Chaos and Order - A Multiverse Fanfic

What?!

Kai took another step back, failing to process the absurdness of what he had heard.

Did this man truly say the words, Glitch? What…? How…?

Yet, there was no running away from the truth.

The Samurai, Supreme General of the False Ones, Kai's only superior, had indeed not only uttered his true name but also the fact that he knew of Glitches.

If Kai were to infer the words said by the bearded man, then he knew more of Glitches than Kai himself.

How could he believe such a thing?

"Oh!" Jack exclaimed as he saw the fire of doubts and anxieties within Kai's eyes dying. "Worst you may be when it concerns body and Glitch, but your willpower is indeed something.

"The Black Mass has truly sent someone acceptable this time, it seems."

What's he on about? Kai thought, frowning. What's the Black Mass? Have the Systems implanted him with false memories?

"Real and False," Samurai Jack said, closing the Tablet, "is just a matter of perspective, young man."

Kai's eyes shone.

"You can read my thoughts?" he asked, seeing no point in keeping his thoughts to himself.

"No." The Samurai shook his head. "Every time the Black Mass sends a Trooper to serve in the False Ones under my leadership, I get a Tablet, containing all data over him.

"Your data … is quite marvelous, but full of discrepancies. Foolish decisions, yes, that's the right words to put it."

The feeling of something odd going on intensified in Kai's heart.

"There were others before me?" he asked, his hazel pupils trembling inadvertently. "Others… with Glitches?"

Samurai Jack answered with a single nod.

Kai drew a sharp breath.

It must be noted that he already knew Chaos' Valley hadn't seen a Glitched Contestant in millions of years.

So, the others were probably from the Order's Peak.

Kai didn't know about Debugging or the true significance of Survival Theme.

He didn't even know that the Warning he had received from the Systems about not being able to give up was for him alone. And, as it was just a Warning, there was no point in confirming it with Meg, too.

So, with nothing on hand, Kai instantly began to think of plausible possibilities.

But he didn't know that the more he would think, the further he would go away from the truth.

As his mind raced, Kai couldn't help but feel that everything was getting jumbled up; that something was missing from his calculations.

Yet, no matter what, he just couldn't put his finger on what exactly.

"Sit."

Kai followed the Samurai's words and sat down opposite him.

"You have 400,000 Points remaining," Jack said, his gaze falling hard on Kai. "What are you planning to unlock?"

Kai had already thought of it.

He took out the Tablet and went through the Items and Skills' Points again, filtering out the useless Items.

…

[

Items:

⁃ Pokeball - 50,000 Points

⁃ The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Original) - 10,000,000 Points

⁃ Sling Ring - 400,000 Points

⁃ Fast Ball - Generation II - 70,000 Points

⁃ Lure Ball - Generation II - 70,000 Points

⁃ Level Ball - Generation II - 70,000 Points

⁃ Eon Soul Dew (Corrupt) - 20,000,000 Points

⁃ Murasame - 1,000,000 Points

⁃ Blue Spider Lily - 100,000,000 Points

⁃ The Cursed Hat of Vanity - 2000 Points

⁃ The Compass of Desire - 5 Points

⁃ Sounga - The Sword of Calamity - 25,000,000 Points

…

Skills:

⁃ Shadow Space - 150,000 Points

⁃ Shadow Link - 150,000 Points

…

Magical Creatures:

⁃ Dementors Level 1 (4) - 50,000 Points each

⁃ Ghost Basilisk - 2,000,000 Points

⁃ Blood Essence (?) - 50,000,000 Points

…

Life Halt Capsule - 100,000 Points

]

…

A bang rang into Kai's mind.

Blood Essence?! 50 million Points?!! What?!!

Kai had guessed that the Systems would grant him a Magical Creature as per the deal. Still, to get a Blood Essence directly was something else.

And if he were to consider the Points' value, then this Blood Essence seemed to be over twice as valuable than Sounga the Sword of Hell itself!

Just what could it be?! Kai asked himself, his breathing quickening.

Then, his eyes landed on the Compass and a twitch danced on Kai's lips.

The Points were distributed not only as per the Grades but also as per the importance of Items and Skills, he confirmed.

Still, he knew what he needed, recalling the trap the enemy had laid down for him.

"Sling Ring," Kai said. "I have 400,000 Points. Matches exactly to this Item."

Silence.

What Kai most wanted to unlock was Selene, the Ghost Basilisk. But her cost was 2 Million Points.

Both Samurai and Kai looked at each other.

"What about Life Halt Capsule?" Jack asked after some time, stroking his long, black beard. "All Life Half Capsules cost as much as teleportation fees to this place, i.e. One Life Halt Capsule's current price is 100,000 Points. You will not have time to buy it after failing the task, Kai."

A smile crept up on Kai's lips.

"How can I fail at something which I have yet to attempt?" he jested, sneering. "Anyway, unless you were to raise me to Captain Rank, the teleportation would remain the same.

"It took me less than a week to collect so many Points. I think I can manage to postpone the Life Halt Capsule until next time."

Samurai Jack observed Kai for long, his back straight.

"I see," he nodded to himself. "I will just give you one piece of advice, Kai. It's the same I have given to all of your predecessors."

Kai listened, his mind alert.

"Island X is not as simple as it will seem at a glance," Samurai Jack told him. "You can consider it as a single living organism.

"This organism's true nature does not lie in its reaction to a bug (-Jack pointed at Kai-), but it lies in its power of adaptation."

"Adaptation?"

"Yes," Samurai Jack said, his voice gaining heaviness. "Just like humans adapt to diseases after suffering from them the first time, Island X does the same.

"It even goes beyond that, however. It will fight you, it will use you, it will learn from you, and it will grow strong.

"So strong, in fact, that there will come a time when you will have nothing remaining for it to gain from. It was then … it will kill you."

It was then … it will kill you.

… it will kill you.

A stupendous sense of foreboding raged inside Kai's heart as he listened to those words.

"It's your first time here," the Supreme General said, standing up. "So I will let you know the meaning of my words through experience. The next time you return to this place, then I will have more to teach and say."

His thoughts tumultuous, Kai pushed himself to his feet.

However, he did focus on the word teach more than he wanted to.

"Unlock whatever you want," Samurai Jack said, walking toward a door that led to another room. "Then, use the Tablet to find what your task is. It has some tutorial videos as well.

"I will wait for you inside the room. Remember, in these 24 hours of your stay, you can attempt the task only once."

The door opened and the Samurai disappeared behind it.

Kai kept standing where he was for a long time, thinking hard about Jack's words.

Then he thought more.

One thing that separated Kai from others was his absolute shamelessness.

In only a minute, he changed his plans, deciding to buy the Life Half Capsule first.

Kai still didn't want to fall into any trap, though. So, with the remaining 300,000 Points he unlocked both of his Skills.

Anything else seemed foolish to him.

Sigh! Kai sighed and then picked up the Tablet. Let's see what this Task is, anyway.

The moment Kai held the Tablet in his hands, the Smartwatch on his wrist and the Tablet shone together.

When words appeared on the screen, it was already showing him what his Task was.

"This… This…" Kai mumbled, his brows raised, his mouth open, his lips quivering. "What the…?!"

As Kai kept reading, scrolling the details of the task down, his face kept gaining a baffled expression.

A magnificent task he had expected, to say the least.

Stealing a key ingredient from the Armies' headquarters? Killing a specific target? Prove his worth by mastering an impossible Skill or Ability?

These were only some tasks he had thought the Samurai would present him with.

Some sensible ones.

But… making tea? Yes.

The Task itself was titled - Jack's Satisfaction!

***************

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