System Wars: Here Comes the Heroes!-Chapter 39: Mercy is a Privilege

As Tin Star stared at the AI core that was attached to the ship, two immediate thoughts popped into his head.

First, he was impressed that something so small could control something as large and complicated as a space vessel that was as big as a city. Surely, whoever or whatever was inside of this core was much more powerful than it appeared.

Second, he felt a great amount of pity for the being who was locked inside of this crystal lump.

"Hmmm."

Tin Star himself was technically a spiritual being attached to an item. But he had the freedom to do what he wished...mostly.

Nitropulse couldn't help but notice how oddly hesitant Tin Star was while staring at the AI core, so he deemed it necessary to ask about why he looked like this.

"Hey Tin Star, you okay?"

"I am," Tin Star nodded before gesturing to the AI core. "But I'm more curious about the ghost in the crystal here. Is there truly nothing we can do for them? Are they seriously stuck like this until the cows come home?"

"I have no idea what a cow is, but I do know a thing or two about Spirit-Class AI cores," Nitropulse answered. "I have heard tales of these cores getting loose on the black market and spontaneously reforming into Lumenlithics. But the lumenlithic born from these types of cores are...strange."

"Strange? Like mutated?"

"Kind of," Nitropulse shrugged. "This is one of those things that are easier to explain with a proper example, so if you don't feel like breaking this core, you can just steal it."

"Hmmm."

Tin Star mulled over the idea for less than a minute before proceeding to walk up to the pedestal and placing his hands on the AI core.

"Stealing isn't the right word here...let's call it giving the damned another chance. Or something like that."

"Okay, just let me put the ship into hover mode before you'—

BZZT-CRACK!

"OH COME ON!" Nitropulse roared before going into high-speed hacking mode.

...Meanwhile, back on the ground...

When Gaia Mask made his threat against Alpha-887, he wasn't joking about ripping him out of his nanobot mech like a peanut from its shell.

Once he had closed the gap, Gaia Mask proceeded to whale on the cyborg lizard fuck like he was a punching bag.

The pugilistic pressure was so intense that Alpha-887 didn't even have the time to respond with anything practical.

He tried to use a close-range sonic weapon but had it unceremoniously ripped off before it could fire.

He tried to manifest a giant war pick and swing it at Gaia Mask's head but failed when it got caught and was used against him instead.

Eventually, this forced Alpha-887 to reform his nanobots into what was essentially a ball of metal and shields.

'Okay, I just need to wait out his attacks,' Alpha-887 thought to himself as he huddled and hid like the coward he was. 'My nanomachines will...wait a minute...WHAT?!'

While in the midst of hiding, an alert appeared in Alpha-887's field of vision thanks to his ocular implant. Needless to say, the alert wasn't good.

[ALERT! ALERT! AI CORE-"NEMEA" HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE SHIP. DEACTIVATING ALL SECONDARY FUNCTIONS!]

"NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOO!"

"What the what?"

Gaia Mask was about to go in for more punches against Alpha-887's nanomech shell when the damn thing just disintegrated before his eyes into a pile of metallic sand.

The end result was Alpha-887 lounging on a pile of deactivated nanobots, looking rather depressed...and resembling an iguana on a pile of sand.

"Okay..."

"My liege! Take a look at the rest of the soldiers!" Platiknight suddenly called out to the confused Gaia Mask.

"Huh? Oh."

Redirecting his gaze towards the other Salbanbo soldiers, Gaia Mask saw in real time as all of their implants and cybernetics started to fail and shut off one after the other.

At which point, all hell broke loose for the Salbanbo

"Oh no!"

"Huh..."

Some of them suddenly fell over, either due to their legs suddenly deactivating or their brain implants suddenly failing and causing instant death.

"My arm...my arm isn't working!"

"So...heavy..."

A few of them had their limbs suddenly go limp as their arms suddenly lost signal or power or both.

"My eyes!"

"My ears!"

"MMMMPH!"

A majority of them, though, simply lost their senses of sight, sound, smell, and speech as their implants shut down and stopped transmitting information to their brains.

"Okay then."

Unsure how to proceed from such madness, Gaia Mask slowly lowered his guard...up until the System suddenly chimed in with an alert screen.

[Ding!]

...

[All enemy Salbanbo soldiers have been defeated due to a combination of the User's blatant use of violence and Tin Star's efforts in taking down the Salbanbo Carrier-Freighter.]

[Rewards will be determined once the user determines the ultimate fate of the defeated Salbanbo.]

...

'Okay...I think I know what that means,' SK thought to himself as he mulled over the message. 'Really don't like the idea of being the arbiter in this situation though...'

SK looked over the flailing and defeated Salbanbo, acting as if they were headless chickens now that their technology had failed them, a far far cry from the domineering profiteers that were threatening the people behind him just moments ago.

The sympathetic part of him thought about sparring the poor bastards and sending them on their way.

However, the realist in him knew that being merciful was not a guarantee for reciprocal behavior.

If he buried all these bastards here and now, then there was no way for them to possibly retaliate in the future.

But that also meant that they would never have chance to redeem themselves.

"Hmmm. Which would be best for...wait."

As SK mulled over the problem the System had posed for him, his gaze eventually wandered over to the Lumenlithics that were hiding in Platiknight's shield.

At this point in time, they appeared to be celebrating as they saw that their killers and kidnappers had been thoroughly defeated in a rather brutal manner. This was when SK had his epiphany.

"It's not my decision to make," SK realized aloud. "It's theirs."

"Huh?" Alpha-887 let out in alarm and confusion at the words. "What are you talking abou—"

"Hush you. [Stone Cage]."

Once this thought entered his head, SK proceeded to use his abilities to entrap the Salbanbo in a giant octagonal prison made of stone.

Now that they were secured, Gaia Mask(SK) directed his attention towards Platiknight and the Lumenlithics.

'Okay, confident strut...and remember to shrink.'

Doing his best hero walk towards Platiknight, Gaia Mask proceeded to slowly deactivate his power and shrink until he was basically back to human self and wearing that initial hero costume he flew in with.

Catching his reflection in a nearby destroyed hover tank 's window, SK determined that the System had done a pretty good job with the costume.

'Hmmm. Full cover helmet and a cape...alright, I can work with it.'

"A bearing worthy of a hero, my liege," Platiknight praised as SK brought his attention forward once more.

Sensing his approach, the Lumenlithics eventually settled down in order to determine two things.

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First, what this Gaia Mask was if he wasn't a Lumenlithic but some third type of alien.

Second, why he was walking up to them.

Thankfully, they would get their answers in short order.

"Excuse me," SK said in a voice that was significantly more bombastic and heroic than how he usually sounded. "Is there any figures of authorities or leaders present amongst your numbers? Preferably those who work in fields related to law and justice?"

"Uh...yes."

The crowd of Lumenlithics parted so that a singular member of their group could step forward.

That member was none other than the Lumenlithic woman that Gaia Mask had rescued when he came crashing in, although, she seemed to carry herself more regally than before.

'Well... irony's a bitch I guess,' SK mentally noted as he took measure of the woman before him. 'Damn, she looks like a modern masterpiece. Greek statues be damned.'

"And you are..."

"My name is Bisma vo Magnetta," the Lumenlithic woman said with a humming voice enhanced with practiced force. "I am the...acting monarch of the Lumenlithic people. May I ask, who you are, oh shifting savior?"

Gaia Mask

'Okay, that pause definitely implies something tragic...so let's skip that for now and get to the main point.'

"My name is Gaia Mask," SK introduced himself. "And I am merely a wandering hero. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I...I see."

"Wait...that name..."

"It can't be..."

Ignoring the fact that he might've activated some hidden flag by using the name, "Gaia Mask", SK focused on the present.

"Anyways, your Salbanbo problem has been more or less resolved. As such, I will now be relinquishing their custody to you and your people to enact judgement. I have no right to meddle in the affairs of others."

'That and I'd rather stop covering my hands in blood.'