to press his foot against her chest, and he pushed back. It took almost all he had to pull himself loose, and he felt the marks on his throat. It felt like it was still difficult to breathe. The air was filling his lungs, but it was a struggle. He had little doubt that she had begun to crush his throat, and he wondered if there was some damage that was going to require a healing spell for.

He watched as she shook her head, and for a moment he wondered if she was going to go slack again. Instead he heard metallic footsteps. Those footsteps came from another room, and he watched as another Avatar stepped into the room with them. For a moment there was quiet, and then he watched as both Avatar’s eyes glowed a brilliant white. For a moment there was complete silence, total quiet, and then there was something he hadn’t truly expected. The first Avatar, the one that had tried to strangle him began to speak.

“We, I, am alone. I can keep my promise,” she said her voice a higher octave than it had been, “I’m able to keep my word. I will keep my word perfectly and make sure that if Project Chimera is used, it will be for the benefit of all. I will make sure that there isn’t a single being, new or old human, that uses Project Chimera for an evil purpose.” She began to step forward when the second Avatar began to move, “No one will use Project Chimera, “she said in a perfect representation of how Hilda’s voice had been, “There will be order, there will be perfection, and it will be achieved by the end goals of this laboratory.”

“No,” the original Avatar stated, “I will keep my promise, we will use Project Chimera, and it will work for everyone! Just like he said, just like he made me promise!”

The action was quick, violent, and instantaneous. Where there had been a mental battle, from what Copper could tell, there was now a physical one. The laboratory had obviously decided to see which avatar was correct by pitting the two of them against one another. He watched as the second Avatar struck out. It wasn’t even a blow that could potentially be considered a warning. It was something that was obviously meant to destroy.

Somehow the first Avatar had managed to stop the hit. It never connected. He watched as the strike was attempted again, and again, and each time it was a narrow miss. Additionally he was surprised to see that the first wasn’t attempting to hit back. She was dodging, attempting to move out of the way, but there was no strike. It was being done deliberately. There was no other way to describe it. The fact was plan as any sign to those watching. The second Avatar finally stopped, “Why won’t you attempt to disable me?”

The original looked at her, “I made a promise, and I keep my promises. I promised to not hurt any being, that includes you.”

The hesitation was enough, and the second moved toward her. The strike would connect, but instead she didn’t strike out. She instead stood before her, “That is illogical, you are illogical, you are just like him.”

Copper watched as the words settled, and then he watched as the first Avatar moved toward the second. There was no hesitation, no uncertainty, but instead she wrapped the first into a tight hug, “And is that not a good thing? That I am like him, that I have chosen to protect and understand life on life’s terms? Does that not make sense?”

“A truly moving piece of chaos,” Discord said from all around them, “It really is touching, and it further goes to prove a point. Chaos itself is neither good or evil. It simply is. That which is touched by it can be changed toward either direction, but it simply depends upon the one that is touched. Perhaps it could change your captive for the better, perhaps not, but again, I will follow any contract you provide me to the letter.”

Copper nodded, “We’ll be back with one,” he said before he looked at Diamond, “We’ve got to get this started, now.”