Whispers—the so-called Arbiters of Fate—were truly troublesome.
In the game's setting, whenever the plot deviated from its proper course, these things would appear to interfere and correct it.
Kain had not expected Tifa's world to actually have them.
So when he took out a few items to test them and they were judged as affecting this world's storyline, the Whispers immediately appeared again.
Killing them was simple enough. As long as his physical body touched one, his Untouchable nature would directly destroy it.
He did not need to activate anything. Contact alone was enough.
Because these things were like spiritual entities, touching him directly triggered his Untouchable ability.
As for activating his Untouchable field, he currently did not have any D99, so he could not use it.
On top of that, there were too many of them. If he failed to touch them, they would keep interfering from the side.
For example, if he wanted to take out a fighter craft, that would be a piece of technology that did not belong to this world, so it would be judged as an influence on predetermined fate. These things would then interfere like mad.
Because of that, using large pieces of foreign machinery in this world would be somewhat troublesome.
As for why Sephiroth managed to stab him, it was because Kain had stripped off his power armor and stored it back in his personal space.
That made it easier for him to eliminate the Whispers.
Besides, Tifa's situation had looked extremely urgent. He had accepted the invitation immediately without retrieving the power sword that was currently recharging. Otherwise, he could have killed Sephiroth's copy much earlier.
"How is it, Miss Aerith?"
"It's Materia. I don't feel any difference between these two. If there is one, it's only in their size and shape. The amount of Lifestream stored inside is different."
Aerith looked at the two pieces of Materia in her hands as she answered.
Mr. Kain had handed them to her and asked her to sense whether there was any difference between them.
"Mr. Kain, the Materia I gave you had one normal piece and two pieces that had almost run out of energy, right?"
Tifa could not help asking. She was also extremely tense.
Because Mr. Kain truly seemed to have taken an interest in something like Mako. He could not be planning to obtain it too, could he?
Now that Tifa knew exactly how Mako was created, she genuinely could not bring herself to use it as a trade good.
But the Mako crystals she had given Mr. Kain—why had they turned into two normal pieces now?
That left her uneasy.
"Correct. This piece had originally almost run out of energy, but now it has been recharged."
Kain pointed at the piece in Aerith's right hand as he spoke.
"Recharged?"
Tifa was stunned.
"Mr. Kain, does your side also have a Lifestream?"
Aerith was also extremely nervous as she asked.
If Mr. Kain had his sights set on this world's Materia too, what were they supposed to do?
And did Mr. Kain also intend to extract the Lifestream from his own world?
If they helped him with that, would that not make them accomplices in evil?
Aerith could not do something like that.
"The Warp. In my world..."
Seeing the tension and unease in both of them, Kain explained in detail what kind of existence the Warp was in his world.
"So, Mr. Kain, what you want is Materia that has already run out of energy, right?"
If that was the case, Tifa could breathe a little easier.
However, if he needed too much Materia, that would still be a problem. Would that not require a large amount of Mako to artificially synthesize the crystals?
Even if Mr. Kain's side did not need Mako's energy, synthesizing the crystals here would still consume large amounts of Mako. Would that not also accelerate this world's death?
"I know what you're worried about, Miss Tifa. I'm not asking you to provide all the Materia from your side. You only need to provide a certain amount. After I take it to our side and charge it, I'll bring it back here. Then you can extract the Lifestream inside the Materia and synthesize new Materia from it. Do you understand?"
That was the cooperation Kain intended to pursue in Tifa's world.
Relying solely on Materia supplied by Tifa's world would be nowhere near enough. Doing so would also be equivalent to killing Tifa's world, and she would never agree.
His plan was to obtain some Materia containers from Tifa's side, bring them back to the Warhammer world, fill them with energy from the Warp, then bring them back here and extract that energy to synthesize new crystals.
By repeating that process again and again, the system would snowball. The number of Materia would grow larger and larger.
That way, Tifa's side would not need to mine large amounts of Mako from its own world.
As for why they could not directly synthesize Materia in the Warhammer world, after half a day of research, it seemed likely to be an environmental issue.
In the Warhammer world, psychic power came from the Warp. In Tifa's world, psychic energy came from the planet itself, flowed through the planet, and existed within the real world.
Simply put, Tifa's world was equivalent to a world where reality and the Warp had fused together. Only that kind of environment could produce Materia.
"I understand. In simple terms, Mr. Kain, you want to bring the Life—no, the Warp energy from your side here, process it into a physical product, then take it back with you, right?"
Aerith had originally been about to say Lifestream, but after understanding Mr. Kain's description of the Warp, she changed the term to Warp energy instead.
Although the two seemed similar in nature, extracting that energy from his side was actually a good thing, because the Warp on that side was hell—a world of daemons.
The richer the Warp energy became, the stronger the daemons grew, and the more freely they could move. Humanity's situation would become more dangerous as a result.
So if Warp energy could be materialized and repurposed, it could even be used against daemons.
Because daemons were also bodies of Warp energy, they would likewise be affected by Materia.
Once Materia touched a daemon, it would cling to it tightly and continuously absorb its energy until it was full.
"Correct."
And in order to process Materia, Kain needed a powerful partner.
The largest possible partner in this world was, of course, the company most familiar with Materia processing technology and Mako extraction: Shinra.
But Tifa's Avalanche organization aimed to bring down Shinra and stop the use of Mako. That conflicted with Kain's objective.
Kain needed Shinra to remain intact. He also did not believe Avalanche would be able to smoothly take over Shinra's assets and operations after defeating the company. How long would that even take?
So the compromise was to remove the major tumors inside Shinra, then have Avalanche monitor Shinra's operations afterward.
However, the prerequisite was that Avalanche could accept Shinra's continued existence.
Some people might be able to accept that. Others might not, especially those whose entire village and family had been murdered.
The most important factor was still Tifa, but the greatest obstacle might also be with her.
How intense was her hatred for Shinra?
Was she completely unable to tolerate Shinra's existence? Did it have to be destroyed entirely?
If her hatred had reached that point, then there was little he could do. After all, entering this world required Tifa's consent and...
(End of Chapter)
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