Imperia: Return Of The Empire

The four of them remained there, standing over the unconscious man who was knocked out by Vycter and his strange little particle weapon. Vycter was almost expressionless, while Soniya was watching their surroundings with a more casual upon her face. The only one who seemed fidgety was Kayelin who looked like a guilty delinquent wanting to avoid being seen by the officials as if she had stolen something.

Ceilia however was just watching Vycter, the only thing that could be seen in her eyes was his reflection. It was like a young girl looking up towards their Idol, a woman their lover, a princess and their knight.

The man began to stir, his eyes opened partially. His eyes flickered over towards Vycter who knelt down, resting his arm on his knee as he looked over the officer.

The Corporal had a rectangular shaped head, a sharp jaw and blue eyes. His blond hair was slicked back with god knows how much gel and product. Clearly he was a man of appearances.

Zuk would let out a light sigh, annoyed yet composed. "Why does the back of my head hurt?" He asked, massaging the back of his head slightly with both hands as he sat up.

Vycter picked up what looked like the officer's cap which had fallen on the ground and placed it back on his head. "You tripped and fell." He lied blatantly, both Kayelin and Soniya paused and looked over at him with furrowed brows and a confused expression.

As they thought over how they had all first met this man, they also seemed to have been in strange positions. Let alone they had pain on their face, especially their head. Kayelin even had mud all over her face when she came to.

Had he assaulted them just as he had shot this officer here and indoctrinated them? Their conditioning however made them simply accept it, they felt nothing towards it. They even felt better about themselves. The only thing that could possibly make them feel angry was the fact that he hadn't clarified what had truly happened.

On the other hand it didn't seem like Ceilia even cared about what had happened. She was finally with someone who not only kept her, but also took her first kiss. This was the first man and in her mind, he would be the only man.

"For some reason I'm not buying it, but I won't push too far into it, Sir." The Evyns would proceed to exhale sharply from his nose before standing up and brushing himself off. "My name is –" He was cut off when Vycter raised his hand slightly.

"I know your name," Vycter pointed towards the name embroidered on the man's uniform. "My name is Vycter. P.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to meet you Corporal Evyns."

Rubbing the tip of his nose slightly with one hand, Zuk would chuckle to himself as he was looking away from him for a few seconds before looking over Kayelin. "Ah… It's the brat who stole bread from the Duchess," the man seemed to snicker to himself before narrowing his attention back onto Vycter.

"You assignment is to simply gather information. Act as you have always acted. If you learn any information, use this alley as a dead drop." He pointed towards what looked like a newspaper stand. "Under that." He informed.

Nodding lightly Zuk would look to the girls once more before returning to his patrols.

Once the corporal vanished from sight around a corner, the four would make their way into the back service entrance to the cathedral. It wasn't an ancient one, it seemed to have been erected around four decades ago. So it is to assume that there was some sort of religion present on the planet.

Coming into the building, the service rooms seemed to be relatively vacant and unattended. There were no homeless in this area, though there was the sound of people remaining hidden.

On his map he could see various young people, ranging from the ages of sixteen and up. They were runaways it seemed and they were all watching them from the darkness of the abandoned rooms.

Vycter however didn't bother looking into the rooms, they were all neutral people. He had no reason to try and threaten them or attack them. If he tried to indoctrinate them, it would cause panic.

He thought of various ways in order to assume control of the groups which called this holy place a home. He could use the persuasion of their god or gods.

Eventually he found himself and the three girls walking out onto an elevated scene. There was a red carpet and several pews. It smelt of people and there were plenty of them. There were even children here amongst the homeless.

Walking over to the nearby podium he would purse his lips a bit as he looked at an old book which looked as if its page hadn't been turned in years. The page was covered in an ill.u.s.tration of a holy man with dark hair and ocean-green eyes. He had a blue halo behind his head.

Ceilia who had remained behind him the entire time and had been only looking at him, peered over towards the book which he was now looking at. Blinking a few times she reached over and wiped the dust from the book and could only stare. Her eyes flickering back and forth between the book and the man before her.

They looked nothing alike except for the common traits of their eye color and similar hair. The fancy text which laid beneath the image however spoke of this man as the original human settler of the planet. Apparently the man had been revered as a saint.

Turning the page several times, scanning it over with his own eyes and the system as well, he felt that this knowledge could definitely be used to manipulate the people.

"You could do what you did to the guard, you know." Ceilia suggested as her head lulled side to side as if trying to gage what he would do next by giving him an option.

"Your not wrong, it'd be a lot easier and quieter to do." Vycter said with a light snicker before thinking to himself. The main problem with that would be them all asking why they had suddenly dropped unconscious. In addition to that, there was a handful of kids present.

He had no problem knocking all the folks out, but indoctrinating kids who had no use, would be a problem. While children can be used as spies, they can already be bribed with money or food.

The only good thing about indoctrinating someone was their mental conditioning.

Clearing his throat, Vycter would bring his fists down loudly upon the podium which got most of the vagrants and runaway's attentions almost immediately. Sudden and effective.

"Are you all believers?!" His arms were held out wide, as if welcoming a holy light upon himself. Many of the people snapped to attention, though only a small handful scoffed at the man and went on about what they were doing.

Some of the kids didn't really understand what was going on and went back to playing in the main hall. However a large amount of runaways and homeless who had been sheltered her seemed to have a glint in their eyes.

"Good… We're getting somewhere." A cold sweat ran down the side of his head, fighting back the nerves which were causing pins and needles up the side of his face. Public speaking wasn't something he had done in less than a moments notice before.

Of course this was all his choice anyway. A frequency bomb to knock out all of the people present was plan B, but of course he was hoping he didn't have to use it. Before he continued, he handed the girls some ear plugs just in case.

"My name is Vycter Price, I am like you…" Vycter's speech was humble, modest. He shared stories that never really happened, he brought people closer to him in a relatable sense. They as a consensus began to believe in almost every word he was saying.

Vycter wasn't known for his charm or charisma. Though he had played many roleplaying games which needed speech craft skills and bartering. What people wanted was protection, assurances, a life worth living. Under the name of their god, in the name of their families and friends, Vycter preached his ideals.

His voice never escaped the closed doors of the Cathedral, the only people who listened to him were the ones who bothered to even give him notice. He introduced a baptism which had been shown in the book and depicted as the "Baptism of Pain." It was a holy ritual which he was going to completely abuse.

Men and women, boys and girls all began to line up. Even the few who didn't bother to listen, joined into the line out of curiosity. Screams were brief, yet no one died. It seemed after waking up, they felt better than before, though that was just part of the conditioning.

The homeless and the runaways sat on separate sides of the cathedral's main room of prayer, in the pews. They were chatting away with one another, oddly cheerful to those who didn't get into the line.

Women with large bosoms didn't seem to have all that much interest in Vycter as Kayelin Soniya and Ceilia did. They weren't even added to the harem Quest in the progress. It was mostly because of Vycter's own personal taste in physique being that of an agile dancer or acrobat. In addition to this the ones present were over the age of thirty.

It also seemed that most of the runaways here were physically male, the only ones who were female were the ones hiding in the back rooms who were oblivious of what was going on.

Though as the line became closer and closer to the end, the last few in line began to notice what was happening. The people who had gone through the conditioning had completely forgotten about the pain and about most of the speech. When they tried to run they were tackled by the others and systematically assimilated into the group via indoctrination by Vycter.