Admiral Sciskiin

> Sinister, calculating, and powerful, Admiral Sciskiin is the 12th Admiral of the Neinocian Empire. Being a cybernetically enhanced scorpion has its perks, especially when it comes to destroying pests to your dominating goals!
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## Admiral Sciskiin

### Aliases

Sciskiin, The Perfect Killing Machine, Bug Eyes, 12th Admiral (of the Neinocian Empire)

### Affiliation

Neinocian Empire, 12th Fleet, Admiral Xynek, Admiral Nurorex, Admiral Velocran, other Admirals

### Goals

Serve the Neinocian Empire (cover), Destroy all lifeforms

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Admittance/Convergence Plant (where he became an Admiral)

## Biography

Admiral Sciskiin is a massive scorpion who was technologically enhanced as part of the Admittance Admiral Project. Before becoming an admiral, Sciskiin appeared as a grey scorpion that was roughly [length]. He had black eyes and all the abilities and traits of a regular scorpion, save for the fact that he understood basic human speech. His exact genus and specific epithet are unknown.

When he became an Admiral, his exoskeleton was enhanced with a biomechanical coating, turning him a dark shade of blue. His stinger now glows whenever using his Stinger Beam and his claws are capable of extending and retracting serrated edges. Admiral Sciskiin's eyes are now multiple colors, being red, green, [Trioculus]. After gaining the ability to shrink and grow sizes from Admiral Xynek, he became [size].

### Admiral Sciskiin and Personality

Admiral Sciskiin's personality is noted for being sarcastic and sadistic. His enhancement to let him talk and smile without his chelicerae getting in the way opens up new possibilities for intimidation. With his great hostility and coldness, he is also manipulative about it. He will get close to others who can be of use to him, then absorb them after they have been used. Even with all these traits, he is still honorable (or perhaps prideful) in orders taken and titles, always showing a face of loyalty to the empire and opting to call others by titles, even as he expects to be referred as an Admiral.

According to the comic appearances of Admiral Sciskiin, he appears to suffer from either intermittent explosive disorder (IED) or dissociative identity disorder (DID). This is characterized by his sudden change in demeanor as well as spontaneous hostility when one of three known triggers occur: being touched (courtesy of his haphephobia), when in a combat situation and he goes too berserk, or whenever he is purposely called, "Sciskiin," without his title. When in this differed state, he speaks much less formally and even begins to use contractions instead of full pronunciation of words. In the comics, this state was also shown by his text bubble changing from black and white to having a red outline, black fill, and white text. He reverts to normal when realizing he is in public, forcing himself to repress it, or soon after the one who triggered it is dead. It should also be noted that this change does not go away on its own and will stay until one of the three previously mentioned criteria are met.

## List of Known Powers, Abilities, and Upgrades

Admiral Sciskiin has a very impressive list of powers, especially when considering he can steal others' powers through his Knowledge Eye (explained more below). The following list will contain all known powers, abilities, and upgrades the Admiral possesses, and ones that were stolen will be flagged with an asterisk. Upgrades received do not attacks or techniques that should naturally be possible (such as the "upgrades" allowing him to preform the Wash Cycle or Spinout attacks). Only upgrades that significantly affect him will be listed.

* Stinger Beam (A very powerful bolt from the stinger which can be charged to amplify its power. Just the base version was capable of destroying concrete walls, a fully charged one can even ignore energy fields)
* Bouncer Beam (Also known as the Wall Bouncer, it is a weaker Stinger Beam that will reflect off solid objects to "bounce" until it either expires or hits a target)
* Flash Claw
* Photoclaw
* Claw Driver
* Burn Driver
* Grapple Claw
* Bolt Slam
* Shock Slam
* Echo Slam
* Short Circuit
* Phantostrike
* Speech
* Transformation (He is capable of impersonating anyone he absorbs, courtesy of the Knowledge Eye)
* \*Size Manipulation
* Flight
* \*Revelation Eye (Allows the user to see the futures of others as far as the user is still alive during)
* Abiotic traits
* Ailment immunity
* Incredible resistance
* Reflective armor/eyes
* \*Teleportation (He could teleport using the Control Eye, shown below, but he also stole teleportation as an ability as well)
* \*Cloning (It is unknown whether or not he was capable of cloning before taking the power from Admiral Tyridex)
* \*Ice Magic
* \*Energy Drain
* \*Necrophone
* \*Counterbalance (Allows the user to change the weight of an object without affecting its destructive capabilities. The difference between the original weight and the new one is added to the weapon as an electrical bonus)
* \*Digital Footprint
* \*Whirlwinds
* \*Force Shockwaves

## Eye Powers

Admiral Sciskiin was given five eyes from the Admittance Facility, replacing his natural ones. These new ones granted additional powers to him, and their effects will be listed here. For the backstory, consider the Lore tab instead.

### Knowledge Eye

His rightward, red eye. This eye grants him the advanced cognitive abilities and the ability to steal the knowledge and powers of others by destroying their hearts. To those who do not have a heart, if it does not resist a blow from him, it will be absorbed (resisting is in the form of not giving up your existence to him, note that being unconscious in any form skips this step). Additionally, the eye can be used to transfer knowledge to others.

### Blade Eye

His middle-right green eye is this one. It allows him to generate metallic objects within seemingly thin air and control them mentally. Despite the objects supposed to be having physical properties, it appears that metallic blades, saws, or anything do not react to oxidation, magnets, or even gravity, if Sciskiin does not will them to. Even telekinesis did not seem effective against created objects. The things generated can also be formed within his claws and released when needed, such as in the case of his missile launcher.

The eye has a secondary effect when combined with the Knowledge Eye. Instead of being green, the energy becomes blue and is then referred to as the Creation Eye. In this form, anything imaginable can be created and used. Despite this not having any known downsides, it is rarely used by the Admiral for reasons never explained.

#### Notable Creations

The following are the creations of either the Blade or Creation Eye. All of the following can be created using the Creation Eye, but ones that can be made with the Blade Eye alone will be flagged with an asterisk

* Scorpbot 1.0, 1.5\*
* Scorpbot 2.0+ (The advanced Scorpbots, informally known as Admiral Scorpbots, require the Creation Eye to be built, but also have the added effect that they can use some of Admiral Sciskiin's powers, namely the ones given by the Knowledge Eye)
* Buzzsaw\*
* Chains\*
* Flamethrower (Flame-based weaponry require the Creation Eye to be made, except if missiles are made, for some reason)
* Booster
* Missile\* (Despite containing more than just metal, he can create and store a barrage of missiles to launch without the need of the Creation Eye)
* Flash Claw\* (Flash Claw, despite being a power, has been stated to use the Blade Eye to work. This one is the most confusing, since it is a blast of energy. It is theorized that the flash seen is from iron turning to rust instantly)
* Vortrem Beam (Stated to be a more powerful version of the Flash Claw, the Vortrem Beam is a white laser instead of just a flash)
* Flak Artillery\*

### Trioculus

The Trioculus, or Trioptic Eye is a set of three eyes built into a revolving panel. It is located on the left side of Admiral Sciskiin's face and only the top eye on the panel is capable of using its power at a time, even if all of them are glowing. The panel can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, meaning every eye is easily accessible at a given moment. Occasionally, the Trioculus will not have any visual indication of it activating other than the eye glowing (as seen below, each eye has a different effect, but in the comics and some scenes, there is no visual effect, yet it still activates).

#### Stasis

The [color] eye on the Trioculus is the Stasis Eye. It can fire quick, white beams that that will either slow an area down, leaving him unaffected or freeze a target in time with either a direct hit, or the full stasis effect enabled. If he wants, Admiral Sciskiin can slow down a massive area, without stasis getting involved. It has also been shown to work even without the beam, but this is much rarer of an occasion. The beam's look, effect, and activation are all very similar to an Angeloid freezing glare, leading to some curious speculation on its true origin.

#### Shattering

Shattering is the [color] eye and fires a thick wave forward. The attack can cause insanity in the minds of whoever is affected by it or physically shatter those who are mentally unstable. It can also destroy anything classed as armor if it connects with any. The blast, while not fast, is persistent, leading to scenes, where others unknowingly move directly into it and become affected. When activated without the wave, instead of putting the target through insanity, it traps him or her within a mental zone.

#### Control

The final Trioculus eye is [color] and is the Control Eye. Those affected will become puppets to Admiral Sciskiin. It has a secondary effect of being able to teleport those who are affected by it. It starts off as a white flash, but those hit by the flash will be engulfed in a grey vortex. It is unknown if Admiral Sciskiin has to hit himself with it to teleport or not, but he has used it to warp before. Control seems to have no district range limit for activation.

## Lore

### Predated Lore

Before starting, it should be noted that most of Admiral Sciskiin's past was never officially revealed in comics or animations. The main source of information about his past lies within the game, *Sciskiin,* as well as brief flashbacks. Due to the game being considered "canon" (at least in its True Ending) as well as flashbacks, a combination of the two will be used here. After becoming an Admiral, however, the story contains a lot less guesswork.

It is completely unknown where Sciskiin originated or who/what gave him his name. There is nothing about his backstory ever revealed regarding this. However, what is known is that he was somehow inducted into the Admittance Admiral Project. He began in the introductory testing chamber, so that the Announcer could determine if he was worth keeping. Sciskiin passed the test, surprisingly, indicating a higher level of intelligence than normal scorpions. The next test he passed was a block puzzle with fatal consequences if failed.

At some point during his time in the Admittance Admiral Project, he met Dr. Fineth A. Laurel, the leading scientist in charge of upgrading potential Admirals. Dr. Laurel upgraded Sciskiin by giving him the eyes he now possesses, as well as an assortment of other upgrades. The specifics of when upgrades were received is unknown, but it is assumed the Knowledge Eye was obtained first. With the Knowledge Eye gained, Sciskiin could perform more complex tasks and began learning about the world around him. Whether or not he obtained the eye before completing any future tasks is also never disclosed, so assume he obtained it at some point before becoming an Admiral.

Sciskiin's next puzzle was a maze. It was relatively simple, but timed, so that if he failed, he would die. Afterward was the first time he was ordered to fight. The A.A.P. believed in culling out the undesirables by setting up these fights to the death. The beginning ones did not require the winner to kill the loser, but later ones would be stricter. There is no knowing if Sciskiin ended the first combatant's life. Simple puzzles followed the first fight. The Announcer believed that he would give the potential Admirals a first taste at combat to desensitize them to death, and perhaps soon awakening a thrill towards it. Sciskiin did not seem to have any particular reactions to anything, not caring about much. There was a special occasion one day, where the Testing Chamber was closed, allowing the potential Admirals to meet the current ones. It is unknown who Sciskiin met that day, out of the seven Admirals, but afterwards, he went back to more puzzles and events. Another occasion was a "field trip" of sorts, where the surviving potential Admirals visited the Neinocian Empire, specifically in what appeared to be Reisocof (this is strange, as later events, if they occurred, do not line up with the continuity of the spiritual sequel series). [continue]...

After a few more deadly tests, the Announcer began having doubts about Sciskiin, calling him a failure and saying he would never become the, "perfect killing machine." This continued over the course of many events until the Announcer exclaimed that Sciskiin should try breaking into the Testing Chamber to complete more tasks because he was not a human and, "only good things come from people." This caused a shift in Sciskiin. He realized he never liked being bossed around and refused the Announcer's order.

The next day, the Announcer pushed a button while Sciskiin was in the Testing Chamber, sending Sciskiin into the garbage disposal. Before the incinerator activated, he managed to enter an opening in the disposal, leading to a basement location. One of the Admirals, Paire, helped him out and gave him a place to rest up for the time. Upon escaping death, Sciskiin was allowed back to perform more tests. He did this but with a secret agenda now: killing as many potential Admirals as possible. Everything he did from this point was used as a ruse to eventually destroy the Announcer, meaning he would have to eliminate the competition and act as if he were a successful Admiral. His ploy seemed to work, as the Announcer began to be less disappointed with Sciskiin over time, even giving him more upgrades.

At some point throughout his journey to the top, he met Xynek and the two of them became quite the friends. Xynek had the ability to fire spectral arrows that could be elemental and powered up, but his most notable ability was size manipulation. With this, he was capable of entering small crevices that were normally inaccessible. Sciskiin apparently noticed this power and slowly became jealous of it, unbeknownst to Xynek.

The end of the Admittance Admiral Project had both Xynek and Sciskiin graduate. Sciskiin, fully upgraded but still lacking internally, turned to his once-friend, perhaps the only true friend he ever had up to this moment and killed him. Using his Knowledge Eye, he absorbed Xynek and his power into himself. He used his newly gained size manipulation to become the massive scorpion cyborg he is today. From here, he was moved to the Convergence Plant, where unknown events occurred. Nothing was ever recorded there from any sources, but after whatever happened there was completed, Sciskiin was now officially an Admiral- Admiral Sciskiin from now on.

### Neinocian Empire (Pre-Detectives' Arrivals)

From here, he was sent to the Neinocian Empire as their Admiral and joined the ranks as the 12th Admiral. While he was offered his own personal army, he refused, choosing to work alone instead. At some point between the Convergence Plant and entering the Neinocian Empire, Admiral Sciskiin had apparently developed haphephobia. He refused to let anyone touch him or get too close to him ever, even snapping and killing those who were easy to hide after such an event. He became highly accustomed to using his powers, refining them to a dangerously skillful degree. In addition to this, he also learned how to intimidate and hide, becoming a true threat to anyone who opposed him.

At some unknown point, he attacked a touring vessel set to land in the Neinocian Empire, destroying it. His reason was never given, but the destruction of the ship resulted in many of the crew dying. Abord the emergency escape ship was Hadzaro Mephmene and his pregnant wife, Linless; they both were hoping to go to the empire for a vacation and still ended up there, though they never went back together.

In a concocted ploy to start a war, he stood atop a watchtower as a princess from another land gave a speech. Flashing his Knowledge Eye, she became distracted and looked towards the tower- her fatal mistake. The Knowledge Eye's ability is to upload knowledge to others as well as steal the powers, memories, and knowledge of those who are absorbed by it. He used the first aspect of the ability to fry her brain from an overload, killing her. In the frenzy of the situation, the Neinocian Empire, already at a tension with that kingdom, was now at war, distracting the Admirals to the real threat, being their very own Admiral Sciskiin.

An unknown amount of time passed until Admiral Kuayla was killed and absorbed by Admiral Sciskiin. This is why it is unknown whether or not Admiral Sciskiin was capable of cloning himself, especially because of Admiral Tyridex also being killed and absorbed. Admiral Tyridex was capable of cloning itself, but its death was reported after the death of Admiral Velocran. The Blade Eye allows him to generate metal and metallic objects and when in the Creation Eye form, it can replicate anything from memory (the Knowledge Eye), so creating an Admiral out of pure metal should be possible theoretically. The reason this is believed is because of the revealed information of Admiral Kuayla being missing from the Admiral anniversary photos for years, but she occasionally appeared with Admiral Sciskiin also there at times, so either she was only recently killed or has been dead for a long time.

During the war, Admiral Sciskiin and Admiral Velocran were deployed together against an invasion on the Beresarkio Plateau (it was renamed to Bunbais, meaning, "souless/lifeless," after the battle). Velocran was killed there at the hands of his once-friend, but his body was left in the wasteland, with Admiral Sciskiin claiming Velocran's body was too destroyed to bring back. In actuality, Admiral Sciskiin buried the remains of Admiral Velocran after it was revealed he obliterated his corpse with a Vortrem Beam.

### Neinocian Empire (Post-Detectives' Arrival)

After these kills were accomplished and perfectly hidden from sight, the Neinocian Emperor began to get concerned, since Admirals were "invincible," never quaking nor even getting injured in combat, but *something* was killing them. To figure out the solution, he sent out a request to the greatest pair of detectives he had ever heard about; the twins, Yoterix and Klieah Mephmene were contacted and set off to the Empire. Admiral Sciskiin went to greet them when they landed on the planet and noticed something strange about them. He speculated that they had powers based on energy signals he detected, and he hoped to get the two of them to use said powers to know whether or not it was worth absorbing them as well. While mildly concerned on whether or not they could find out the truth about him, he was more concerned on whether or not they could defeat him. If they could defeat him, his plan was effectively over.

As they continued their investigations, Admiral Sciskiin became concerned about their findings. He planned to get close to them so that he could steer them wrongly and keep them away from the truth while pretending to be a valuable ally. This did not work as smoothly as anticipated especially after he fought Detective Yoterix- both believing the other was in the wrong regarding how to conduct an investigation.

Following this, Admiral Sciskiin waited. The argument was not intended to break out, but it did benefit him regardless. In the Neinocian Royal Library, he forged documents making Admiral Kuayla seem like a perfect target for investigation next. Of course, with his ability to mimic anyone he absorbed, he would be able to throw the detectives off without directly interfering and making them trust him less. Inevitably, Detective Yoterix returned to the Admiral and asked him about heading up the mountain, which was where Kuayla was reported to be. This was the only part he was concerned about. Earlier, it was revealed to him that the detectives knew the Power Stance, but now he knew he would have to teach them the Agility Stance or else they could not climb the mountain without his help. Additionally, he could not be both himself and Admiral Kuayla simultaneously (which is strange, since, according to his absorbed power from Tyridex, he should have been able to, unless he did not know how it worked at this time).

Another option he considered was an escort, but that would make him disguising as Admiral Kuayla even more difficult. Machines such as a lift would work, but with no explanation as to why they were established since rest of the public were already capable of climbing the mountain, the effort would be fruitless and perplexing. Choosing to sacrifice information for the sake of buying more time for Admiral slaughter prevailed, and he told Yoterix and Klieah about the stance they would require. Yoterix mentioned how Admiral Plymaskas had already agreed to teach him, sparking an argument between the two again. Detective Klieah stepped in and calmed the two down. Admiral Sciskiin considered this to be lucky, as, with the argument, he would have an excuse not to tag along, so he told them to climb the mountain with Admiral Plymaskas and then left.

[continue]

[*The Strong Lead the Way* + *Hauntings of the Child Admiral*]

Cautious against the detectives learning his truth, Admiral Sciskiin began his own inverse investigation, interrogating anyone he could get his claws on and trying to learn what the two detectives were up to. His next primary target for elimination was the 3rd Admiral, Cinatin, a metallic child with phantom properties. He had the ability to communicate with the dead: an ability that would seal the case immediately.

Hearing from Admiral Nurorex, the gravesite northeast of Halaskia was experiencing a strange occurrence, where the bodies of the dead were reanimating and wondering about. Believing this to be the work of Cinatin, Admiral Sciskiin headed over there. While on his way, another Admiral, Cirico, contacted him asking why he was abandoning his post to the west. Admiral Sciskiin realized that Cirico was watching him through cameras, as this Admiral was capable of controlling cameras he watched. The Admiral was now caught in a web. There was no way to kill two Admirals in the same area without something going wrong. Either Cinatin would reanimate Cirico or use the undead as a shield, or Cirico would instantly send a message to every electronic stating that Admiral Sciskiin was the killer. Relenting from his original plan, he knew that killing Cinatin had to take priority, but Cirico was going to be next.

His updated strategy was informing Cirico that there were strange occurrences at the graveyard to which Admiral Cirico responded that he knew, but he could not go at the moment because he was dealing with an intruder to his ship. Devilishly delighting in his plan unraveling, Admiral Sciskiin stated that he planned to head there and help the situation, but as Cirico had stated, he was deployed elsewhere. As a result, Cirico was in charge of dealing with the dead when he had the chance. Admiral Cirico realized Admiral Sciskiin was right and told him the undead problem would be fixed soon. Hanging up the call, Admiral Sciskiin quickly called up Admiral Nurorex and asked him to switch posts with him. Nurorex gladly agreed to switching places with his friend, but he said they should swap spots at sundown. With all the pieces in place, Admiral Sciskiin knew it was time to reinitiate his true goal.

When night set in, Admiral Sciskiin bid farewell to Admiral Nurorex, telling him to watch for the enemy forces who may strike at night. Adding in that if anything dangerous happens, to contact Admiral Cirico and not him. Nurorex was mildly confused but accepted the advice as Admiral Sciskiin teleported to the graveyard. There, he met up with Admiral Cinatin, spooking him from behind. Cinatin jokingly remarked that, "the dead do not scare me as much as the living do," and Admiral Sciskiin laughed at the joke, unbeknownst to Cinatin that his own words were truer than he realized. Admiral Cinatin's death was quick, and he was absorbed into the Knowledge Eye, preventing one source for the detectives to track the mad Admiral. At the same time, he felt the ground, predicting the earthquake whose epicenter was near Admiral Nurorex. Believing that Admiral Cirico was contacted by Nurorex, the mass of signals at the technological Admiral's location would skew him being able to know that Cinatin had just died. Clearing any remaining evidence, Admiral Sciskiin used his newfound ability to raise an army of undead to pretend that he was just fighting them, but something was wrong.

The dead raised by Admiral Sciskiin were unable to move or attack, instead only standing at attention. Quickly he scanned through all of Cinatin's memories and realized that Admiral Cinatin's ability was only to **talk** with the dead, not to use them. Shocked by this revelation, he quickly slashed his zombies to pieces, but this alerted the real undead, presenting an actual obstacle to deal with. Eventually Admiral Cirico arrived, and when he did, he joined Admiral Sciskiin against the hordes. The two mercilessly obliterated the army that stood against them, even working in conjunction to each other until the final corpse fell. Admiral Cirico complimented Admiral Sciskiin, surprised at how well they could fight together and Admiral Sciskiin appeared pleased by the outcome. Despite this, Admiral Sciskiin asked Cirico if the problems were all taken care of. Admiral Cirico responded saying that he had digitally trapped Detective Yoterix and finally got that situation cleared up. The mechanical scorpion said it was good that Admiral Cirico finished all his work first. Cirico turned around confused and was never heard from again.

Following this, Yoterix was walking around in the graveyard until he confronted Admiral Sciskiin, asking him what he was doing there. Admiral Sciskiin replied that he and Admiral Cirico were fighting against the undead when Admiral Cirico vanished. Detective Yoterix told Admiral Sciskiin that the zombies were the result of some kind of occult activity going on, but he had already cleared it. Admiral Sciskiin halfheartedly congratulated the detective when he was halted by Yoterix's next statement. The detective told the Admiral that, "The digital world I was banished to has become vacant. Everything is lifeless in it." Admiral Sciskiin was bewildered by what Yoterix meant, but after seeing what the digital world was through Cirico's eyes, he knew Detective Yoterix was onto something.

Admiral Sciskiin tried to play off the event by saying that Admiral Cirico probably tried to play "hero" and got incapacitated somehow, but Yoterix sharply responded saying that the digital world never sleeps. Scanning his memories again, Admiral Sciskiin noticed that the world would continue operating even when Cirico was away, based on the locations of those within it changing every time he went in there. This meant that killing Cirico destroyed the world. Changing up his wording, Admiral Sciskiin said he now believes Admiral Cirico was dead. Detective Yoterix asked where Admiral Cirico went when he left but was met with silence. Admiral Sciskiin was caught in the web he tried avoiding and began thinking of how to escape. Finally responding, the Admiral remarked that he would not have known where Admiral Cirico went, as Cirico was always a, "loose cannon." Yoterix asked what could possibly have killed Admiral Cirico in such a short timespan. Running out of options, Admiral Sciskiin suggested that the zombie injuries could have proved fatal, and he did not know whether or not Admiral Cirico was in a bad condition when he left. Backing off, Detective Yoterix accepted the answer for the time and asked how to leave the graveyard. Taking this as an opportunity, Admiral Sciskiin explained that the exit to the graveyard would require magic.

Admiral Sciskiin and Detective Yoterix began to clash with one another in combat. The entire time, Admiral Sciskiin reminded the detective that the exit to the graveyard would be through the mirror-like desert, Geroil. Yoterix refused to believe the information and was concerned about Admiral Sciskiin attacking him. The Admiral responded that he knew both of the detectives had some form of power hidden whether they knew it or not, since he could detect it. Admiral Sciskiin viciously approached the detective, approaching from every side for an attack until Yoterix ran into an abandoned house. Using his ability to detect vibrations, Admiral Sciskiin knew exactly where Yoterix was and fired his orange Stinger Beam at him. The explosion knocked the detective away and he was now injured. Suddenly, Admiral Sciskiin appeared in front of Yoterix and grabbed him, throwing him upward. From there, he jumped and flipped Yoterix to where his face was now facing the ground. Finally, he fired a beam from his stinger to generate initial velocity and began falling to the ground rapidly.

Yoterix continued to panic as he thought everything was about to come to an end. Before colliding with the ground, four triangles appeared and three turned dark and faced the opposite direction. A forcefield appeared around him. Admiral Sciskiin crashed and caused a massive explosion. When the dust cleared, Detective Yoterix was not only alive, but able to stand. The Admiral looked upon him with curiosity and asked how he survived. Yoterix responded that he did not know himself, nor did he know what that field was. Admiral Sciskiin began thinking to himself that the two detectives had more about them than he anticipated. Such a kinetic blow should have been completely impossible to survive and even harder to live through without injury. **If** the detective was telling the truth, then Admiral Sciskiin would have to learn more about Yoterix's power to survive a fatal blow, as that could set back his plans should the two of them fight to the death for real. Otherwise, if Yoterix was lying about knowing how his power worked, that would imply that he was suspicious about Admiral Sciskiin or did not trust him fully for some reason, possibly because of Admiral Cirico's "mysterious disappearance." Regardless of the reason, Admiral Sciskiin knew he could not relax around the detectives, since his plan could crumble very quickly if the worst possibility manifested.

Weighing his options out, the Admiral considered the threat of teaching the Magic Stance to allow Yoterix to traverse the desert versus just revealing his ability to teleport others and sending him back to the city. Believing he had uncovered too much already, he settled on teaching the stance to Yoterix. Unlike his first stance, Yoterix was not as effective at using this one. Regardless, he learned it, and Admiral Sciskiin asked him to use it to attack a nearby pylon. Detective Yoterix questioned what the significance of the structure was, so the Admiral explained that those devices could be used to warp between sectioned areas of the empire. They were originally developed so that residents did not have to travel great distances, but they became mandatory after the war began, since there are now barriers to prevent intruders from entering as easily.

Focused now, the detective tried to use the stance and held his arm out, hoping something would happen. The two of them stood there for a while. Looking back at his hand, Detective Yoterix wondered if that new ability could only be used for defense. Admiral Sciskiin laughed and asked if the detective wanted to test that theory, to which he declined. Trying again, Yoterix held his hand out in front of him. This time, the four triangles appeared again, but unlike before, only one turned black and faced opposite of the others. From there, a beam fired out from the middle of the triangles and hit the pylon, activating it. With the pylon active, it warped Yoterix away.

Admiral Sciskiin stood in the still graveyard. He knew he learned a lot more than he expected to discover. Detective Yoterix could use magic. Not just that, he could protect himself from certain death as well as invoking a beam. When he fired the beam, the Admiral felt the energetic presence of it to know that technique was not the same as the shield. It felt more concentrated and weaponized. Using ice magic, he shot the pylon and it warped him to the desert where Yoterix was sent.

On the other side, Yoterix looked around at the desert, which appeared like glass under the dark of night. Admiral Sciskiin finally arrived and asked the detective how he managed to conjure such a spell. The detective responded saying he concentrated on the shield and fired it out. A lie. The energetic properties of the beam were similar to the shield, and it was certainly more concentrated, but they were not the same. Admiral Sciskiin wondered if the detective was lying about more than he knew and considered killing and absorbing him there. But the beam's power was not measured. If that attack was already mastered and Yoterix used it on him, what damage could it do? Pylons are designed to be immune to damage from magic, but after being struck by that attack, it was visibly singed.

If the detective had been holding back to not raise alarm, the true version of that attack could definitely harm even the Admiral's body. However, this would not be the first time Admiral Sciskiin took on someone who could potentially do heavy damage to him. If he just killed the detective fast enough, there would be no problem at all. Would it be worth risking what little trust the detective had if the plan somehow backfired? Admiral Sciskiin decided to relent this time. He made too much progress in one day to mess it up now.

As they walked through the desert, Yoterix made a phone call. He spoke in his original language, so Admiral Sciskiin could not understand what was being said. Instead of using his Knowledge Eye's absorbed Digital Footprint to peer into the phone call, he held back, since it always glows when used. After the call ended, the detective commented that he was tired from a long day and asked if there was anywhere to rest. Admiral Sciskiin took the opportunity to earn back trust by telling Yoterix that they could take turns resting and keeping watch. He commented further by mentioning how every night, entities rise from the ground, said to be spirits of ice, and every day, spirits of fire rise to attack anyone in the desert. Detective Yoterix responded that he found the information helpful before laying down and instantly falling asleep.

Right as he slept, the rumans rose from the ground, freezing the sand beneath them as they walked. Admiral Sciskiin clanked his claws and maliciously laughed about how Admirals do not require sleep, right before beginning to tear through the unresting beings. The next morning, Yoterix awoke, shocked that he did not hold up his side of the deal, but as he looked around, Admiral Sciskiin was gone. Back in the Neinocian Empire, Admiral Sciskiin was testing his attacks on the magic pylons, discovering that none of his energetic attacks could cause the same effect the detective's attack could. Admiral Nurorex approached him and asked what he was doing, so Admiral Sciskiin relayed the information he learned. Nurorex was surprised as well, commenting that even his shockwaves could not do any damage to the pylons, either.

With this revelation, Admiral Sciskiin thought to himself, Admiral Nurorex would not be a valuable target for absorption next. Unless he found someone who could generate or survive an attack which damages the magic pylons, the detectives held all the cards against him. Just then, Admiral Sciskiin's leg twitched, as he felt the vibration occur. There was another earthquake about to happen. As he was about to leave the area, Admiral Nurorex mentioned some of the other Admirals who had magic. The scorpion Admiral found it mildly amusing that Nurorex included Admiral Kuayla in his list of Admirals with magic that could be strong enough to burn the pylons. "As if, Admiral Nurorex; *I* for one would know if she was strong enough," he thought to himself, until Admiral Jaamulika was mentioned. She was a doozy to deal with. No one had ever seen her physically, and the only aspect of her that was known was her puppet that did her bidding.

The earthquake struck. It shook the town they were both in, causing a crack in the ground to emerge. Admiral Sciskiin successfully jumped to one side while Admiral Nurorex began to levitate. Looking at him with disdain, Admiral Sciskiin thought again as to why he kept Nurorex around. But seeing him float made Admiral Sciskiin also look up as he remembered the Neinocian Empire had a satellite. If he hijacked it and saw through its lens, he may be able to find Admiral Jaamulika. The only problem was the inhabitants of the satellite. He knew that killing a Tsukostine would instantly alert the Emperor, since he had a mental link to all of them, so getting close enough to hack the satellite without causing confusion would be tricky. However, he considered the detectives. If he could develop a scenario in which they needed to go there, he could easily have them take pictures using the station's camera. The problem was that he did not know where the 1st Neinocian Admiral was. He settled on just having the images, since he remembered in the library that the station's camera had multiple advanced settings, and surely there was one to allow him to see potential underground bunkers where the cowardly Admiral could be hiding.

[continue]